Portrait of the Futurist poet V. V. Kamensky. 1917
(Large jpg - 43K)
An exhibition of paintings by David Burliuk (1882-1967) -- the "father of Russian futurism" -- is on display at the Russian Museum's Benois Wing.
Here one can see more than 100 works of painting and graphic art from collections in the State Russian Museum, other Russian museums and private collections in Russia, the United States and Germany.
Burliuk's colors are intense -- sharp greens and bright reds -- while his use of space and form is perverse. Characters wander along the sides and tops of the pictures. Energy radiates outwards from the paintings, and sometimes the paint itself has an energy, as thick flakes protrude from some of the pictures.
In "Bridge," or "Landscape from Four Points of View," a strange-looking, flat, black man walks down the left side of the picture, stretching his hand towards a horse.
At the top of the picture, steamboats float on water, leaving their smoke trailing behind on the canvas.
Burliuk arranges space in a similar way in "Landscape with Carriage and Mill." Here, all elements are arranged on all sides of the picture except the bottom. A carriage draws up to mottled houses where people stand around smiling happily on the walls.
Hanging nearby are examples of Berliuk's earlier Futurist works, or "despairing realism," as he called his early works. These works were influenced by the French Impressionists, and Burliuk's approach to futurism echoes a simplified Cubism with a strong realistic basis.
His prominence as one of the stars of the Russian avant-garde, along with Kandinsky, Chagall and Malevich, has changed of late. Russian art critics no longer place him in that category, and have dubbed him the "Father of Russian futurism."
Burliuk's family was descended from Ukrainian peasants, and he traveled a great deal through the towns of the Ukraine. He first visited the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow when he was fifteen and greatly admired the prominent Russian painters Shishkin, Kuindzhi, Repin, and Serov, who all influenced his early work.
About 1904, he met the young Kazimir Malevich, who also admired Shishkin and Repin, but later both Malevich and Berliuk would reject this art.
This dramatic change was typical of that period, especially when seen in the light of the growing revolutionary movements. Everything from Raphael to Repin was questioned and discarded, and in came the "new art of wild beauty."
Burliuk learned European art in Munich and Paris and on his return to Russia in 1904 he "worked madly." He wrote at that time: "This time my painting is marked by a despairing realism. Every shoot, every twig, every blade of grass -- everything is depicted in detail. As regards color, I try to arrange it in such a way that from a distance it agrees completely with life."
Than came the "Slap in the face of public taste" epoch, when everything traditional and classical was criticized, and Burliuk played a part with other avant-garde artists in overthrowing the old Russian tastes. The Russian experiment in modern art foundered after the 1917 revolution and Burliuk lived in Japan and the US.