David Davidovich Burliuk (Дави́д Дави́дович Бурлю́к; 21 July 1882 – 15 January 1967) was a Russian poet, artist and publicist of Ukrainian origin associated with the Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as "the father of Russian Futurism."
David Burliuk was born on 21 July 1882 in the village of Riabushky (near Lebedyn, Ukraine) in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire. Burliuk's family was artistically inclined; two of his brothers were talented artists as well, Nikolai and Volodimir Burliuk. The Burliuk family partly descended from Ukrainian Cossacks on their father's side, who held premier positions in the Hetmanate. His mother, Ludmyla Mikhnevich, was of ethnic Belarusian descent.[1]
Education, career
From 1898 to 1904, he studied at Kazan and Odesa art schools, as well as at the Royal Academy in Munich.[2] His exuberant, extroverted character was recognized by Anton Azhbe, his professor at the Munich Academy, who called Burliuk a "wonderful wild steppe horse".[3]
In 1907, he made contact with the Russian art world; he met and befriended Mikhail Larionov, and they are both credited as being major forces in bringing together the contemporary art world.[4] In 1908, an exhibition with the group Zveno ("The Link") in Kiev was organized by David Burliuk together with Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, Alexander Bogomazov, his brother Volodymyr (Wladimir) Burliuk and Aleksandra Ekster. The exhibition was a flop, especially because they were all unknown painters.[4] The Burliuks and Larionov left for the aforementioned brothers' home in Chernianka, also known as Hylea; it was during this stay that their work became more Avant-Garde. That autumn, while visiting Ekster, they organized an exhibition which took place in the street; it was a success, and enough money was raised to go to Moscow.[4]
In 1909, Burliuk painted a portrait of his future wife, Marussia, on a background of flowers and rocks on the Crimean coast. Many times thereafter he would set the image of his wife to canvas. Without question, two dreams possessed his heart all his life: the face of his wife and the portrait of his Ukraine and then his adopted country, the United States.[citation needed]
The Futurist literary group Hylaea (Гилея [Gileya]) was initiated in 1910 by David Burlyuk and his brothers at their aforementioned estate near Kherson, and were quickly joined by Vasily Kamensky and Velimir Khlebnikov, with Aleksey Kruchenykh and Vladimir Mayakovsky joining in 1911.[5] Soon afterwards, the group would morph into literary Cubo-Futurism, the predominant form of Futurism in Russia.
From the start to the end, Cubo-Futurism always had an air of scandal about it. The artists and poets scandalized the public by walking in public spaces wearing ridiculous clothes and painting their faces,[4] by writing plays incomprehensible to the public (the most notorious being Victory over the Sun, about a group of Futurists aiming to destroy reason), and by the fights between them and the audience at their poetry recitations.[6] In 1913–4, Mayakovsky, Kamensky, and Burliuk decided to go on poetry tours; fury almost always followed, even on an occasion when Mayakovsky read Pushkin. Alexander Rodchenko later claimed that that specific recital "was the first time I had seen such a frenzied, furious audience".[6] Even during the First World War their activities carried on: at the 1915 Christmas Party, hosted by Lilya and Osip Brik, the tree was hung from the roof, upside-down, and the guests arrived with vegetables in their buttonholes and in bizarre makeup.[6] Russian Futurism would only end after the Revolution of 1917.
Most of the Cubo-Futurists also resisted the Futurists in Italy. A brief alliance with their rivals, the Ego-Futurists, did not end very well. Burliuk's colleague Velimir Khlebnikov also developed Zaum, a poetry style.
From 1910, he was the member of the group Jack of Diamonds, and from 1910 to 1911 he attended the Art School in Odessa. After 1911, David concentrated on poetry and manifestoes, and at Christmas he made the acquaintance of Benedikt Livshits, a poet.[4] From 1911 to 1913, he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MUZHVZ), and that year participated in the group exhibition of the Blaue Reiter in Munich, which also included his brother Wladimir. He also contributed an article to the Blaue Reiter Almanac.
In 1913, he was expelled from the Art Academy, as well as Mayakovsky. In the same year, Burliuk founded the publishing venture of the futurist writer's group Hylaea. In 1914, he and his brother Wladimir illustrated Kamensky's Tango with Cows, and in 1915 Burliuk published the book The Support of the Muses in Spring, with illustrations by Aristarkh Lentulov, and by David and Wladimir Burliuk.
David Burliuk, Revolution, 1917 Promotional poster for Burliuk's Four-dimensional Radio-style.
