Mikhail Iosifovich Razulevich (December 19, 1904–January 14, 1993)
Book covers designed by Mikhail Razulevich in the 1920s and 1930s are well represented in the collection (scroll down for an overview). The artist was particularly prolific in the area of literature for youth and children, designing for the branch of Gosudarsvennoe izdatel’stvo (Gosizdat; State Publishing House) specializing in children’s literature (known as Detgiz or Detizdat) and for Molidaia gvardiia (Young Guard), among other publishers. Such work is concentrated in the section “Production Books for Youth and Children,” below, as well as in other sections, where such work is marked: (youth/children).
The following chronology is compiled from archival, primary, and secondary sources. For more information, please contact the collection.
1904. Born on December 19 in the village of Nyuksenitsa (now Nyuksensky District, Vologda region, Russia; then Veliky Ustyug district, Vologoda Governorate [Province] of the Russian Empire).
1912–14. Studies at the Zemskaia volostnaia shkola (Rural district school).
1917–18. Assists his father, a forest ranger.
1918–19. Studies at the Shkola vtoroi stupeni im. Gertsena (The Hertzen second stage school for children aged 12 to 17), Veliky Ustyug, Severny krai (Northern Territory)
1920. Works as an Assistant to the librarian.
1920–22. Studies with Evstafii Pavlovich Shil’nikovsky (1890–1980) at the art studio at the Severo-Dvinsky Proletkult in Veliky Ustyug. Works in the department of Culture in the Severo-Dvinsky Proletkult, creating political posters. Become member of the Severo-Dvinsky Union of Art Workers.
1923–27. Studies at the Graphic Arts department of the VKhUTEIN (Higher Art Technical Institute) in Leningrad. His diploma work is a design for the book 10 let Sovetskoi vlasti v ee tipichnykh proiavleniiakh (Ten Years of Soviet Power in its Typical Manifestations).
From 1927. Designs books for various publishing houses in Leningrad and Moscow, including Goslitizdat, Molodaia Gvardiia, Detgiz, Nauka, Iskusstvo, and Sovetskii pisatel’.
1928. Begins contributing to the journals Chizh (Siskin) and Ezh/Yozh (Hedgehog).
1931–32. Exhibits internationally for the first time, at the Salon International du Livre d’ Art (International Art Book Fair). Petit Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (May 15–August 15, 1931). Among other artists, included in this important exhibition: Lubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko, Nathan Altman, Alexander Deineka, Gustav Klutsis, Yuri Pimenov, Sergei Senkin, Varvara Stepanova, Solomon Telingater, and David Shterenberg.
1932. Participates in the decoration of Uritsky Square in Leningrad (now Palace Square in St. Petersburg) for the fifteenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. In his photomontage Real’nost’ nashei programmy-eto zhivye liudi (The Reality of Our Plan is Active People) Razulevich combined more than three hundred images from the state archives into an enormous, seamless whole, about twenty-three yards long. The industrial landscape in the background was a composite of several images of the major construction projects undertaken as part of Stalin’s first Five-Year Plan (1928–32). However, as a result of a technical error made during installation, this photomural hung for only two hours, collapsing to the ground in the morning on November 7. Smaller copies of the photomural were installed in train stations throughout the city. Soiuzfoto printed it in a regular album format with a print run of several thousand copies.
1935. Photomontage The Reality of Our Plan is Active People appears as a double page spread in El Lissitzky’s seven- volume album Novoe litso SSSR (New Face of the Soviet Union) from the series Industriia sotsializma (Industry of Socialism), kniga 6 (volume 6).
1937–39. Head of the Art Department, Detgiz (Children’s State Publishing House).
July 4, 1941–November 7, 1941. Enlists as a soldier in the Red Army. Seriously injured in November 1941 and discharged. In August of 1942 Razulevich was evacuated to Russkaia Poliana.
1945–47. Head of the Art Department, State Publishing House of the Karelo-Finskaia SSR in Petrozavodsk.
1950. Begins his work for the Leningrad section of the Publishing House Nauka of the Academy of Science of the USSR. From 1951 to 1981 Razulevich designed more than 30 books in the series Literaturnye pamiatniki (Literary Monuments). He was appointed Chief Artist of the Nauka Publishing House.
1951–93. Member of the Graphic Arts section of LSSKh (Leningrad division of the Union of Soviet Artists).
Unique
Unique Book Maquettes
Maquette to Printed Matter
Poster: What should I read?
This publisher’s poster promotes a sizeable, recommended reading list compiled from the books published by the branch of Gosudarsvennoe izdatel’stvo (Gosizdat; State Publishing House), specializing in children’s literature (later Detgiz or Detizdat) between 1927 and 1929. It dates to the golden age of children’s book production in Leningrad. The poster announces publication of a new book, Chto mne chitat’?: Ukazatel’ literatury dlia detei starshego vozrasta (What Should I Read?: Index of Literature for Older Children), by Ekaterina Petrovna Privalova and Ivan Ignat’evich Khalturin (Gosizdat, 1928). The poster provides reading lists recommended by the Bibliographic Commission of the Leningrad Regional Administration in the following subject areas: Nauka i tekhnika (Science and Technology), Knigi o zhivotnykh (Books about Animals), Puteshestviia (Journeys), Prikliucheniia rebiat (Adventures of Children), Bor’ba za svobodu (Struggle for Freedom), Poemy i skazki (Poems and Stories). Several books on the list were illustrated by Mikhail Razulevich.
Production Books for Youth and Children
The Story of the Great Plan
Written by Mikhail Ilyin (1896–1953) in 1930 and illustrated by Mikhail Razulevich, The Story of the Great Plan (also called or Moscow has a Plan) aimed to transform children into model Soviet citizens. It offered an account of the First Five-Year Plan (1928–32), then in its second year, and painted a glorious picture of the flawless society in the process of emerging. It explained to the thirteen-year-old reader the process of Socialist construction in the areas of economy and new forms of labor and addressed political education through recurring comparisons between Socialism and Capitalism. The book’s 170 pages were illustrated with copious didactic photographs as well as plans for future major construction sites.
The book’s first edition of 1930 bore a photomontage by Razulevich on its cover comprised of mechanical elements, paired with a group photo of the smiling team that created the book. This edition—for which we have the original maquette, a proof, and the final book (see below)—was printed an edition of 50,000. Considered a resounding success, The Story of the Great Plan was published in a total six revised and expanded editions between 1930 and 1936, each with a cover by Razulevich—his cover for the third edition of 1931 is also seen below. Distributed to over twenty countries, The Story of the Great Plan was translated into Chinese, English, French, Japanese, and Polish.
Periodicals for Youth and Children
Other Printed Matter
The works shown here represent only a selection from the collection, please contact us for further inquiry.