Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko

large-format, credited, titled, and dated by the photographer's daughter, Varvara Rodchenko, in pencil and with the Rodchenko/Stepanova collection stamp on the reverse, 1929

Christie’s London, 6 May 1993, Sale 4963, Lot 169

This print:

Marianne Karabelnik, Stripped Bare: The Body Revealed in Contemporary Art: Works from the Thomas Koerfer Collection (London, 2004), p. 27

Other prints of this image:

Dajesh, No. 17, 1929, there titled The Summer Day

Magdalena Dabrowski, Leah Dickerman, and Peter Galassi, Aleksandr Rodchenko (Museum of Modern Art, 1998), pl. 247

Alexander Lavrentiev, Alexander Rodchenko, Photography 1924-1954 (Cologne, 1995), pp. 150-51

Andréi B. Nakov, Rodtchenko, Photographe (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1977), unpaginated

Alexandr Rodčenko, I Grandi Fotografi–serie argento (Milan, 1983), p. 36

Alexander Rodchenko (Pantheon, 1986), pl. 38

Soviet Photography: An Age of Realism (New York, 1980), p. 81

20 Soviet Photographers (Amsterdam, 1990), pl. 108

 

Due to its large size and its rhythmic alternation between light and dark, this print has a great deal of dramatic impact. The print is in very fine condition. It is trimmed to the image. There is inconsequential sporadic wear on the print's edges, and a crease in the upper right corner which is only visible upon close examination. Nothing, however, detracts from the overwhelming fine appearance of this bravura print. The reverse is shows some age-darkening, and occasional soiling.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photograph offered here is a large, exhibition-sized print of one of Rodchenko’s most enduring images.  Composed of rhythmic lines that march diagonally across the picture plane, Rodchenko’s image embodies the rigorous photographic Modernism he pioneered.  As is frequently the case with Rodchenko, the picture’s austere aesthetic is warmed by the inclusion of a human element: in this case, a mother carrying her child in her arms and ascending the stairs. 

The photograph was an important one for Rodchenko from the time of its making: it was first published in 1929, in the magazine Dajesh, with the alternate title, The Summer Day. Rodchenko included it in his section of the lauded 1935 Exhibition of the Work of the Masters of Soviet Photography in Moscow.  At the time, Rodchenko – like many of his fellow artists and writers – had begun to lose favor with Stalin’s increasingly authoritarian government, and this important exhibition afforded Rodchenko some much needed approbation.  Since his death, Steps has been extensively reproduced and exhibited. Like the famous Odessa Steps passage in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film, Battleship Potemkin, Rodchenko’s image has become a touchstone for Russian visual art of the early 20^th century. 

This photograph shows the steps of Moscow’s 19^th-century Orthodox Church of the Holy Savior. Like Rodchenko, the church was the victim of the Russian government’s rapidly shifting objectives.  It was razed in the early 1930s to clear the way for construction of the Palace of the Soviets—a project that was never realized.