In 1916, his brother Wladimir Burliuk was drafted into military service, and in 1917 was killed in World War I in Saloniki. The next year, following the downfall of anarchism (he had befriended anarchists during the time he lived in an abandoned house), Burliuk fled Russia and began his journey to the United States, a process that took him through Siberia, Japan, and Canada which was not complete until 1922.[7] He kept in contact with his fellow Futurists in Russia, and, despite not knowing a word of English, managed to befriend artist and patron Katherine Dreier, establishing himself among the artists of that country.[8] In 1922, he settled in the United States.[2]
In 1924 Burliuk published two Radio-style manifestos detailing a utopian art that would transcend space-time and aid in humanity's pursuit of knowledge and perfection.[9] A collasal sized painting from this period titled Advent of the Mechanical Man, 1925–26, was exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum's 1926 International Exhibition of Modern Art Assembled by Société Anonyme.
In New York, Burliuk developed activity in pro-Soviet oriented groups and, having written a poem for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, sought, in particular, to gain recognition as the "father of Russian futurism". He was a regular contributor to the Russian Voice newspaper. Burliuk published his collections, brochures, and magazines together with his wife Maria Nikiforovna, and through friends he distributed these publications mainly within the USSR.[10]
In the 1930s, Onya La Tour was an avid collector of modern art who acquired at least one hundred works by Burliuk.[11]
In 1940, Burliuk petitioned the Soviet government for a request to visit his homeland. In exchange, he offered a sizeable collection of archival material pertaining to his contemporary and friend Vladimir Mayakovsky, which Burliuk offered to donate to the Mayakovsky Museum in addition to over 100 original paintings. Burliuk's requests were denied. He was allowed to visit the Soviet Union only in 1956[2] and 1965.
In 1962, he and his wife traveled to Australia where he held an exhibition at Moreton Galleries, Brisbane. It was his only Australian exhibition. During his stay there, Burliuk painted some sketches and works with Australian views. From 1937 to 1966, Burliuk and his wife, Marusia, published Color & Rhyme, a journal primarily concerned with charting Burliuk's activities.[7]
In Russian poetry, Burliuk is regarded as a trailblazer. In 1990, the Russian Academy of Futurist Poetry established the David Burliuk Prize (Otmetina) for experimental poetry awarded annually.[14]
Trivia
Burliuk appears in Part III of the Vladimir Mayakovsky's landmark poem A Cloud in Trousers (A Cloud in Pants, 1915).
A painting (most likely fictional) by Burliuk appears in the novel Chapayev and Void by Viktor Pelevin. The painting is described as a black writing though a stencil of the word GOD.
1912: co-author of the Russian Futurist manifesto A Slap in the Face of Public Taste.
1915: The Support of the Muses in Spring
Related Research Articles
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Rayonism was a style of abstract art that developed in Russia in 1910–1914. Founded and named by Russian Cubo-Futurists Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova, it was one of Russia's first abstract art movements.
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster, also known as Alexandra Exter, was a Russian and French painter and designer.
Vasily Ivanovich Gnedov, better known by the pen name Vasilisk Gnedov, was one of the most radically experimental poets of Russian Futurism, though not as prolific as his peers.
Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name Velimir Khlebnikov, was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of the Russian Futurist movement, but his work and influence stretch far beyond it. Influential linguist Roman Jakobson hailed Khlebnikov as "the greatest world poet of our century".
Aleksei Yeliseyevich Kruchyonykh was a Soviet and Russian poet, artist, and theorist, perhaps one of the most radical poets of Russian Futurism, a movement that included Vladimir Mayakovsky, David Burliuk and others. Born in 1886, he lived in the time of the Russian Silver Age of literature, and together with Velimir Khlebnikov, another Russian Futurist, Kruchenykh is considered the inventor of zaum, a poetry style utilising nonsense words. Kruchonykh wrote the libretto for the Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun, with sets provided by Kazimir Malevich. In 1912, he wrote the poem Dyr bul shchyl; four years later, in 1916, he created his most famous book, Universal War.
The Russian avant-garde was a large, influential wave of avant-garde modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960. The term covers many separate, but inextricably related, art movements that flourished at the time; including Suprematism, Constructivism, Russian Futurism, Cubo-Futurism, Zaum, Imaginism, and Neo-primitivism. In Ukraine, many of the artists who were born, grew up or were active in what is now Belarus and Ukraine, are also classified in the Ukrainian avant-garde.
Cubo-Futurism or Kubo-Futurizm was an art movement, developed within Russian Futurism, that arose in early 20th century Russian Empire, defined by its amalgamation of the artistic elements found in Italian Futurism and French Analytical Cubism. Cubo-Futurism was the main school of painting and sculpture practiced by the Russian Futurists. In 1913, the term "Cubo-Futurism" first came to describe works from members of the poetry group "Hylaeans", as they moved away from poetic Symbolism towards Futurism and zaum, the experimental "visual and sound poetry of Kruchenykh and Khlebninkov". Later in the same year the concept and style of "Cubo-Futurism" became synonymous with the works of artists within Ukrainian and Russian post-revolutionary avant-garde circles as they interrogated non-representational art through the fragmentation and displacement of traditional forms, lines, viewpoints, colours, and textures within their pieces. The impact of Cubo-Futurism was then felt within performance art societies, with Cubo-Futurist painters and poets collaborating on theatre, cinema, and ballet pieces that aimed to break theatre conventions through the use of nonsensical zaum poetry, emphasis on improvisation, and the encouragement of audience participation.
Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova was a Russian avant-garde artist painting in the styles of Suprematism, Neo-Primitivism, and Cubo-Futurism.
Vladimir Davydovych Burliuk was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist and book illustrator from the Russian empire. He died at the age of 32 in 1917 in World War I.
Alexander Konstantinovich Bogomazov or Oleksandr Kostiantynovych Bohomazov was a Ukrainian painter, cubo-futurist, modern art theoretician and is recognised as one of the key figures of the Ukrainian avant-garde scene. In 1914, Oleksandr wrote his treatise The Art of Painting and the Elements. In it he analyzed the interaction between Object, Artist, Picture, and Spectator and sets the theoretical foundation of modern art. During his artistic life Oleksandr Bohomazov mastered several art styles. The most known are Cubo-Futurism (1913–1917) and Spectralism (1920–1930).
Zveno (Link) was a group of Ukrainian avant-garde artists formed in the first decade of the 20th century by brothers David Burliuk and Wladimir Burliuk.
Russian Futurism is the broad term for a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism", which espoused the rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, youth, industry, destruction of academies, museums, and urbanism; it also advocated for modernization and cultural rejuvenation.
Soyuz Molodyozhi was an artistic group and an art magazine of Russian avant-garde organized in 1910. There were more than 30 members of the group and most of other Russian avant-garde participated in their exhibitions.
Benedikt Konstantinovich Livshits was a poet and writer of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, a French–Russian poetry translator.
Ego-Futurism was a Russian literary movement of the 1910s, developed within Russian Futurism by Igor Severyanin and his early followers. While part of the Russian Futurism movement, it was distinguished from the Moscow-based cubo-futurists as it was associated with poets and artists active in Saint Petersburg.
Universal War is an artist's book by Aleksei Kruchenykh published in Petrograd at the beginning of 1916. Despite being produced in an edition of 100 of which only 12 are known to survive, the book has become one of the most famous examples of Russian Futurist book production, and is considered a seminal example of avant-garde art from the beginning of the twentieth century.
Vasily Vasilyevich Kamensky was a Russian Futurist poet, playwright, and artist as well as one of the first Russian aviators.
Tango With Cows: Ferro-Concrete Poems is an artists' book by the Russian Futurist poet Vasily Kamensky, with additional illustrations by the brothers David and Vladimir Burliuk. Printed in Moscow in 1914 in an edition of 300, the work has become famous primarily for being made entirely of commercially produced wallpaper, with a series of concrete poems - visual poems that employ unusual typographic layouts for expressive effect - printed onto the recto of each page.
Ukrainian avant-garde is the avant-garde movement in Ukrainian art from the end of 1890s to the middle of the 1930s along with associated artists in sculpture, painting, literature, cinema, theater, stage design, graphics, music, and architecture. Some well-known Ukrainian avant-garde artists include: Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vladimir Tatlin, Sonia Delaunay, Vasyl Yermylov, Alexander Bogomazov, Aleksandra Ekster, David Burliuk, Vadym Meller, and Anatol Petrytsky. All were closely connected to the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa by either birth, education, language, national traditions or identity. Since it originated when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, Ukrainian avant-garde has been commonly lumped by critics into the Russian avant-garde movement.
References
↑ Pg. 77, Nabokov and his fiction: new perspectives by Julian W. Connolly
↑ 'About David Burliuk' — biography from the Futurism and After: David Burliuk, 1882–1967 exhibition
1 2 3 4 5 Gray, Camilla. The Russian Experiment in Art: 1863–1922. Thames & Hudson. pp.111–31.
↑ Victor Terras, Handbook of Russian Literature (Yale University Press, 1990), s.v. "Hylaea", p. 197.
1 2 3 Leach, Robert. Russian Futurist Theatre: Theory and Practice. Edinburgh University Press. pp.42–4.
1 2 3 Stephanie Barron and Maurice Tuchman, The Avant-Garde in Russia, 1910–1939: New Perspectives. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980; pg. 128.
↑ Tupytsin, Margarita (2018). Russian Dada, 1914–1924. Spain: MIT Press and the Museo Reina Sofia. pp.151–153.
↑ Burliuk, David. “David Burliuk: Radio-Futurist Artist and Poet. Second Manifest.” Marussia Burliuk, 1927. ———. “Manifesto. Radio-Style. Universal Camp of Radio-Modernists.” Marussia Burliuk, 1926.
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