Ginés Garrido, Mélnikov en París, 1925

Reporting on the Soviet Pavilion at the International Exposition of Decorative Arts of 1925 for the Moscow weekly magazine Ogonek, Ilia Ehrenburg registered the range of opinions about Konstantin Melnikov's ephemeral structure circulating in Paris. "Mr. Nouveau-riche" thought it "a glass cage for the red beast." The architect Le Corbusier, the painter Fernand Lger and the poet Pierre Mac Orlan allegedly called it "the only pavilion at the exposition worth seeing." 1 The mixed reception of this first international manifestation of the new architecture that had been cultivated in Moscow's schools and studios in the aftermath of the October Revolution was a symptom of the uncertain relationship among the young USSR and the other countries participating in the exposition. France's belated invitation to the USSR to participate was likewise a product of uncertainty about the Soviet Union's place in the world. Thanks largely to the efforts of Edouard Herriot and Anatole de Monzie, France established diplomatic relations with the USSR in late October 1924. On 1 November, the Soviet Union was invited to participate in the International Exposition, which was scheduled to run from May to October 1925. In Mlnikov en Pars, 1925, Gins Garrido describes the rapid and complex succession of events that produced one of the twentieth century's most arresting and enigmatic buildings. 2 Garrido takes the trajectory of Melnikov and his project for the Soviet Pavilion from Moscow in late 1924, to Paris in 1925, and back to Moscow in 1926 as his organizing principle, though the ambitions of his book are far broader than this itinerary might suggest. Melnikov's pavilion is important to Garrido because "within it is condensed

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