sign in sign up
<<
Home , David Burliuk

CanadianAmericanSlavicstudies'40'No'1(Spring2006)'65-78'

IVTYROSLAV SHKANDRIJ (Wiruripeg, MB, Canada)

STEPPE SON'I: DAVID BURLIT]K,S IDENTIW

behind 's scholarship has recognized David Burliuk as the force It is generally crystallization within tlie boundaries of the . ..largely orientation: to bring ucc"ptea that he gave Futurism its ideological reject the art and po- u,,a poet,y to the streets and thus yoke art and life, to quest for nove! and the etry't ofthe past, to see art and poetry as an unending much of the orga- creation of.,"* forms."r It is also agreed that he provided Empire, its nizing drive behind the early Futurist movement in the Russian and that he landmark exhibitions, its priblications and public engagements' Without often supplied the "prornotional" strategies that made it famous' in the Russian hinr, Markov has written, there would have been no Futurism the ;6;;I t"t, he is perhaps rle least researched and understood among majorfiguresofthetwentieth.centuyavant-garde.Scholarshavehadrela- written that Uu.ty mlt" to say about him as a writer or artist. Barooshian has move- "The sad irony of Burljuk's life is that he organized an avant;qarde significant lecog* ment of the first magnitude while himself failed to achieve posi- nii.n.'" Bowlt has lho commented that the artist "enjoys an uncertain serious te- tion in our conternporary appreciation of the avant-garde. Little publications have been search has been undertaken on Burliuk's careef, few jn at best devoted to hirrL and leading specialists Russian cubo-Futurism communicateequivocalopinioo'astotheartisticworthofBurliuk'sout. ...4 put." politics intervened There are several reasons for the neglect. For one thing, Burliuk escaped the to prevent,a fuIl, dispassionate accouniof his life and art. revolutionbytravellingthroughsiberiatoVladivostokandJapan,andthen when "heroic" (later emigrating to.ttu usi. in tlzz. ny the mid-1g20s, Futurism was treated called "socialist?') Realism became the mandatory style, suitably edited and sani- as an embarrasment in the soviet union. whereas a Burliuk's legacy tized Maiakovsky was appropriated by the Soviet regime'

l.VahanD.Barooshian,RussinnCubo-Futurism]910-1930:AStudyinAvant-Gardism (The Hague-Paris: Mouton, 197 4), p' 7 2' and I-os Angeles: Univ' of cali' 2. Vladimir Marko v, : A History @erkeley fomia Press, 1968), P. 9. 9 3 0' p' 7 3. Barooshian, R us sian Cubo - Fuwrism I 9 I 0- I I' 4.JohnE.Bowlt,..DavidBurliuk,theFathelofRussianFuturism,,'Canadian.American Sluvic Studies' 20, nos. 1-2 (Spring-Summer 1986! 26'' CanadianAmericanSlavicShrdies/RevueCanadienneAm6ricaine

he had deliberately left the and biography proved less tractable' After all' The ;;""ny, to live and create in the USA until his death in 1967. "h"";ingoihi* leaving were interpreted' quite.correctly'-as flight: the his brother Niko- ,to.u,"ir"u#,*r", or p",,ecutton by the-Cheka hung over him be.cause had bean'executed.by the lai, who had served as an officer in the White army, Bolsheviksinlg20simplybecausehewascolsideredsuspiciousandapo- ;.#;;;i rn" Burliuk family, mofeover, w€re no proletarians. This alonewouldhavebeenenoughtohavethemexecutedduringtherevolution' 1917-18' Burliuk was told to On one of his lecture tours iiuough Siberia in inspections ofhands had avoid certain towns because sudden, unannounced beenheldthpre'Theartists'sson,inanunpublishedaccountbasedonhisfa- ttre'rtreminlscenc€s'haswritten:..Theentirevillagewouldbetoldtostand committee ;;il;;i"cl. line with their palrns up' ' ',' The commissar and his hadthecitizensshotiftheirpalmsandfingerswerenotasroughwithcal- temperamentally op- lo*"u u* the bark of a tree.'ft Moreover, Burliuk was to "the Chuzhaks" p"r"J t" regimentation. In 1919 in a poem dedicated poetry be com- wls a leftist critic), he compared the demand that tCft"tft* of whipping politicized and serve ihe needs of the day to the practicl i,r"r"Lv with bolshevism in the lord,s stables.? In general,- his relationship ;;";;; the twenties and L."i*O uncomfortable, even though in the USA tluough for the Soviet organs thirties-irtiAigolos he remained close to communist circles, '*riting (Russian Voice) and Novyi rrir (New Woridi' literary legacy, which he In the second place, his ..ro.*ou" artistic and oncecalculatedastz,000paintingsandaboutthesamenumberofwatercol. in large or representa- o*t uoa drawings,s has never been brought together tiveenoughscopetobeadequatelystudied'Mostofhispaintingsarescat- the USA' and Can- i"r"A tft oirgtt*i various cities in Ukaine' Russia' Japan' ada,andtherehasneverbeenanopportrrnitytoviewasubstantialnumberof hisworksftomeachperiod:.o*'zooworksbelongtohisUfa(Bashkiria) and exhibi- p"ri"a from 1g15_1gig; another 200 were produced in his tours bought by collectors ,ion* u",o,,.Siberia in 1918.1920; over 125 works were andmuseumswhileheexhibitedandlivedinJapan:Ir-1920'1922;-theworks york and in p*J*qra when he lived in East Side New from 1922-1939 private col- ifu*pion Bays, Long Island from 1940-1967 are housed in many

