“Becoming a Bear” in Berlin
Rodchenko’s Photographs to Mayakovsky’s Pro eto
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Aleksandr Rodchenko’s photomontages to Vladimir Mayakovsky’s love poem Pro eto in 1923 gave expression to the close cultural connection between Moscow and Berlin. The avantgarde artist was inspired by George Grosz’s watercolour collages and used excerpts from illustrated magazines in Berlin, as well as a photographic image that anticipates his later bird’s eye view. Places in Berlin, such as the villa home of silent film diva Henny Porten and the Zoological Garden, became the venue of Mayakovsky’s Russian tale in verse. But Prussian militarism is also present among the illustrations.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2015, pp. 125–140)