Vav (1919)

El Lissitzky is the artist behind "Vav", dated 1919. About the period around 1919: Posters, magazines, and illustrated books were major ways for the public to meet new art and design. Dada and Surrealism followed the First World War, the Bauhaus school was founded in 1919, and Art Deco became the fashionable decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. Illustration, a short history: Illustration serves a text or a story, a tradition that runs from decorated medieval manuscripts to printed book plates, magazines, and posters. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often described as a golden age of book and magazine illustration. The catalogue places it in Illustration. The format is portrait.

Everything for "Vav" arrives digitally: Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI. Once payment is confirmed, an email brings the download link, and from there you decide how to print it, whether at home, at a print shop, or through an online service. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. Illustrative graphics are valued for their decorative line work and narrative quality, which makes them a strong fit for gallery walls, kids rooms, studies, and more intimate interiors. Matching the frame to the image proportions avoids cropping. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing.

Russian, 1890–1941

If you like the visual language of El Lissitzky, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.