Russian Futurism

Notable Russian Futurists included Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, David Burliuk, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Velimir Khlebnikov.

[1] In addition to the forenamed authors, the group included artists Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, and Olga Rozanova.

While many artforms and artists converged to create "Russian Futurism", David Burlyuk (born 1882, Ukraine) is credited with publicizing the avant-garde movement and increasing its renown within Europe and the United States.

[8] They acknowledged no authorities whatsoever; even Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, when he arrived in Russia on a proselytizing visit in 1914, was obstructed by most Russian Futurists, who did not profess to owe him anything.

Some of the film directors identified as part of this movement are Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Aleksandr Dovzhenko.

However, such well-established artists as Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, and Kazimir Malevich found inspiration in the refreshing imagery of Futurist poems and experimented with versification themselves.

The poets and painters collaborated on such innovative productions as the Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun, with music by Mikhail Matyushin, texts by Kruchenykh and sets contributed by Malevich.

He vehemently opposed the meaningless slaughter of World War I and hailed the Russian Revolution as the end of that traditional mode of life which he and other Futurists ridiculed so zealously.

The organiser first showed them the "Lenin",[12] which had been painted a year and a half ago when, as fading hoardings in the streets of Moscow still testify, revolutionary art was dominated by the Futurist movement.

Every carriage is decorated with most striking but not very comprehensible pictures in the brightest colours, and the proletariat was called upon to enjoy what the pre-revolutionary artistic public had for the most part failed to understand.

The most militant Futurist poets either died (Khlebnikov, Mayakovsky) or preferred to adjust their very individual style to more conventional requirements and trends (Aseyev, Pasternak).

Group photograph of some Russian Futurists, published in their manifesto A Slap in the Face of Public Taste . Left to right: Aleksei Kruchyonykh , Vladimir Burliuk , Vladimir Mayakovsky , David Burliuk , and Benedikt Livshits .
The Knifegrinder (1912–13), by Kazimir Malevich , is an example how Cubism and Futurism crossed over to create Cubo-Futurism , a combined art form.
Игра в Аду ( A Game in Hell ; Moscow 1914 edition) is an example of the collaborations of Futurist writers and visual artists. It fused Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh 's poems with Malevich and Rozanova 's bold imagery.
Cyclist (1913) by Natalia Goncharova . This painting is an example of how Russian Futurism affected her later works.
Black Square (1915), by Kazimir Malevich , was featured at the 0,10 Exhibition , the last exhibition of Russian Futurist paintings. The exhibition was held from December 19, 1915 to January 17, 1916.