Two Exhibitions: Russian Art in Germany (1922) and German Art in Russia

Two Exhibitions: Russian Art in Germany (1922) and German Art in Russia (1924)

In 1922, the 1. Russische Kunstausstellung (First Russian Art Exhibition; catalogue cover above left) famously introduced German audiences to recent artistic developments in the Soviet Union. Less well-known is a reciprocal exhibition of 1924: the 1 Vseobshchaia germanskaia khudozhestvennaia vystavka (First All-German Art Exhibition; catalogue cover above right), which brought recent German artistic developments to Russian audiences. Both exhibitions sought to raise funds for Russian relief in the wake of the Great Famine of 1921–1922. Adolf Behne (1885–1948), the politically engaged German cultural critic, enthusiastically reviewed the first exhibition for Die Weltbühne and published an essay on the “Development of Contemporary German Art“ in the catalogue of the second. Below are selected plates from both volumes.

Exhibition catalogue:
1. Russische Kunstausstellung (First Russian Art Exhibition)
Berlin: Verlag Internationale Arbeiterhilfe, 1922
Letterpress, 8 7/8 x 5 3/4” (22.5 x 14.6 cm)

Exhibition venues:
Galerie van Diemen, Berlin (Oct. 15–Dec. 1922)
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Apr. 28–May 28, 1923)

Cover by El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890–1941), right.
Selected plates follow.

Popova / Exter / Malevich / Rodchenko

Altman / Shterenberg / Shterenberg / Altman

Lissitzky / Pougny / Tatlin / Gabo

Archipenko / Gabo / Mechmetzki

Exhibition catalogue:
1 Vseobshchaia germanskaia khudozhestvennaia vystavka (First All-German Art Exhibition). Moscow-Leningrad: Mezhrabprom, 1924
Letterpress, 8 3/4 x 6” (22 x 15.3 cm)

Exhibition venues:
State Historical Museum, Moscow (Oct. 19, 1924–early 1925)
Art Museum named after A. N. Radishchev, Saratov (Dec. 28, 1924–March 1925)
Academy of Fine Arts, Leningrad (May 3–July 1925)

Cover, right.
Complete plates follow.

Peri / Schlemmer / Nolde

Grosz / Dix / Dexel / Fischer

Kollwitz / Nagel / Campendonk / Zille

Johansson / Herzog / Pechstein

February 14, 2022