A leading representative of the Russian avant-garde, Alexander Rodchenko (1891– 1956), revolutionized the world of graphic art, design and photography. There are more than 250 illustrations featured in this volume and it is this fulsome range that helped me to grasp the force of this innovator. In fact, I devoured it.

It is more than  a collection of his work. As Rodchenko’s camera captured images, he didn’t just experiment with interesting angles, with light and shade, but also captured the Soviet World and its inhabitants. He drew back the curtain on a fascinating era. I feel one could call him a photo journalist. I had a sense that it wasn’t just the image that was important for him, but that which he was photographing. He was interested in the world – did he also want to modernize that, as well as the world of photographic images?

All of this, for me, gives the book an important and emphatic depth.

Rodchenko’s works bear witness to his many collaborations and friendships, evoking not just the image of a brilliantly creative personality but a unique phase in twentieth-century history. I kept turning the pages, admiring his brave perspectives and aware that I was examining the advance guard of photography today.

Complementing the volume are contributions by Olga Sviblova, the director of the House of Photography / Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow, by the grandson of the artist and leading scholar of his work Alexander Lavrentiev, in addition to writings and testimonies by Rodchenko himself and his daughter Varvara.

I found this publication by Skira in turn moving, fascinating and enlightening. It is an overview. It made me want to see his work in exhibition.

Alexander Rodchenko by Olga Sviblova.   Hb Skira £36.00