Burliuk v Amerike: Materialy k biografii"'No- 5. Andrdi Krusanov, 'Norbert Evdaev. David ur'html vafa nnst

last period of his life he lections and museums, a result of the fact that in the was sought after by some-promi- iberately left the received recognition in North America and essays have also rarely been rath in 1967. The nent collectors. His poetry, prose and critical in his landmark study of tly, as flight: the anthologized or given attention' Markov' "tiU.ui poefiy as "lacking in poetic ma- his brother Niko- n"r*i""i"Oo'irro,.di**irr"d Burliuk's early The lament over nexecuted bY the turrty or vitality . . ' t"rriUty-th, boring and- cliihe-ridden'f'e a refrain. Postupalsky also picious and a Po- critical neglect would or,", decades become ,.. about Burliuk's literary' proletarians. This wrote: . . extremely little has been written and said written and said is wrong."lo And ng the revolution. creativity . . . and or what has been -o* ,'showman, charlatarq and uliuk was told to go;1, that Burliuk's reputation as a "oorplained a deeper investigation of his ions of hands had self-seeker" had deflected commentators ftom I I rt based on his fa- prrro*tlty and artistic innovation' d be told to stand AnotherdifficultyinassessingBurliuk'sartisticachievementstemsftom puzzling evolution, both intellectual and his committee the fact that he went through u,ulla and styles a story that has not yet n rough with cal- and artistic, expenmentinfwith a number of - unexplored issue of his sense nperamentallY, oP- t""o aOequutely explainei. Finalb, there is the o "the Chwhaks" ofidentity,whichthrowsadditionallightonhislegacyandcreativeinspira- Lat poetrY be com- tion. actice of whiPPing NorbertEvdaev,srecentbiography,tracesBruliuk'slifethroughcritical published in the.USA frsm p with bolshevism reviews, letters and articles in G jt"rnat that he to light many "forgotten" h the twenties and 1g30 under the title color and ilry*".Itbrings some of the complexity r the Soviet organs episodes in the life of the writer u,,d u'ti't, capturing slant. Evdaev's post. of ' Howevet, it also has a marked interpretative .tehabilitation' is linked to the affrmation of the artist's 7 legacy, which he soviet of Burliuk umber of watercol- Russianpatriotism.Atvariouspointsheisdescribedaslongingfo.rhishome- making every attempt 10 suppod .arge or rePresenta- land pining over his lost cormections, and is' ofcoutse' quite correct' paintings are scat- the people and country he has left' Some ofthis the USA, and Can- butthesenseofident'''.nu'layattherootofhiscreativeinspirationwasal. bstantial number of together more conPlex. his Ufa (Bashkiria) BurliukworkedfortheleftistRusslanVoicefromlg23-1939,proofread- disalel relief in the is tours and exhibi- ing and $ryitrng articles on culflral events' and supportod to be on the side of the oppressed' mught by collectors ussR. Throughout his life he felt himself ,2A-D22; the works thebroadrnasses.InthefirsttwodecadesofhislifeintheUSAhemovedin wholiqht be Jewish' t 1922-1939 and in left-leaning, Russian-speaking circles among emigres Burliuk's pro-Sovietviews can- in many Private col- Armenian, Ulaainian or R'ssiun' However, by affluent admirers like not be taken at fbce value. The artist was supported {aterialy k biografii," No- RobertChandler,Mrs'Harriman-Romsey,uttdKutlt"tio"Dreier'Thelast'in- usan.nr.html k" Mary Holt familY ar- 9. Markov, Russ ian Fut4rism, p' 24' Izd' Marii Burliuk' styr, Lite,airnyi trud Davida D' Burliuka (New York: i (Moscow: Nauka, 2002)' 10. Igor Postupal 1931), p. a. the Fdther of Russiap Futurism'?'p' 26' rk." Mary Holt familY ar- 1i.^sowlt, "oavid Burliuk, Slaves Canatlienne Amdricaine d'6tudes Canadim American Slavic StudieslRevue

