Zhar – Ptitsa. Ezhemesiachnyi Literaturno Khudozhestvennyi Zhurnal

Berlin and Paris: Russkoe Iskusstvo, 1921-1926. Seven issues (No. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12); 9 ½ x 12 ½; all first editions except #1 and #2 which are the second edition of the same corresponding months; illustrated throughout including numerous plates mounted on leaves with captions printed; pages mostly very clean (No. 12 has small chips to upper corners of covers and a spot to fore-edge of first 2 pages only; No. 6 has faint foxing to lower margin of first 2 pages); colors bright; few small chips to corners of wraps (not affecting illustrations); some wear to spines with some loss of paper; #11 missing front cover, else all pages and wraps present and securely attached; slight age-toning to covers; overall in very good condition.Possibly the most influential and famous of the post-revolutionary art and literature journals, Zhar-Ptitsa (Firebird) was first printed in Berlin in 1921. A total of 14 issues were published at irregular intervals from 1921 to 1926. A magnificent journalistic endeavor, it represented the Russian culture abroad and challenged the boundaries between the Bolshevik agents and the immigrant intellectuals at the time. Contributors included Konstantin Somov – a brilliant artist who immigrated to the United States after the revolution but finding the atmosphere “absolutely alien to his art†he eventually ended up in Paris; Alexander Benois – the founding member of Mir Iskusstva; Ivan Bilibin – the illustrator and stage designer who moved to Paris after the October Revolution but longing for his country returned home in 1936 to ultimately die during the Siege of Leningrad; Natalia Goncharova – the great niece of Alexander Pushkin and one of the most revered Russian Avant-garde artists – and many others including all the members of Mir Iskusstva. The latter was not only an art journal but an artistic movement which was said to have revolutionized European art at the beginning of the 20th century. Vengerov, Staraia Russkaia Kniga, 105.Rarely seen on the market.*Please inquire about individual issues.