Russian Dada 1914–1924

This volume views Russian avant‑garde art through the lens of Dada. Like the Dadaists, the Russian avant‑gardists whose works appear in this volume strove for internationalism, fused the verbal and visual, and engaged in eccentric practices and pacifist actions, including outrageous performances and anti‑war campaigns.

The works featured in the volume thrive on negation, irony, and absurdity, with the goal of constructing a new aesthetic paradigm that is an alternative to both positivist and rationalist Constructivism as well as metaphysical and cosmic Suprematism.

This book accompanies a major exhibition “Russian Dada” at the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. It includes 250 images, almost all in color, and essays by leading art historians. An appendix provides a wide selection of primary texts — historical writings by such key figures as Nikolai Punin, Kazimir Malevich, Varvara Stepanova, and Aleksandr Rodchenko.