biographer' was of G€rman background cidentally, who also became his first Hitleiuntil 1939' Burliuk's endorsements and remained a great sufporter of paying of tribute by-emigres who of soviet rule also ,"prJrirrtra the typical tle regime, particularly.lor what stin wanted to return r", rn"i'r.ur"i ",i.it. while living as an impoverished art- it might do to relative, .rm l" ae udsn. in the twenties and thirties' Burliuk ist and working f* u f#l*ng *t'pup"' towards the Bolshevik revolution' in- was aware of the requireJ t"l"'"t*' and commuirism' Whiie making these ternational working-ctass solidarity' of the repression of avant-garde art gestures, he could t"t;;;;;"t '*u*u'"of Maiakovsky's strained reJeJionshiO in the Soviet Union, f"t "tl """t"pfe' contributed to the poet's suicide' The with the autlrorities, tt""*itlly it4tft old friend and mentor in New York in 1925' sreat Futurist poet vrsitJ his and artistic wor]<1 in the So- i'"tti"O t""* iiif" out*"g of Futurist ltot3w of his Futurist ftiends could exhibit ei- viet union, and of tir".ru"i ihat none therinSovietguil"t'"'o'abroad'Eveninthesixties'afterthepost-Stalinworks' .,thaw,,, i;iJor"oa an open-air exhibition of modernist Khrushchev -- same been painted by a donkey's tail the declaring that they tlut"oJJnuu" t'uf-u-"entu{tbefore had greeted Futurist canvases' ieering expression this to designate one Futurist group' It was and that in 1910 ftua i"t" adopted kindofattitudethat*-*p"ff"ABurliuk'fiomaround1927'tobeginclairningRevo- had beena-harbinger of the Bolshevik that pre-revototio"uty"f it*ism as the "father of proletar' lution. In these articleJ,;;;; identifie-dlimself delended the movement' his friends' ian Futurism io tft" no*iuo E pi'""' wrththe regime' Nongttrelg.ss' in spite of and tried to clear b";;;dation from this period read today like uninspired the fact that most rri, *riti"gs "r were treated with suspicion by Soviet propaganda for the Soviet th"y "uoo' also-a far cry ftom his pre--revolutionary commentatorr. fn"'"-tJti"gs were made almost no men- ;;il;;;t, which were dJshed off with great verve' tionofpolitics,ancaimedinthefirstinstanceatadestructionofaesthetic cliche' :z ra n"-'.i"l' was allowedqlln to visit the Soviet.lunion' By Eventually, in 1956-57,Burliuk "'oo thattime,hewas*u'""otonlyoftherepressionsconductedbytheCheka' fromwhomhehadn"ai"tglg'butalsoofthefamineoflg33'andofSta-in ffi' had grown up Americans and fought lin's concentrutioo "u6t' 'oot theSecondWorldWar.Inthelatterpartofhislifehemovedamongtherich allows for the adoption of a naive and connected. uone of this experience pro-soviet PersPective' pronounc:m:nts concerning his Critics have also twnplayed Burliuk's rmehtie described as a Russian who culhual identify. ,; G;'t"'r-r, h" His favorite description of himself' one was proud of f,i. Uft'Jiiu" origins' thatheplaced*'o*vorr.i.p",,tti.uti**andusedasamoniker,was..otets of Futurism in the Russian Empire). Critics rossiiskogo n torlz*Ji t frc fu,it r 69 Steppe Son: David Burliuk's Identity '6tudes Slaves '

havesometimesalteredthephrasetg..otetsrusskogofuturizma''(thefather background ofRussianFuturism).Thesewerenotnecessarilythesamething...Russia'' ,.rossiiskii,') be shorthand for ndorsements and its derivative of course, can sirrply who in"rrii" in which the Russian lan- :migres ihe entire territory of the former Russian Ernpire, for what dubbed "Russian," what- uly guage was rjominant and most cultural figures wrre art- 'verished evertheiractualoriginsornatiorral-culhrralallegiances'Mostcriticsusethe Burliuk and "ntsskii" (by which rties, terms "rossiiskii" (meaning "of the Russian Enpire") in- Blrliuk the father rvolution, ,h"y *""r, "ethnicaliy Rulsiani') interchangeably' calling these patriot' and a man educated naking of Russian Futurisnl a Russian writer, a Russian art things' However' all his lant-garde in Russian culture. To a degree, he was all of these relationshiP although only his son Nicholas I tiogppn"r, atrso affirm hi, ik ui"iuo identity, The i suicide' attributessignificancetoit,usingittoexplainanumberofpersonalconvic- in 1925. /ork tions, habits and traits: rrks in the So- ei- uld exhibit My father, David Davidovich Burliuk was a Ukranian' [sic]12 kindness he post-Stalin No one meeting my father in America, with his gentleness' works; Ukrainian possesses' dernist and his great sens! of ho*o', which almost every the sarne his tremendous power ail - could ever picture the gaiety which was part of canvases, urist and charm when he was a Young man'^' was this little cemetery rup. It In his youth, my father was very fond of visiting the claiming he was born and begin near Riabushki lthe family estate near Sumy' where Revo- under massive oak olshevik grew up]. Surrounded Uy itre solitude of the steppes' of of wild flowers added rcr Proletar- crosses, his beloved ancestqrs rested' The aroma ftiends, stand and listen ,nt, his to the melancholy beauty of the sacred piace' He would in sPite of tless, to the sighing of the wind in the pines and willows' the'spark of like uninsPired "There they lie," he would say' "From them l received link net- ricion bY Soviet life to carry to the world and be, myself' a living connecting re-revolutionary ween the Past ; the fuhue'"r4 almost no men- Hislifehasnoimplicationofdoomorexpressivefailure,forhewasa aesthetic tion of ffue Utrainian, u*iofjoy and laughter'rs trying to warm It was difficult to imagine wintering in Japan and BY standing on straw ioviet Union. one's shivering body by u *ittott hibachi [sic] stove the Cheka' made of paper every- ed by mats. Surrounded by walls, doors, and windows - of Sta- rnuch for a llkrain- 1933, and thing resembling sole sort of stage setting - was too ms and fought in rd among ttre rich option of a naive

