Sergei Gordeev Book Collection

The collection donated to Garage Library by businessman, patron, and politician Sergei Gordeev comprises 500 old and antiquarian books on the subject of art from the 16th to the 20th century. They include Marcus Vitruvius’ treatise De Architectura libri decem (Venice, 1567); a limited edition anthology of materials about the artists of the avant‑garde, Donkey’s Tail and Target (Moscow, 1913); and Designing Housing (Moscow, 1935) by Roman Higer, one of the leading constructivist architects of the 1930s.

As well as books, the donation includes a collection of journals about art and architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Zhar‑ptitsa, Novyi zritel’, Arkhitektura SSSR, and other periodicals. It also includes a selection of books published by the Russian Avant‑Garde Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, which was founded by Gordeev, comprising academic publications about Russian and Soviet avant‑garde artists and books about Ilya Chashnik, Vasily Chekrygin, and many others.