Vasyl Yermilov (Vasily Dmitrievich Ermilov)
(Ukrainian, 1894–1968)

Untitled (composition in primary colors), 1927
Gouache and pencil on paper, 16 7/16 x 12 1/2” (41.8 × 31.8 cm)
Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection;
now The Museum of Modern Art, New York

All-Ukrainian exhibition dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of the October Revolution, House of State Industry, Kharkiv, 1927
Left: Poster proof (Ukrainian) for section on books and periodicals, opening November 8, 1927. Woodblock print, 38 5/8 x 26 1/4” (98.1 x 66.7 cm)
Right: Poster (Ukrainian) for full exhibition, opening November 7, 1927. Woodblock print, 39 3/8 x 29 1/8” (100 x 74 cm)

Maquette for book cover (Ukrainian): Workers’ Library: Literature and Art, c. 1930
Gouache, ink, and cut-and-pasted gelatin silver print on paper,
10 5/8 x 16 3/4” (27 x 42.5 cm)

Maquette for book cover (Ukrainian): Oleksander Maryamov,
Shores of the Twelve Waters, 1930
Gouache, ink, and cut-and-pasted halftone prints on paper,
12 1/8 x 24” (31.8 x 61 cm)

Journal cover (Ukrainian and Esperanto): Avanhard / Avangardo / Avangarde (Avant-Garde), no. 2 (of 3 issues): Mistets'ki materialy Avanhardu (Artistic Materials of the Avant-Garde). Valerian Polishchuk, Editor-in-Chief; Leonid Chernov, Deputy Editor; Vasyl Yermilov, Art Editor. Kharkiv, 1929
Letterpress, 12 x 9 x 1/8” (30.5 x 23 cm)
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As scholar Vita Susak points out in her contribution to a forthcoming collection of essays on Ukrainian art co-edited by Olena Martynyuk and Alla Rosenfeld:
“The enormous letter ‘a’ on [Yermilov’s] cover for the journal Avanhard (Avant-Garde, 1929) is today seen as a kind of emblem of the movement in Ukraine—deliberate, designed, and published a moment before its destruction.”

March 1, 2022