..The Burliukj'Mary Holt family ar- rts concerning his 12. Nicholas Burliuk, First Hippie: Daviil Davidovich as a Russian who chive, p. l. 13. Ibid.,P. 15- rn of himself, one l4. tbid.,P. t8' roniker, was "otgts 15.|bid.,P.194. rnEmPire)' Critics ?0CanadianAmericanSlavicstudies/RevueCanadienneAm€ricained'6nrdesSlaves

and wind-proof heavy wal1s $ackling of a stove' ian accustomed to th1 trames' windows with storm expeditions'to' archaeoloBical that on ttre{ famo11 Nicholas also recalls sitesinthecrimea'#'i*it*brothers-llti.lt*-ttltt';;l*;:*T; ;;;d""d'?q..'1ry;".::Tll5-Jffi ii;.,'iYf; ii$r.Tr"'fr aainiancos- tne earring in the ng: sack."l8 Lentulov The artist Aristarlrh "t'" "*t*"U'Yn*;uu$il;";1i"il:3'

the m;:*i::'Wm*i"fi,Tfi t"*#il:ff1.*;l;;;r"r't''i''Inhisearrv ;tes "Russia" to'mean in pa*icular"iliiJ ih;"tr as a wriungs Ci!" in 1721) 1nd^"Rus" whole Russian n"eii'?-'"r"*u YY l:-'T^:;" ,o**,u,incrudes#;il;*olit"'li***nxtffff llrtrJi [#-ttJiltii-ii;llJii"'?il"J""".y"fi;;;i'o"i::"f 'nowor theDnieper,*rs"J;;;;-t"i*::T*:--:;ff l;rfii,T'ftlilH; the "elecrical poetrv ffi;'#"!ia"a ry"T:td;:h""sana -Burliuk's ;il;;ii;"s Shevchenko and Peffo """* ;";*"*ionisnotuntvpical'Examinations ""g'"i1"""::,:::fiil::Tffi downplaved The discountrng *o' r'*"i'";rilt4itted-or or the tire u"a *"ri'oril;;;i;L tnt-oit"tt ot iattin and Khlebnikov self-identin*"1" i'*;**' tlreir national- his "t^" *o "*p'"ttta were also u*""'i"i''""u*'t'"'" 4;;il t* s"yuu1 acknowledged' u iloi" *"t cultural utt"glu"""1i "o*pr"- 'o"" Perhapstheroot"*"f'"'"isthepresenl;;1*l*tfne'interpretationsandjtio,,,.u*nio-"*;;.;'"y91-?"lki*:ffi d.too- ,TJ.,ilTfiff;1 ;*acreativetensionthatsus- l**rl'*=rruiitr*Tl'Yf,Tft ainedhis art'

t6. Ibid ,P'275' 11 .Ibid.,P'87 ' 1t,. nia..,'p r r. . th,l*. quotati.o'i:-ft,o],ffi;,^ a conversarion ],::::y"il1::XJ 19' The is3e. Th" latter was r ".r"fffr:'ffi*l*; i", *r,r, o.L'*r"". "l1i:['J",d in*a*n,norl::":1,:ll{"#:^"y;:i,^:!iri:i#ff:; and Burliuk' tt rvt-aiatovsty it;;;;;-,n" impression *T,t nowever, Burliuk ts tT taith.,,$. t8) Evdaev, o' 34' Nicholas otrttiltiJrt**n has w}il;;;'"";;;; -d Mikhnevych was rewish iatho, Iosvp Mikhnevvcn' confirming tlr L. r. foomote that no orovides a 1928)' 5?). Marii Nikiforovich Burliuk' ffiiil' o' (New York: Izdanie . Desra^,ttyioftricbr 20. David'Burliuk' ^ p'14. lhr Steppe Son: David Burliuk's Identity 7l aine d'6tudes Slaves

