POSTER: VALENTINA KULAGINA (1902-1987) MY GOTOVY KOBORONE [WE ARE PREPARED FOR DEFENSE.] 1930. 35x25 inches. Gosydarstvennoe Uzdatelctvo, Mosco

VALENTINA KULAGINA (1902-1987) MY GOTOVY KOBORONE [WE ARE PREPARED FOR DEFENSE.] 1930.
35 1/2x25 7/8 inches. Gosydarstvennoe Uzdatelctvo, Moscow.
Condition B+: repaired tears in margins; minor restored loss in image; vertical and horizontal folds.
Best known as being the wife of Gustav Klutsis, Valentina Kulagina was an exceptional artist in her own right, working on exhibition designs, posters and book designs. She met her future husband in 1920 when she enrolled as a student at Vkhutemas, where he was teaching. Together they worked closely on photomontages, taking pictures at parades (and sometimes posing themselves), to capture the enthusiastic movement of the masses which they needed to fulfill various assignments. At the end of the 1920s, she departed from the sole use of photographic material in her work and began to incorporate graphic elements within her montages. This was unique at a time when photography had been unofficially adapted as the primary tool of the graphic propaganda machine. Here, three monolithic, geometrically stylized red soldiers are marching boldly to ensure the defense of the Soviet state. Klutsis / Kulagina 134.