1939 Zdeněk Rykr Mluvící pásmo

Zdeněk Rykr (illustrations), Milada Součková (author) Mluvící pásmo [Speaking Zone] Prague, Self-Published by the Artist, 1939. Coated paper wrappers with lithographic titles and geometrical design. Spiral binding. With (6) full page linoleum cuts by Rykr. Hand-numbered, copy 60 from an edition of 100. This copy with a single ink stamp from the library of the Czechoslovak Cultural Attache in Paris, circa the year of publication. Format: 29.5 x 24.5cm. Zdeněk Rykr (1900-1940) was a prolific and committed member of the Czech avant-garde. In addition to his career as a commercial illustrator and preeminent poster designer, Rykr also excelled in the position of lead stage designer at Národní divadlo [The Czech National Theater] during the mid-to-late 1920s. His commitment to political activism is clear from his 1920s and 1930s cover illustrations for the important satirical magazine Trn. Rykr committed suicide in 1940 to avoid arrest by the Gestapo, which intended to arrest and deport him due to his pollical views and subtle anti-Nazi resistance activities. Though his work with modernist posters was widely understood, due to his untimely death in tragic circumstances, Rykr’s small production of masterpiece artist’s books in the late 1930s did not come to the attention of scholars and art historians until the early 1990s. A voluminous monograph, written by art historian Vojtěch Lahoda and published in 2000, finally brought Rykr’s work with artist’s books to the attention of international audiences, and thus the artist has finally taken his rightful place alongside his contemporaries as a pillar of avant-garde design in inter-war Czechoslovakia Of the small handful of books created by Rykr and his wife Milada, the present volume is widely thought to be the most beautiful and important, issued in an edition of just 100 numbered copies, and featuring (6) full-page abstract color linocuts bound-in.