Although most studies refer to St. Petersburg and Moscow in the years heavy walls and l9lD-12 as the birthplaces of Futurism in the Russian Empire, passing over the importance of the 1908 Link exhibition in and the Uftrainian back- ground 0 archaeological on the formation of the Hylaea goup, the evidence suggests the need a nuanced assessment s'stories of local for more of influences.tt For one thing, David Burliuk habit of wearing consistently identihed himself as a tlkrainian and attachgd importance to this self-definition. Three documents written by Burliuk himself and one his a Ukainian Cos- by sister, are particularly interesting.22 We learn from them that Burliuk's an- cestors served as secretaries krainian identitY. in the Zaporozhian Sich prior to 1775, andthat oil paintings of these ancestors hung on the walls his great grandfather's $ayed with them. of home. h."le In his early All who knew Burliuk's father were convinced that the latter had served as the model for the enorrnous, half-dressed Cossack sitting a bar- ssia" t0 mean the on rel in Repin's famous painting "Zaporozbiarrs Writing a Letter to the Sultan l) and "Rus" as a of Turkey."23 NSia and Ukaine One of Burliuk's autobiographical statements dwells on the Cossack an- agom: Rus - Ros- cestry of which he so proud, powerftrl flow of is athibuting his own character and view of life to this background. His upbringing in Ukraine influenced not only his intel- ssing tluough tur- lectual formation (the reading of Gogol and the prohibited Shevchenko, and l This image, like the viewing of Kotliaevsky's Natalka-Poltavka)za but, he tells us, his art also. n Budiuk's Poetry Since this statement is rarely made available, it is worth quoting some sgc- tions: ical. Examinations red or downPlaYed I could write a whole book about my ancestors. And I will write it in and Khlebnikov sonre day, when I have more time. Now I am writing in Russian, but red their national- lly acknowledged. interpretatiors and who symPathized 21. Livshits'memoirs contain a wonderful.chapter of Hylaea @enedikt Livshits, The One ,s back on his Peo- and a Half-Eyed Archer Q,levtanville, MA: Oriental Research Partners ,1977),pp.35-68) and he /e tension that sus- states that the Link exhibition, which was held in Kyiv ftom November 2-30, 1908 and to which David, Liudmyla and Vladimir (Volodyrny') Burliuk, Exter, Bohomazov, Prybylska, Gon- charova, Larionov and others contributed in some ways may be regarded as the first Futurist ex- hibition in the Russian Enpire, espeeially since the participants issued a collective manifesto. (p. 6s) 22. Two of these are attached to Evdaev's book. They are "l,estnitsa moikh let" by David Burliuk (pp. 297-304) and "Fragmenty semeinoi khroniki" by Liudmila Kuanetsova-Burliuk (pp. 305-13). The latter appeared as "Fragmenty kbronologii roda Burliukov" in Color and Rhyme,' 48 (1961-62): 4347.Two further documents are attached to Dmyho Horbachov, ed., Ukrainskyi *Predky avanhard 1910-1930 rokiv: Albom (Klv: Mystetstvo, 1996). They are moi" (pp. 373- f. Pertsov recorded hav- 74) and "Frahmenty zi spohadiv futurysta (Za (p. givar nut his friendshiP with sorok rokiv 1390-1930) 373) They are as being in the State Pubtic Library in , Manuscript Section, f. 552, no. I . e: Marcrtaly kbiografii, 23. Liudmila Kuanetsova-Burliuk, "Fragmenty khronologii roda Burliukov" in Color and dfatirer and Liudmilla's Rhyne,48 (1961-62),43 p. 18) Evdaev, howeva, 24. Nicholas Burliuk, "The Fkst Hippie: David Davidovich Burliuk." Mary Holt family ar- nevych was Jewish has chive, pp. 26,51. forovich Burliuk, 1 928), d'6tudes Slaves Studies/Revue Canadienne Am6riiaine ' Canadian American Slavic

born inUkraine' my native Ukrainian' for I was later maybe I wiil tum to born in mV homelan!' because I was Ukraine was and remains in the fte.e ' who fought ukraine, . . the bones ;;;;;";;it"rs'" are buried there' ' ' ' of glory, power and freedom name into general type? Determrna- what unites them ffi-ancestorsl g.ne goal' the desire to obtain a set don, character, me' However' my deter- have f"f* ii"t" traits within ' ' ' All my life I at introduc- an old, outdated taste and mination was aimed ;;;;;;;;"t into life'''' ; ;* art; a wildbeautv . -'. did not ;; and Ulaainian (although he Mv father *'o'" noifr;'R;;t*"

inhis native language)'''' - wrile mdch l'svia-toslav" in the style of ancient In 1915, r pu*r"a"tr'f,;ffi;; color the dominance of one or another Ulaainian painting" At-f;i;t h"11*^1tt' say, that in my personJ'lklaine scheme in my work, I;;;; greenish' are Olprv national' orange' faithtul son. Mv my brush' "d";';l;;tgush iike Niagaras ftom beneath yellow, red, and bb";";; stick of one mut I am a savage rubbing he When I paint, it seems to *"I effect a certain colot effect' The another in order to obtain color against j;-**oulo.orrral of one color's charac- of flames. ,*re effect ##r;;; by anotner' ' ' ' teristi" features andpeculiarities partial to I have arways besn most A child or trre uiloilJao steppes, horizontal formats' ' ' ' to Ukaine, transfer a part of my paintings It would be a good idelJo mYbelovedhomeland' ' ' '- Hrystrko and War years' critics like Malaniuk' the post-second World US In inthe "Russian" emigration to the Dyvnych (Lawinenko);;;;;;y Russians a "American malorosy [Little - who were of Unarnan";;;"t identitv that had no po- term of abuse' signifv;;e;tq"d1*'h 1":l*al as Ulrainians' Most retused t" them litical dimensionl and can be 9?eaV critics against-t:l1y-- the American maloros the charges thrown ;ith"* they of the criticisms sound as thougb aoplied directlv'o how- gurli;; The above quotations demonstrate' written with "u"i'Lloil;ili"di" *"'a' be were idea of what he considered to ever, that the artist t"t'"ititiJ".rytnit3 Futurism'and these into his definitions of attributes, Uoriofoao"td Ulaainian of what Fuflrism was or should art. In fact, tf'"'t#*4"'g"q.g modern ukraiman identitv' ;;;;;ffi uv d*mt;' iense of the

