Constructive art “à la Ehrenburg”: Vešč’–Gegenstand–Objet

Abstract

In 1922 El Lissitzky and Il’ya Ehrenburg published the Avant-Garde art journal Vesc’–Gegenstand–Objet. The journal is considered a modernist landmark for its innovative and trend-setting layout, its remarkable cosmopolitan opening statement calling for a new international art community that would break the barriers between Europe and Russia, its multilingualism and its role in the formation of European constructivism. The journal project has received quite a lot of scholarly attention in the past, but the literary section of the journal remains largely unexplored. Nonetheless, this section stands out within the journal for it is far from multilingual and sometimes even far from avant-gardist. The present paper will shed light on the specificities of the literary section of the journal and on Ehrenburg’s peculiar approach as an editor of radical modernist literature by focusing on those elements of the journal that are mostly ignored or read in a selective way—the opening statement of the journal, the editorial writings and the announcements regarding what contributions the readers could expect in the following issues of the journal.