Album “Revolutionary Moscow to the Third Congress of the Communist International”. 1921

“Revolutionary Moscow to the Third Congress of the Communist International”, edition of the Moscow Council, 1921, (101 separate engraving) is one of the first ceremonial illustrated editions of Soviet Russia, published in a limited edition. Printed in the “First Model Printing House” on paper of various grades with parallel text in Russian and French. The album was created by teachers and students of the graphic faculty of VKhUTEMAS under the direction of P. Ya. Pavlinov, I. N. Pavlov, V. A. Favorsky and V. D. Falileev. Engravings were made using different techniques ("etching, lithography, woodcut, linoleum engraving and photomechanics"). Some of them have monograms of authors. A small text is printed on expensive paper from old pre-revolutionary stocks, and illustrations are printed on a variety of paper, which also remained in the warehouses of printing houses.

The publication was intended as a gift to the participants of the Third Congress of the Comintern, which was held in Moscow from June 22 to July 12, 1921, and was prepared on behalf of the Moscow City Council, the highest legislative and executive authority in the Soviet capital. At this time, the chairman of the Moscow Soviet was Lev Borisovich Kamenev, who sought to emphasize the extraordinary importance of the proletariat of Moscow in the success of the revolution. The included graphic works are divided into several sections: “Old Moscow”, “Years of Revolutionary Struggle”, “Soviet Moscow”, “Conquest of Workers”, and “Village”.

Ivan Pavlov, his colleagues and students immediately after 1917 began to work on the images of Old and New Moscow, trying to capture the features of the passing era and the changes that the new reality made. Many of the city’s architectural monuments reflected in the album disappeared in the 1930s due to the master plan for the reconstruction of the capital. Many institutions became iconic for the early Soviet era. A number of mansions and old buildings were turned into museums: the museum of Old Moscow was opened in the former English Club, the Life Museum appeared in the mansion of Count Sologub, the State Book Depository began to operate in the house of Gagarin and so on.