David Burliuk

David Burliuk was a Ukrainian and Russian painter and poet, who was a leading figure of the Futurist movement in Russia. He was born in 1882 to an old Italian-German family of the Genoese extraction. He took his first lessons in art from Ivan Aivazovsky, a famous marine painter. He studied at the Kazan and Odessa art schools, as well as at the Royal Academy in Munich. His exuberant, extroverted character was recognized by Anton Azhbe, his professor at the Munich Academy, who called Burliuk a "wonderful wild steppe horse". 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. 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. 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. 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 homeland - first Ukraine and then his adopted country, the United States. The Futurist literary group Hylaea (Гилея [Gileya]) was initiated in 1910 by David Burlyuk and his brothers at their estate near Kherson, and were quickly joined by Vasily Kamensky and Velimir Khlebnikov, with Aleksey Kruchenykh and Vladimir Mayakovsky joining in 1911. 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, 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. In December 1912, David Burliuk was co-author of the manifesto A Slap in the Face of Public Taste with the other members of Hylaea, said to be the start of Russian Futurism, a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Futurist Manifesto". In 1913, he was expelled from the Academy. In the same year, Burliuk founded the publishing venture of the futuristic writer's group Hylaea. From 1910, he was a 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. 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. In 1914, he emigrated to Japan with his wife Marussia and brother Wladimir. He spent four years in Japan, where he joined the Japan-based Futurist group MAVO, founded by Tomoyoshi Murayama. He also befriended local artists such as Aoki Shigeru, Fumon Ina, and Tanaka Kyokichi. He learned Japanese and immersed himself in the local culture. He published the book The Support of the Muses in Spring, which contained a summary of his outlook on art and the history of his creative work. He also organized several exhibitions and lectures, and painted many watercolors of Japanese landscapes and scenes. In 1918, he left Japan for the United States, where he spent the rest of his life. He settled in New York, where he became a prominent figure of the American avant-garde scene. He continued to paint and write poetry, and also published several magazines, such as Color and Rhyme and Art and Letters. He was a friend of many American artists and writers, such as Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, and Ezra Pound. He also traveled extensively across the country, painting landscapes and portraits of the people he met. He was fascinated by the diversity and dynamism of the American culture, and often expressed his admiration and gratitude for his adopted homeland. He died in 1967 in Hampton Bays, New York, of heart failure. He was buried in the Long Island National Cemetery. His paintings are now displayed in various museums and galleries, such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the State Russian Museum. He is considered one of the most original and influential Russian Futurist painters and poets of the 20th century.