Russian Cubo-Futurist Book

Zor Nik. Asieeva [The vision of Nik. Aseev].

Aseev, Nikolai and Maria Siniakova, artist.

Moscow: Liren', 1914. Octavo (17.8 × 13.3 cm). Original sewn lithographed pictorial wrappers on gray stock; 16, [1] pp. of lithographed manuscript and drawings. Faint rubber stamp ("Dlia otzyva" - "for review") to front wrapper. Spine with internal repair; small chip to corner of rear wrapper; still a very good copy, in custom box with leather spine label.

First and only edition of the important Russian cubo-futurist book, published by the "Liren" (Lyroon) group under its eponymous imprint, about which Vladimir Markov notes: "The birth of Lyroon seems to have taken place during the summer of 1914 in Krasnaya Polyana, a little place near Kharkov where the family of Sinyakov lived. The three Sinyakov sisters became closely connected with the futurist movement: Pasternak, Aseyev, and Khlebnikov were in love with them at different times. Aseyev married one of them, Oksana; Khlebnikov wrote about them in his poems. One of them, Maria, an artist, illustrated several futurist publications" (Russian Futurism, 244ff).

Nikolai Aseev (1889–1963) was a Russian poet, playwright, and art activist who was close friends with both Vladimir Mayakovsky and Boris Paternak. In addition to the Lyroon group, he also was a key figure in the "Tsentrifuge" (Centrifuge) group alongside Sergei Bobrov and Pasternak. He was also a co-founder of the LEF Group, of Left Front of Arts. The present work was Aseev's second volume of poems, dedicated to his future wife Kseniia Siniakova. The texts demonstrate Aseev's aesthetic proximity to Khlebnikov not only formally, but through a common interest in Slavic folklore, popular culture, and linguistics. "Zor" was published in the year of Marinetti's sensational and controversial visit to Russia.

The cover was designed by Mariia Siniakova (1890–1984), Kseniia's sister and a frequently overlooked female contributor to Russian Futurism. The writer Lilya Brik commented that the futurist movement “was born at the Siniakov family dacha,” which served as a refuge to left-wing artists and poets during WWI, including Velimir Khlebnikov, Boris Pasternak, and Nikolai Aseev. Starting in 1913 Siniakova studied art at the School for Painting and Drawing in Moscow and later at the Art School of Fedor Rerberg. In the same period, she showed her paintings at the Soiuz Molodezhi (Union of Youth) exhibit alongside well-established artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Alexandra Exter, and Vladimir Burliuk. Drawn to Futurist book design, in the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s Siniakova created covers and illustrations to works by Nikolai Aseev, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Kushner and Aleksei Kruchenykh, among others. See: “Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism” in International Yearbook of Futurism Studies, pp. 122–151.

Lithographed reproduction of the autograph manuscript. One of two hundred copies printed. Copies with wrappers on purple and light green stock are also known.

MoMA 87. Getty 48. Salaris, Futurismi nel mondo, pp. 870–873.

As of June 2023, KVK, OCLC show show five paper copies in North America.

Book ID: 52789

Price: $6,500.00