Dr Catherine Cooke, a world-renowned expert on Soviet architecture and design, spent decades amassing a vast and eclectic collection of thousands of books, journals, postcards and other ephemera before her tragic death at the height of her intellectual powers in 2004, aged 61.
A Soviet Design for Life: The Catherine Cooke Collection of 20th Century Russian Architecture and Design is on display at Cambridge University Library’s Exhibition Centre from now until April 6, 2013 (admission free).
Containing rare and unusual items, many on display for the first time, A Soviet Design for Life chronicles life in Russia from the late Tsarist period to perestroika through the prism of art, architecture and design.
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Image: Detail from 'How many millions are starving? Ten' by Vladimir Maiakovskii Credit: Cambridge University Library
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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A Soviet Design for Life
5 July 2012
A unique tour through the Soviet century – via one woman’s extraordinary collection of books, propaganda posters, ration coupons and even cigarette packets – is the focus of a new exhibition now open to the public.