Konstantin Bor-Ramensky, cover of Soviet Travel: An Illustrated Monthly, January 1934

Artist’s printed monogram БорР in light blue at lower right

Quarto size (215 x 275 mm)

Inv. no. ST_1_1934

The English-language Soviet Travel: An Illustrated Monthly began publication in Moscow in 1932. Over the following years, it was advertised as publishing articles “by leading Soviet writers on all points of interest in the Soviet Union. … Profusely illustrated with photographs of Soviet life and the scenic wonders of one sixth of the globe.” It was intended both to offer an idealized view of the Soviet Union to readers, even those who might only be “arm chair travelers,” but also to drum up business for Intourist, the newly created official state travel agency, and to support Soviet industries looking for commercial outlets abroad.

In addition to the photographs, the wrappers were printed with brightly colored graphics and advertisements by graphic designers in styles often influence by Constructivism, a movement soon to be excoriated as a kind of formalism alien to Soviet viewers. Editor-in-Chief Leon Abramovich Blok (or Block) and Managing Editor I.A. Urasov engaged early Soviet graphic artists who are now often unfairly forgotten, including Konstantin Bor-Ramensky (1900–1943). His cover for the January 1934 issue is among the most interesting in the series. Cover designs frequently relied on recognizable Moscow monuments to serve as a background for a scene promising leisurely tourism. Bor-Ramensky’s image, on the other hand, shows a Soviet land brimming with energy. In the tourist’s eye, two great red mountains with palm trees almost crackling with electricity part, only just revealing a modern, industrialized Soviet city in the far distance. The cityscape is composed of generalized, rounded forms influenced as much by Art Deco as the post-war “Return to Order” championed by Fernand Leger and others. This scene is illuminated by the radiant yellow light of a Cubist sun that incorporates two distant peaks. The image is composed so that the viewer is drawn from a dark mountain pass toward a distant, but ideal Soviet modern city. Certainly, this was intended as a visual metaphor for what the foreign tourist was meant to discover on their visit to the Soviet Union, even if reality might ultimately disappoint them.

Sadly, the immensely talented designer’s life came to an end with the German invasion in June 1941. Bor-Ramensky immediately joined the military to take part in the defense of his country. He was wounded in November 1943 in the Smolensk region and died in a field hospital shortly thereafter.