Review of N.Yu. Molok’s Monograph David Arkin: “The Ideologue of Cosmopolitanism” in Architecture

Abstract

The New Literary Observer (NLO) publishing house published a scientific biography of David Arkin, one of the most famous architectural critics, whose influence on the artistic life of the country persisted for almost forty years from the early 1920s to the late 1940s. The source-based nature of the work, the core of which is unique archival materials, does not negate the strong impression that the monograph leaves on the reader. In addition to the remarkable text by N.Yu. Molok, the work has a large, carefully selected documentary block that gives an idea of the metamorphoses that happened in different years not only to David Arkin and his colleagues, but also to the country as a whole. Looking at the fate of one of the brightest and most talented people of his time from a close distance, it is especially frightening to see how certain artistic ideas, theories, tastes or sincere beliefs were transformed into an instrument first of professional and personal, and then political and ideological struggle.

Keywords

• david arkin
• architectural criticism
• industrial art
• ideology
• constructivism
• fight against cosmopolitanism
• fight against excesses