The Russian poster & art of Sergey Ignatevich Datskevich
Sergey Datskevich, Фурtуна / Furtuna [Fortune], 1959, offset lithograph poster, 29 x 39 inches. 1. The Constructivist tradition Russian movie posters from the 1920s are internationally known for their application of geometric abstraction known as Constructivism, in stark contrast to the rather bland posters coming out of the United States and England during the same period which featured head shots of major players and reproductions of film stills, usually with no artistic element apart from an emphasis on graphic design which tended towards generic (Tupitsyn 2009). Utilising stone lithography, collage and photomontage in dramatic, angular forms, and often utilising close-up, deformed, despairing or glamorous facial features, Russian movie posters are now seen as masterpieces of graphic design and greatly valued by collectors and cultural institutions alike (Pack 2017). As one commentator has noted: Constructivist artists were committed to complete abstraction with a devotio