Manuscript sec- rnoi.,'state public tibrary in Saintpetersburg, ffi in Horbachov' 373-74' tt;L;;;"' i' {Jkrainian translation Slaves d'6tudes Steppe Son: David Burliuk's Identity n inUlraine' In the first decades of the twentieth cenhrry both David Burliuk's poetry and art demonstate qualities that tiave made him famous: intensity, brutal was born in strength, an almost physiological cult of vitality, joie de viwe, and eroticism' fought in the The iast trait was proverbial: he once confessed that he found all women up to the age of ninety attractive.26 Burliuk counterposed these qualities to what :? Determina- he perceived as ai effete, decadent symbolism. He desqribed Futurism's ex- huberance as a desire to porhay the future liberated human being, and the im- ver, my deter- age of this liberated human being was inspired by popular creativity. nd at intoduc- TLoughout his arlistic career, Burliuk depicted the daily existence of ordi- nary people enjoying life. His art abounds in scenes of tea parties, picnics" ughhe didnot village and town streets, and tavems, pictures that display a life-affirming en- ubustling activity and activisnl and implicitly hold out the promise of a "rgy, yle of ancient rich and harmonious future for humanity. another color It was the cult of vitalify that drew him towards "primitivisnl" a rediscov- ne has its most ery of the forceful, simple and direct in popular art, which he found both in nge, greenish" the ancient past and in folklore. The Scythian artifacts collected during archi- eath my brush. tectural digs around his home in the area inspired rmrch of his early he stick ofone art, as did exarrples of peasant art. Markov has written some of these influ- fect. The effect ences: rneandering

26. Livshits, The One and a Half-Eyed Archer,p. 41' 27. Markov, Rnss ian Futurism,pp. 33,35. Sec- burg, ManuscriPt 28. Nicholas Burliuk, '"fhe First Hippie: David Davidovich Burliuk, p' 84' 29. Livshits, The One and a Half-Eyed Archer,p. 5)- Canadienne Amdricaine d'€tudes Slaves Canadian American Slavic Studies/Revue

like his re- images in dense arrangement'"3o These features' place disparate stong or ihe Cossack Mamai figure' his bright colours and F;;;t"*g a 'frimitive" art of local prove- outlines, can be seen as part of the tum to nance, to artistic creativity' His en- Linked to this is Burliuk's democratic attitude ,o HttaH"g creativity in those iir+ often bV tire life was devoted of ;il;; uu"ntio' to the artistit lo*"' in everyday objtltt' th9 Products of folk artists' children' p"p"LJ creativity. He found praise for the work friendsandfamilymembers_ullof*ho*heencouragedtopaint.Infact,his motheralsoparticipu."oi"theLinkexhibitionoflg0sunderhelmaiden that: name Mikhner.ych." Livshits informs who used to come and Among the many inhabitants of Chernianka ..boss,s who was much enticed by the stare at the iittle ones" was a man Burliuk's painting and saw it as his own vocation' or a carpenter; He was a bearded man, not YomB' erther a merchant was Kovalenko' The Bw- who served in one of the estates' His surname paints him into a liuks frrrnished him with canvas' brushes and Tq ry$" paintings alongside thers'-- second Rousseau, exhibiting his

Burliuk,spaintings,likemuchfolkart,demonstrateafascinationwithsrrr. sensuous experience."33 Livshits has face texture. Art for ti- *ua a,,tactrle, drag a new canvas outside and famously described f'o* tt" Burliuks would of clay and sand, so that iir.e iii*" the liquid dirt, then paint o-ver the bits .G.ome and blood of the liylaean land''34 Al- the landscape *oufa ttr" flesh which canbe seen as another lied to this is a deriberate curtivation of crudity, due to Bur- *"V Symbolist refinement'.but was probably also and the close-up, which liuk,s"f"ft"ff"nging atEaction to the down-to-eartb, the immediate name of these desiderata, he re- il;;* as grounded and true-to-1ife. In the voltedagainstwhatpassedforsophistication,butwas,inhisopinion,styliza- World of Art group' Andre tion and aes{heticization' He raiied against the cities' which set the tastes of the Benois, and the ,ufo" poftl" of the ca:pital he embraced disso- and dilettantes. In the name of collectors it clear **;fi;oportio", asymmety' Reports of his early speeches make

