Lot 56: ALEXANDER YAKOVLEVICH BYKHOVSKY

ALEXANDER YAKOVLEVICH BYKHOVSKY 1888-1978 AEROPLANE signed with initials in Cyrillic l.r. collage and mixed media image size: 33 by 22.5cm., 13 by 8 3/4 in.

An ardent revolutionary, Alexandr Bykhovsky was at his most active in the 1920s in Moscow where he undertook work for Narkompros, The People's Committee for Enlightenment, and the House of Aviation. His bold constructivist-inspired designs drew on the cubo-futurist forms of Alexandra Exter under whom he studied in Kiev in 1910. Using a highly original visual language, characterised by a near monochrome palette and dynamic trajectories, such as his recurring "zigzag" motif, he was able to translate three-dimensional forms into the strict, two-dimensional aesthetic of graphic design. To the modern viewer, Bykhovsky's compositions of planes caught in spotlight beams and dogfights are among his most successful, anchoring his striking designs in the nostalgia of the early Soviet era with which avant-garde graphic art has come to be associated.