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PUBLISHER
FUEL Publishing

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 8 x 6.5 in. / 248 pgs / 220 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2019 p. 49   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780995745568 TRADE
List Price: $34.95 CAD $49.95

AVAILABILITY
In stock

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NA ONLY

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FUEL PUBLISHING

Soviet Metro Stations

By Christopher Herwig. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Essay by Owen Hatherley.

Soviet Metro Stations

From the author of Soviet Bus Stops, an underground trip through the Soviet Metro

“For us,” said Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in his memoirs, “there was something supernatural about the Metro.” Visiting any of the dozen or so Metro networks built across the Soviet Union between the 1930s and 1980s, it is easy to see why. Rather than the straightforward systems of London, Paris or New York, these subways were used as a propaganda artwork—a fusion of sculpture, architecture and art that combined Byzantine, medieval, baroque and constructivist ideas and infused them with the notion that communism would mean a “communal luxury” for all. Today these astonishing spaces remain the closest realization of a Soviet utopia.
Following his bestselling quest for Soviet Bus Stops, Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig has completed a subterranean expedition photographing the stations of each Metro network of Russia and the former Eastern Bloc countries. From extreme marble and chandelier opulence to brutal futuristic minimalist glory, Soviet Metro Stations documents this wealth of diverse architecture. Along the way Herwig captures the elements that make up this singular Soviet experience: neon, concrete, escalators, signage, mosaics and relief sculptures all combine to build a vivid map of the Soviet Metro.
Soviet Metro Stations includes an introduction by the leading architectural and political writer Owen Hatherley, author of the acclaimed books Landscapes of Communism (2015), Trans-Europe Express (2018) and The Adventures of Owen Hatherley in the Post-Soviet Space.


Featured image is reproduced from 'Soviet Metro Stations.'

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Colossal

Andrew Lasane

Herwig’s images take viewers on a journey through the architectural and political influences of decades past.

Calvert Journal

Christopher Herwig celebrate[s] the metro’s expansive architectural legacy, travelling as far as Tashkent and Baku.

Fast Company

Adele Peters

Herwig suggests [with his photographs] that if owning a car was the American dream, a world-class subway was pushed as part of the Soviet dream.

Boing Boing

Mesmerizingly gorgeous...

WIRED

Laura Mallone

Herwig's photos ... break the underground open like a geode to reveal the intricate world within. Each station seems more imaginative than the next...looking ahead toward a space-traveling, futuristic utopia.

The Spaces

Tish Wrigley

Already alive to the unexpected beauty of Soviet bus stops, photographer Christopher Herwig now turns his lens on the grandeur of Soviet design below ground.

ArchDaily

Christopher Herwig has completed a subterranean expedition photographing the stations of each Metro network of the former USSR. From extreme marble and chandelier opulence to brutal futuristic minimalist glory, Soviet Metro Stations documents this wealth of diverse architecture.

The Guardian

Christopher Herwig spent many early mornings capturing the pre-rush-hour emptiness of Soviet metro stations with their exhilarating mix of propaganda, exquisite mosaics and cosmic lighting fixtures.

Cool Hunting

From Kyivska’s Kharkiv Metro to Moscow’s Tulskaya stop, Christopher Herwig photographs Soviet-era train stations all over Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and beyond. The project (and now book) follows his previous endeavor photographing bus stations, and the result is quite stunning. Whether featuring opulent chandeliers and luxurious marble or mosaics celebrating hard work, each subterranean scene is a peek behind what was the Iron Curtain.

Dezeen

Lizzie Crook

Herwig's photography [in Soviet Metro Stations] gives an insight into the array of political influences and architectural styles seen during the Soviet era.

CNN

Tamara Hardingham-Gill

[Soviet Metro Stations] is a stunning collection of images showcasing the elaborate stations that feature a mix of Byzantine, medieval, baroque architectural styles, and the stories behind them.

LA Weekly

Shana Nys Dambrot

[Herwig's] photographs are hyper-perfect, composed for maximum effect to showcase each station’s dramatically unique personality, energy, opulence and cathedral-like scale.

Soviet Metro Stations

in stock  $34.95


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FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/9/2019

'Soviet Metro Stations' is NEW from Fuel Publishing!

'Soviet Metro Stations' is NEW from Fuel Publishing!

Featured stations (Avtovo, Saint Petersburg and Elektrozavodskaya, Moscow) are reproduced from Soviet Metro Stations, the new book from Christopher Herwig, author of previous Fuel bestsellers Soviet Stops I and II. In his essay, “The Heavens Underground,” Owen Hatherley advocates looking at Soviet Metro stations not nostalgically, but based on the urgent needs of the twenty-first century. “We all know that urban economies based on private transport are completely unsustainable—wasteful of resources, poorly organized and hugely destructive of urban and rural space—but we also know that the desire to have a car, to be in one, and to dream of the dubious delights of totally private transport is a powerful force. Rather than attempting to counter this with ordinary buses and shabby tubes, we need another dream to pose against the car. This is where the Soviet Metro truly comes in… as existing spaces, these stations incarnate something important. That is, what Bini Adamczak… calls ‘Communist desire’—the desire to live in a Communist way, in truly Communist spaces. These incredible halls, where some of the greatest art and architecture of the twentieth century is just part of your daily routine, and where head-spinningly dreamlike communal spaces are also places you go through on your way to meet friends, go to work, go to the cinema or the football—these are much more than scattered remnants of a vainglorious empire. They’re an unsurpassed vision of what the public spaces of the Communist future could be like everywhere.” continue to blog


CHRISTOPHER HERWIG MONOGRAPHS + ARTIST'S BOOKS

Soviet Metro Stations

SOVIET METRO STATIONS

FUEL Publishing

ISBN: 9780995745568
USD $34.95
| CAD $49.95

Pub Date: 9/24/2019
Active | In stock


Soviet Bus Stops

SOVIET BUS STOPS

FUEL Publishing

ISBN: 9780993191183
USD $32.50
| CAD $42.5

Pub Date: 9/26/2017
Active | In stock


Soviet Bus Stops

SOVIET BUS STOPS

FUEL Publishing

ISBN: 9780993191107
USD $32.50
| CAD $42.5

Pub Date: 9/29/2015
Active | In stock