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Magazines Chizh, Yozh, and Kharms
Bulgakov Museum
2011
2011
The exhibition was dedicated to the illustration of children's poems by Daniil Kharms and other authors of the OBERIU group, created by Leningrad artists in the 1920s and 1930s.
The magazine "Yozh" ("The Hedgehog"), published in Leningrad between 1928 and 1935, was aimed at children aged 11−13 and positioned itself as a humorous publication. Its informal editorial leader and key advisor was Samuil Marshak, while the official editor-in-chief was Nikolai Oleynikov, who brought in his fellow OBERIU writers: Daniil Kharms, Nikolai Zabolotsky, and Alexander Vvedensky, all associated with the surrealist literary group "Union of Real Art" (Obyedinenie Realnogo Iskusstva).
The magazine’s visual design was handled by a remarkable group of Leningrad artists, many of whom would later become canonical figures of Soviet graphic art: Vladimir Konashevich, Alexei Pakhomov, Vladimir Lebedev, Nikolai Tyrsa, Yuri Vasnetsov, Valentin Kurdov, Nikolai Radlov, and Evgeny Charushin.
In 1930, in response to requests from younger readers of "Yozh", the editorial team launched "Chizh" ("The Siskin", short for "Chrezvychayno interesny zhurnal", or "Extremely Interesting Magazine")—a monthly aimed at children aged 5−8. It was initially overseen by Yevgeny Shvarts and again Nikolai Oleynikov.
For the writers and artists of OBERIU, these children’s magazines became both a creative outlet and a means of survival, as their "adult" works were censored and unpublished. Despite this constraint, they formed a brilliant and witty community of authors and illustrators who took full advantage of the format to experiment—with comics, abstract formal photography, and Dadaist poetry.
The magazines' playful and subtly subversive nature inevitably led to their closure. By 1937−1938, many of the contributors had been arrested and repressed.
The exhibition featured original magazine spreads with poems by Kharms and other OBERIU authors accompanied by illustrations; biographical materials on the writers and artists; and contemporary animated interpretations of Kharms's poems by visual artists.
The magazine "Yozh" ("The Hedgehog"), published in Leningrad between 1928 and 1935, was aimed at children aged 11−13 and positioned itself as a humorous publication. Its informal editorial leader and key advisor was Samuil Marshak, while the official editor-in-chief was Nikolai Oleynikov, who brought in his fellow OBERIU writers: Daniil Kharms, Nikolai Zabolotsky, and Alexander Vvedensky, all associated with the surrealist literary group "Union of Real Art" (Obyedinenie Realnogo Iskusstva).
The magazine’s visual design was handled by a remarkable group of Leningrad artists, many of whom would later become canonical figures of Soviet graphic art: Vladimir Konashevich, Alexei Pakhomov, Vladimir Lebedev, Nikolai Tyrsa, Yuri Vasnetsov, Valentin Kurdov, Nikolai Radlov, and Evgeny Charushin.
In 1930, in response to requests from younger readers of "Yozh", the editorial team launched "Chizh" ("The Siskin", short for "Chrezvychayno interesny zhurnal", or "Extremely Interesting Magazine")—a monthly aimed at children aged 5−8. It was initially overseen by Yevgeny Shvarts and again Nikolai Oleynikov.
For the writers and artists of OBERIU, these children’s magazines became both a creative outlet and a means of survival, as their "adult" works were censored and unpublished. Despite this constraint, they formed a brilliant and witty community of authors and illustrators who took full advantage of the format to experiment—with comics, abstract formal photography, and Dadaist poetry.
The magazines' playful and subtly subversive nature inevitably led to their closure. By 1937−1938, many of the contributors had been arrested and repressed.
The exhibition featured original magazine spreads with poems by Kharms and other OBERIU authors accompanied by illustrations; biographical materials on the writers and artists; and contemporary animated interpretations of Kharms's poems by visual artists.
Curator & Exhibition Design
Aleksandra Selivanova
Research
Ivan Nazarov
Nadezhda Plungyan
Installation
Irina Bokun
Aleksandra Selivanova
Research
Ivan Nazarov
Nadezhda Plungyan
Installation
Irina Bokun
