The Avant-Garde Icon

Spira (former curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, now at Christie's) has written a terrific study of the prevalent use of the style and symbol of icons in Russian avant-garde art. Spira is a specialist in Russian icons and provides a detailed introduction to them and their later reception in the volume's first chapters. Examples of their use in art from the avant-garde through contemporary times are discussed in subsequent chapters, with many color plates of the works. Works by Vladimir Tatlin and Kazimir Malevich are among those described in detail. The volume is oversized (9.5x10.5") and distributed in the US by Ashgate. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)