wiedler.ch

book (design) story #289

ernst toller, joseph roth, alfons goldschmidt:
das moskauer jüdische akademische theater

verlag die schmiede, berlin, 1928
size: 24 x 17 cm
designer: georg salter (cover)

in the young soviet union many russian jews were developing an avant-garde culture merging revolutionary ideology and jewish identity. one of these efforts was the moscow state yiddish theatre – also known as "goset" (derived from the russian initials). among the famous artists involved in the jewish theatre of moscow was marc chagall (but he left the soviet union in 1922).

jewish writers ernst toller (1893-1939), joseph roth (1894-1939) and alfons goldschmidt (1879-1940) contributed to this book which was published when the theatre was on a tour through europe. after ww2 stalin lanched a campain to purge the soviet intelligentsia from jews, the moscow state yiddish theatre was closed, and numerous of its members executed in 1952.

this unusual cover was designed by georg salter (1897-1967) – like most books published by "die schmiede" which was run by his brother julius salter. salter often used stencil style lettering (see story 258). stencil typefaces – with their functional, machine-age approach – were propagated and designed by bauhaus masters (josef albers, herbert bayer) and also used by le corbusier (story 248). also paul renner designed a stencil display typeface (see story 266). according to the impressum georg salter also designed the logo: "jt" in gold on an inverted triangle in a greenish yellow.

georg salter often put his signature on his jackets and covers. next to the "r" in the lower right corner there are sort of initials – maybe "sa" for salter, but i am not quite sure.

below a stage photo from the comedy "200'000" after stories by sholem aleichem (1859-1916) whose "tevye the milkman" later became famous as a musical, called "fiddler on the roof".