David Davidovich
BURLIUK
Born 1882,
farmstead of
Semirotovschina, Kharkov province (Ukraine) –
died 1967,
New York.
Poet, painter, graphic artist and theoretician of arts.
Paintings and graphic work Biography
Horse-Lighting. 1907.
Oil on canvas, 62x68 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Duckling. 1907.
Oil, colored chalks, wax, varnish on paper mounted
on plywood, 23.2x23 cm. The Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
A House in the Steppe. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 59.5x70 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Horses. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 43.2x52.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Horses. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 43x52.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Morning. Wind. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 66.5x106 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Horses. 1910.
Oil on canvas mounted on
cardboard, 40.5x50.8 cm. The Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
Stonemason. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 45.5x58 cm.
Private collection, USA.
Peasant Woman with a Horse. Ca 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 29x39 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Landscape with a River. Beginning of
1910s.
Oil on canvas, 42x59 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Landscape with a Road. 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 51x70.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Landscape with Trees. 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 59.5x65.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Landscape with a Pink House. 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 45x60.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
A Garden Path. 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 75x57.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Dnestr River Rapids. 1910s.
Oil on canvas, 49x69.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Ploughman. 1910s.
Oil on canvas. Chime Gross Museum, New York, USA.
Heads. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 76x92 cm. Collection of Stolichny
Bank, Moscow.
Bridge. Landscape from Four Points of
View. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 97x131 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Ukrainians. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 36.5x55.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Mamay the Kazak. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 62.5x93 cm. Ufa Art Museum.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Landscape. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 33x46.3 cm. Collection of
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
Illustration for the almanac "A Trap for Judges II".
1913. Publishing Home "Zhuravl", St.Petersburg.
Indian ink on paper.
Illustration for the almanac "A
Trap for Judges II". 1913. Publishing Home "Zhuravl",
St.Petersburg.
Indian ink on paper.
Collage. 1914.
Oil on canvas, 25.5x30 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Advent of Spring and Summer. 1914s.
Oil on canvas, 51x76.5 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Abstract Composition. 1914.
Oil on wood, 14.5x24 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Illustration for the almanac "Archer".
1915. Petrograd, Publishing Home "Hilea".
Indian ink on paper.
Refugees (The Horrors of the War).
Oil on canvas, 38x41 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Portrait of the Poet Vassily Kamensky. 1917.
Oil on canvas, 104x104 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Tail-Piece for the almanac "Raging Parnassus". 1918. Petrograd,
Publishing Home "Hilea".
Indian ink on paper.
Heads on the Beach.
Oil on canvas, 30.5x33 cm. Private collection, USA.
Bridge (Repetition of composition of 1911).
Oil on wood, 12.5x16.5 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Sea. 1921.
Oil on wood, 34x62 cm. Private collection,
USA.
In the Paddy Fields. 1921.
Oil on canvas, 45x60.5 cm.
The Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
Japanese Bay. 1921.
Oil on canvas, 50x67.5 cm. Collection of the artist's family,
USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Temple Gates in Japan. 1921.
Oil on wood, 34x62 cm. Private collection,
USA.
Japanese Village. 1921.
Oil on canvas, 43x58.2 cm. Collection of A.& R.Weiner, USA.
Ogasawara. 1921-1922.
Oil on canvas, 45.5x60 cm. Collection of the artist's family,
USA.
Japanese Boy. 1922.
Oil on canvas, 45x33 cm. Collection of the artist's family, USA.
Workers. 1922.
Oil on canvas, 79x59 cm. Collection of Stolichny
Bank, Moscow.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Love and Peace.
Oil on canvas, 30x30 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
In the Church. 1922.
Oil on canvas. Private collection, USA.
Blue Horse.
Oil on canvas, 31.2x29 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Peasant Woman with a Blue
Cow.
Oil on wood, 23x30 cm. Private collection, USA.
The Green Cow.
Oil on canvas, 57.5x80 cm. Private collection, USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
In a Russian Village. 1926.