Futurist Book Design 1910-14'- in Margit Rowell andDeborahWye,eds',fn"nuuio'Avant-GardeBook'1910'19i4(NewYork:TheMuseum of Modern Art' 2002), P' 37' p'32' 31. Evdaw, David Burliuk v Ameike' Archer'p' 53' 32. Livshits, The One and a Half-Eyeil Russian Futurism"'p' 31' 33. Bowlt"'David Burliuk, the Fathet of 57' 34. Livshits' the One and a Half-Eyed Archer'p' ne Am6ricaine Slaves Steppe Son: David Burtiuk,s Identity .d'6tudes ese features, like his re- that these were the qualities that consistently upheld; they were also the 'right colours and strong qualities he always extolled in Van Gogh.3t itive" art of local prove- Burliuk's primitivism, as expressed in the early, pre-revolutionary period can all be linked to a constructed local history and mythology, an invented rtistic creativity. His en- identity,,that he would adhere to throughout his life, and thatliows from rwo ie around hirn, often by main so{uces: the Scythian and the Utrrainian. objects, tlle products of Hyiaea was the original name of the Futurist group, fiist formed in 19r0 at of folk artists, children, the Burliuk family hsme in chomianka, not far from the city of Kherson. 'aged to paint. In fact, his This was where Burliuk's father managid an enornous estate belonging to 1908 under he1 maiden count Mordvinov. The name Hylaea is based on the Ancient Greek wtrd for the Scythian lands at the mouth of the Dnieper: It is mentioned four times in Herodotus and is the setting for some of Hercules' feats. The group used this who used to come and name until they began calling themselves Futurists in 1913. was much enticed by the had o'In written in his memoirs that retrospect, chernianka proved to be the |l. intersection of those co-ordinates which brought forth the movement in Rus- merchant or a carpenter, sian poetry and painting called Futurism."36 To Livshits, Hylaea evoked the ras Kovalenko. The Bur- writings of Hesiod and Homer. To Burliuk it suggested wild energy, revolu- ints and made him into a tionary enthusiasm and barbarian power. The term came to stand for the ni- ride theirs.32 hilistic pathos, the overturning of established values and customs that domi- nates the early Futurist manifestoes, all of which were inspired by and often te a fascination with sw- wri-ften byDavid Burfiuk. In his imaginatio4 "Hylaea', merged with the cos- perience."33 Livshits has sack identity-, which also stood for life-affirming vitality, physical, shength new canvas outside and and spirilml optigisrrq and in which he ,u* tG ,rrppr"rr.d'"rr.rgy of the of clay and sand, so that steppe peoples who had for centuries been denied eiit througn tnJb*ep", 'the Hylaean land."34 Al- delta to the Black Sea. His evocations of both scythia and zaf,orozhran cos- ;h can be seen as another sackdom suggest explosive and hidden power hibernating in the steppe. also due to Bur- 'robably Much of Burliuk's art was rooted in the emotional and subconsiious. He and the close-up, which believed in invisible realms outside our normal sphere of perception, realms I these desiderata, he re- which could be sensed and shown by artists, but which dii not submit to ra- .s, in his opinion, styliza- tional analysis. This faith appears to have originated from his encounters with ,rld of Art group, Andre soothsayers, miracle-workers and gypsies whom he met on his archaeological hich set the tastes of the expeditions arid which have been described by Nicholas Burliuk.3T In his ism he embraced disso- youth !9 visited and asked to be allowed to spend the night in haunted ly speeches make it clear houses,38 and in the 1920s he painted radio waves, trr"y.o.rta be "o"ui*"J?iut seen. His view was that as human beings freed themselves of their over- wheening rationality, their sense perceptions would develop and these realms ;n l9l0-14," in Margit Rowell '934 (New York: The Museum 35' Andrei Krusanov' Russkii avangard: 19076-1932 (Istoricheskii obzor). lr trekh tomakh Tom,. l. Boevog petersburg: desiatiletie (st. Novoe literatumoe obozrenie, toeb;, p. ll. 36. Livshits, The , 2l One ahd a HatfEyetl Archer,pp.5g_59. 'llhe First Hippie: David 11. It:lql.m P-rrliuk, Davidovich Burljuk,,,pp. 86-93. 38. Ibid.,pp.93-95. Canadian American Slavic Studies/Revue Canadienne Amdribaine d'€tudes Slaves

would become accessible to thern Other contemporary artists from Ukraine - Kazimir Malevictu and oleksander Bohomazov among them - had similar intuitions. euitiuk also revealed a desire to see the world holistically. This expressed itselfas a strong ecological consciousness: he practiced conservation and re- cycling long before most North Americans had considered the concept. Even in his youth he lived frugally. None of this, of cburse, appealed to Soviet crit- ics, who have rarely mentioned it, and when they have done so, have ex- pressed displeasure widr what they described as his mystical tendencies and his NaturphilosoPhie, " As with other artists, Burliuk's motivation for refusing to follow the beaten path, 'and for not repeating himself in art, stemmed not only from the desire to surprise or shock, but also from the effort to arbiculate an authentic, personal view of life. One way of doing this was to paint against conventio& against the expected image. Another was to deliberately include the ugly, or ..brutal" detail. In a similar way, the avoidance of sentimentalism can be seen as a way ofreaching for the authentic through negation. So, too, can his de- sire to simgltaneously see several sides of a picture: this latter can be. under- stood as an atternpt to break down accepted patterns ofthinking and to con- struct a more'odynamico' and personal model of perception. lt is clear that the closely observed, the spontaneous and the paradoxical were for Burliuk ways of overturning any controlling, overarching schemes and rationalizitions. It was as though he profoundly distrusted rational con- structs,,that deadened perception or obstructed an honest and close-up view- ing. In the end, rather than repress the anarchic, direct and impulsive, he pre- ferred to embrace it. Burliuk's worh however, reveals a search for transcendence. He finds it, as has been argued, in a profoundly sensed, almost mystical union with the vitality of common people. His art explores and celebrates both psychological and cultural vitality, and also biological. In his later works he tumed to paint- ing summer landscapes full of brilliant sunshine and bursting energy, and to flowers. The'many still lives with flowers that he produced in the last decades of his life are his frnal tribute to natural beauty and to the mysterious powefs of the earth that so fascinated him' It is these undelpinning beliefs and this sensibility that his contemporaries men- often had in mind when they referred to him as a ulaainian. Gollerbakh tions hiS "khokhol goodnaturedness" and "stubbornness."40 Lentulov and Livshits saw the atmosphere of abundance and the family [ospitality in

