Lot 31: TELINGATER, SOLOMON (1903-1969) Views of Baku Harbour with Quays and Oil Rigs, an Oil Derrick, and the Neftchala Settlement

TELINGATER, SOLOMON (1903-1969)
Views of Baku Harbour with Quays and Oil Rigs, an Oil Derrick, and the Neftchala Settlement, six works, five titled in Cyrillic, each numbered and two dated “28/VI 25 g.” and “8/XI 25g.” in the negative, further one inscribed “kommercheskie suda” on the reverse.
Each gelatin silver print, the largest measuring 17 by 24 cm and the smallest 15 by 21 cm.
Photographed and printed in the 1920s.

Provenance: Collection of the photographer.
Thence by descent.
Acquired directly from the above by the previous owner.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
Private collection, Europe.

Solomon Telingater (1903–1969), a prominent figure of Russian Constructivism, was a Soviet photographer, artist, book illustrator and designer of over 600 books. Telingater studied in Baku and then in VKhUTEMAS, Moscow, under Vladimir Favorsky (1920–1921).

In 1920s–1930s he was at the forefront of the radical Constructivist developments in Russian printing. As a member of the Oktiabr group, he worked closely with the Vesnin brothers, Sergei Eisenstein, Dmitry Moor, Alexander Deineka, Varvara Stepanova, El Lissitzky and Kukryniksy, using photography and photomontage in his book design. After his service during World War II, he continued working as a designer and illustrator for periodicals, such as Iskusstvo kino, and for the popular and academic books, producing cover designs for publications by Alexander Tvardovsky and Ilya Ehrenburg, among many others.