Oil on canvas, 60x73 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Labyrinth.
Oil on canvas, 26x35 cm. Private collection, USA.
Hudson River. 1924.
Oil on canvas, 96x96 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Russian Peasant. 1925.
Indian ink on paper.
Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1925.
Drawing.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1925.
Lino-cut.
Cover of the book "Discovery of America" by Vladimir
Mayakovsky. 1925.
Cover of the book "The Sun Visits Mayakovsky" by Vladimir
Mayakovsky. 1925.
A Horse and a Groom. 1925.
Lino-cut.
The Harlem River. 1925.
Indian ink on paper. Drawing
in the "Radio-style".
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Buy My Fish!
Oil on wood. Collection of Mary Clear Burliuk-Holt,
USA.
A Street Scene.
Oil on wood. Private collection, USA.
Portrait of Nicolas, the Artist's Son.
1927 ?
Oil on canvas, 43x33 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Marusia (Portrait of the Artist's Wife). 1928.
Color pencils on paper, 25x19 cm. Private collection, USA.
At the Riverside.
Oil on wood. Private collection, USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Marusia in the Library.
Oil on canvas, 76x60 cm. Collection of artist's family, USA.
Sun Flowers.
Oil on canvas. Private collection, USA.
A Tree by the Railway.
Oil on canvas. Collection of Mary Clear
Burliuk-Holt, USA.
In the Park.
Oil on canvas, 51x40.5 cm. Collection of A.& R.Weiner, USA.
Tea Party with a White Cat.
Oil on wood, 25.5x35.5 cm. Collection of artist's family, USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Bathing Women (Zeus' Daughters).
Oil on canvas, 122.5x86.2 cm. Private collection, USA.
Vineyards in Haven. 1929.
Oil on canvas, 53.3x60.9 cm. Collection of A.& R.Weiner,
USA.
Village Street. 1930s.
Oil on canvas mounted on
cardboard, 30x40 cm. The Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
Still Life with a Plate.
1931.
Oil on canvas, 51.5x41 cm. Private collection, USA.
Still Life with a Jug.
Oil on canvas, 107x76 cm. Private collection, USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Still Life with a Watering
Can.
Oil on canvas, 76x41.5 cm. Private collection, USA.
Portrait of the Cinema Producer Sergey Eisenshtein. 1932.
Color pencils on paper, 43x30 cm. Private collection, USA.
Portrait of Marusia. 1933.
Oil on canvas, 43.5x35 cm. Private collection, USA.
Poet and Muse.
Oil on canvas, 30.5x33 cm. Collection of A.&
M.Beckerman, USA.
Landscape with a Carriage and a Mill (a landscape from
four points of view). 1930s-1940s.
Oil on canvas, 98.3x127.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
Before the Journey. 1947.
Oil on wood, 29.5x39.5 cm. Private collection,
USA.
Bound to the Mill. 1948
Oil on wood, 30x49.5 cm. Private collection,
USA.
Paintings and graphic work Biography Top of Page
David Burliuk was the eldest of six children in the family of David Feodorovich Burliuk, an estate manager, and Ludmila Josifovna, nee Mikhnevich. Besides David, his brother Vladimir and sister Ludmila have also become artists, and ther brother Nikolai - a poet. They were all talented, but David felt himself first as the leader who stimulated the creative energy of those surrounding him. This role was preordained to him in the history of Russian art. And although Mikhail Larionov's work was more valuable in the regeneration of painting, and Velimir Khlebnikov‘s brilliant observations in poetry, it was Burliuk who went down in the history of modern art as “The Father of Russian Futurism”.
D.Burliuk studied at the Art Schools in Kazan (1898-1899); in Odessa (1899-1900, 1909); in Munich (1902-1903) under von W.Dietz, where he met Kandinsky, and later at the School of A.Aschbe; in Paris (1904) under Cormon; and at MUZhVZ (Moscow High School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, 1910-1914).
