Kooperatsiya ne znayet pogranichnykh stolbov [Cooperation Does Not Recognize Borders], a poster by Ivan Rehrberg (1892–1957), without an artist’s name in the imprint, but signed “I.R.” in plate. Published by VTsSPO, the All-Russian Union of Consumer Cooperatives, Moscow, 1919. 79.5 x 64.5 cm.

An attractive poster that we have offered and highly recommended before, albeit with a somewhat mangled (misdated) description. It was selected for inclusion into the prestigious 2009 exhibition of Soviet posters in Moscow’s Tret’yakov Gallery, which speaks volumes about the high quality of the artist’s design. Our new dating and attribution are consistent with the poster’s description of the on–line catalog of the Russian State Library posters collection. The poster’s slogan is usually tied to the activities of the VTSPO’s foreign trade section (it was adopted as the motto of the first Soviet international trade exhibit in Leipzig, 1922) but in 1919, it was likely used as a more general sense, as an expression of the international character of the cooperative movement.

This is the first Ivan Rehrberg poster we have encountered. The artist was a scion of a prominent Moscow family (originally of Danish descent) that over several generations had produced many important Russian engineers, architects, and artists. A graduate of the prestigious Stroganov Art School, he is remembered primarily as a talented book illustrator.

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