A captivating portrait of futurist artist Iliazd infused with the
reflections of his accidental biographer on the stickiness of the
genre. The poet Ilia Zdanevich, known in his professional life as
Iliazd, began his career in the pre-Revolutionary artistic circles
of Russian futurism. By the end of his life, he was the publisher
of deluxe limited edition books in Paris. The recent subject of
major exhibitions in Moscow, his native Tbilisi, New York, and
other venues, the work of Iliazd has been prized by bibliophiles
and collectors for its exquisite book design and innovative
typography. Iliazd collaborated with many major figures of modern
art-Pablo Picasso, Sonia Delaunay, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Natalia
Goncharova, and Mikhail Larionov, among others. His 1949 anthology,
The Poetry of Unknown Words, was the first international anthology
of experimental visual and sound poetry ever published. The list of
contributors is a veritable "Who's Who" of avant-garde writing and
visual art. And Iliazd's unique hands-on engagement with book
production and design makes him the ideal case study for
considering the book as a modern art form. Iliazd is the first
full-length biography of the poet-publisher, as well as the first
comprehensive English-language study of his life and work. Johanna
Drucker weaves two stories together: the history of Iliazd's work
as a modern artist and poet, and the narrative of the author's
encounter with his widow and other figures in the process of
researching his biography. Drucker's reflection on what a
biographical project entails addresses questions about the
relationship between documentary evidence and narrative, between
contemporary witnesses and retrospective accounts. Ultimately,
Drucker asks how we should understand the connection between the
life of an artist and their work. Enriched with photographs from
the Iliazd archive and a wealth of primary documents, the book is a
vivid account of a unique contributor to modernism-and to the way
we continue to reevaluate the history of twentieth-century culture.
Accounts of Drucker's research during the mid-1980s in the personal
archive of Madame Helene Zdanevich, the poet's widow, lend the
narrative an incredible intimacy. Drucker recounts how, sitting in
the studio that Iliazd occupied from the late 1930s until his death
in 1975, she was drawn into the circle of scholars who had made him
their focus and were doing foundational work on his significance.
She also coped with the difference between the widow's view of the
artist as a man she loved and Drucker's own perception of Iliazd's
significance within a critical approach to history. Iliazd is at
once a rich study of a significant figure and a thoughtful
reflection on the way a biography creates an encounter with its
always absent subject.
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