El Lissitzky (1890–1941), one of the most eminent figures of Soviet avant-garde art, had been in contact with the Swiss art scene and its like-minded protagonists since 1919. In 1924–25, he spent several months at a sanatorium in the Swiss canton of Ticino to treat his pulmonary tuberculosis. Despite the illness, he created key works in his oeuvre during this time, spanning fields of architecture, graphic design and typography, and fine art. Together with Jean Arp, he wrote the book Die Kunstismen (“The Artisms”), which was published by a Swiss publishing house in 1925 and became a milestone in the evolution of New Typography and graphic art in Switzerland. He also contributed to the Swiss architecture magazine ABC, Beiträge zum Bauen.
A century later, this book takes a fresh look at El Lissitzky from the perspective of his host country at the time, arranged in thematic chapters about architecture, typography, and graphic design, Lissitzky as an artist and theorist, and his relationship to Switzerland. The illustrations bring together for the first time all the important works by the great avant-gardist in the collections of Swiss museums, including parts of a previously unpublished portfolio held at the Musee d’art et d’histoire in Geneva.