In 1914 Burliuk together with V.Mayakovsky were expelled from Moscow High School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
From 1906 D.Burliuk has taken part in exhibitions including SRKh (Union of the Russian Artists), “The Wreath – Stephanos” (Moscow, 1907), MTKh (Moscow Society of Artists, 1908), “Modern movements in the Art” (St.Petersburg, 1908), “The Link” (Kiev, 1908), “Salon“ (St.Petersburg, 1909), Vl.Izdebsky‘s International Art Salon (Odessa, 1909), “Union of Youth” (St.Petersburg,1910, 1913), Neue Künstlervereinigung (New Artists Association, Munich, 1910), “Jack of Diamonds” (Moscow, 1910, 1912, 1916, 1918), exhibition in the Gallery of P.Kassirer (Berlin, 1911), Vl.Izdebski’s second International Art Salon (Odessa, 1911), “Der Blaue Reiter” (Munich, 1912), First German Autumn Salon (Berlin, 1913), 30th exhibition of the “Salon des Independents” (Paris, 1914), “The Year 1915” (Moscow, 1915), “Exhibition of Painting of Left Tendencies” (Petrograd, 1915), three exhibitions of the Ufa Artistic Circle (Ufa, 1916), Solo exhibition in Samara (1917), exhibition of Petrograd and Moscow Artists (Chita, 1919), Solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya (1921), First Exhibition of Russian Art (Berlin,1922), Russian Painting and Sculpture (Pennsylvania Academia of Fine Arts, USA, 1922), Exhibition of New Art (Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, 1923, 1927), Personal exhibitions at the New York Art Center (USA, 1923), International Exhibition (Philadelphia, 1926), exhibitions in Cleveland (1928), galleries of New York and Philadelphia (1930s-1960s), numerous personal exhibitions in San-Francisco, Seattle, Washington and New York (until 1967).
From 1905 Burliuk was a member of artistic associations: Kharkov Artists Society, “Der Sturm” (Berlin), “Der Blaue Reiter” (Munich), was founder of the “Hylea” group (also known as “Budetliane”), “Union of Youth”, “Triangle”, Ufa Artistic Circle, “Creativity” group, part of LEF (Left Front of Art).
He has married Maria Elenevskaya (1912), his lifelong friend.
The artist has written a number of manifestoes, published numerous articles about the Avant-garde art. Burliuk gave thought to the problems of form, color and texture, but unlike Malevich and Filonov, he did not create any theoretical postulates for himself or his associations. For him Futurism was a means of representation through art. He was not afraid to be everywhere at once in art, he believed “psychological mimicry… an artist’s most important attribute”. And although he would change his style and manners, ha has always remained the same bright and deeply individualistic artist. Burliuk's early works are more reminiscent of a simplified version of Cubism with a strong realistic basis.
The artist has traveled in Russia with Mayakovsky and Kamensky, gigging lectures and talks on Futurism, and taken part in almost every debate devoted to modern painting and poetry. He propagated of modern art tirelessly.
He has illustrated, edited and published several almanacs, books, magazines.
Burliuk hs lived in Japan (1920-1922), and then from 1922 in USA; published the journal “Tsvet I Rifma” (Color and Rhyme). collaborated with the newspaper “Voice of Russia” until 1940, published a monograph on Nikolai Roerich, the poems which he has himself illustrated; published the book “Entelikhism”, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Russian Futurism (1930).
In 1930 David Burliuk has become a U.S. citizen.
Burliuk's American period had almost nothing in common with his Russian period. It was certainly not Futurism and not classical Avant-garde. Yet at the same time it was not Naturalism and certainly not Realism in the full sense. His scenes with cows, horses, men and womenfolk, and all of his canvases are textural, like in his early works. He created his own picturesque world of the benign, simple existence led by common people, with their genuine joie de vivre. May be this was the way he expressed his dream of an harmonious future for mankind, which he named Futurism.