39. Postupalskyi , Literaturnyi trud Davida D. Burliukn'p' 15' 40. E. Gollerbakh,Iskusstvo Davida Burliuka (New York: Izdanie M. N. Burliuk, 1930)' p. rdienne Am€ribaine d'6tudes Slaves Steppe Son: David Burliuk's Identiw 77

)orary artists from Ukraine chornianka - as evidence of the ukrainian background. Burliuk himself drew rd Oleksander Bohomazov inspiration from the shength and determination of his ancestors. when these qualities are placed alongside the evidence provided by his art (the fascina- I holistically. This expressed tion with popular vitality, the mystical unlon wlttr the energies acticed conservation and re- oi the natual world, the myth of the steppe Ukraine as an Arcadia onsidered the concept. Even - an unspoiled, fertile land overflowing'with irresistible energy) one immediately urse, appealed to Soviet crit- recognizes the elements of a core identity myth of ukraine rcy have that has b""', in the done so, have ex- making. ""otoi.s his mystical tendencies and It is unforfunate, therefore, that the condemnation of the maloros identity as a kind of apostasy or creolization by Malaniuk, for refirsing to fcillow the Dyvnych, Hryshko and more recently Riabchuk has tended to place figures stemmed not only from the like Burliuk outside the purview of "ukrainian" studies.ar Dyvnych rt to articulate an authentic, makes the point that the emigre maloros had often not witnessed the to paint against convention, cultural renaissance of the 1920s and was therefore less sympathetic toward Ukrainian berately include the ugly, or nation-building efforts. For Malaniuk's the maloros phenomenon was not Isentimentalism can be seen sirnply a problem of political and cultural illiteracy, a lack of information egation. So, too, can his de- or education. He saw is in mili- tary and political terms as a comadian loss nerve lre: this lafter can be. under- of in the inteltgentsia: it was not just a case of cultural hybridity, a erns of thinking and to con- "national hermaphroditisnl,' but also part of a mood of "national-defeatisr4"a2 erception. a capihrlatiorrin the face of a powgrful enemy and a paralysis of taneous and the paradoxical the political will.?3 The term need not, however, be viewed olling, overarching schemes through such a negative lense. In imperial times many ukrainians, ndly distusted rational con- who frst acculturates and then assimilated to imperial Russian culture, retained n honest and close-up view- a personal sense ofidentity that included a strong Ukrainian component. lirect and irnpulsive, he pre- This kind of individual often, in fact, main- tained a multiple or layered identity, and his or her entire world-view often remained connected at a deep level to a positive r transcendence. He finds it, sense of ukrainianness. such was the case with Nikolai Gogol' nst mystical union with the and . Jewish writers in Germany or Russia found themselves elebrates both psychological in a similar situation. Ignoring Heine's Jewish origins, it has been argued, ter works he tumed to paint- overlooks the connection of his beriefs with Judaism.a In similar fashion, andbursting energt and to by ignoring the ukrainian backgro'nd of Gogol', Malevich or Burliuk, critics produced in tlre last decades risk overlooking currents *rt r"a tn. nd to the mysterious powers

41. see Malaniuk, "Tvorchist i natsionalnist (Do problemy malorossyznu u mystetstvi,,, and rility that his contemporaries "Malorosiistvo"; vasyl I. Hryshko, Maloukrainske skhidniatstvo (studia odniiir provokatsii); Ukaiaian. Iurii Dyvnvch Gollerbali*r rhen, [tavrinenko], Amerykanske marorosiistvo (pubritsystychnyi reportakh); and bbornness."4o Lentulov and Mykola Riabchuk, Vid Malorosii do lJkrainv. 42. Ievhen Malaniuk, 'Marorosiistvo," d the family fuospitality in inhis Knyha sposterezhen.vor. 2 (Toronto: Homin Ukrainy, I 966), p. 23J. 43. Ibid..p.234. 44' Jost Hermand, ,15. 'one Identity is not Enough: Heine's Legacy to Germans, Jews, and Lib- erals," in Peter uwe k: Izdanie M. N. Burliuk, 1930), p. Hohendahl and Sander L. Gil*un, eds., Heinrich Heine and the occident: Multiple ldenlities, Murtipre Receptions (Lincoln: univ. of Nebraska press, l99t), pp. 19,20. canadian American slavic studies/Revue canadienne Americaine d'6tudes slaves

spiritual and artistic development of these writers and artists. David Burliuk's a-tternpt to construct, out of the idea of a Scithian and Ukainian past, both a perso;al identity and an inspiration for Futurisq deserves a more careful re- view.

University of Manitoba