April 24, at the «Russian bid» Christie's will display 13 works of David Burliuk, including canvases kubofuturisticheskie «Rider-Death» and «Hairdresser Headless»

April 24 in New York will be bid auction house Christie's in the category of «Russian Art» , which will include 13 works painted by David Burliuk , written in the period from 1911 to 1963, as well as works by Paul Chelischeva , Nicholas and Svyatoslav Roerich .

David Burliuk believe «the father of Russian Futurism», and his work is noticeably influenced the attitudes of artists in 1910-ies. By the time he finished work on the canvas «Hairdresser without head», he has been actively involved in the promotion of Futurism in Russia, with the emphasis on the convergence of art and poetry.

His creative searches led to the publication of futuristic manifesto entitled «slap in the face to the public taste», in December 1912. Burliuk were sponsored by Velimir Khlebnikov, Aleksei Kruchenykh and Vladimir Mayakovsky. Around the same time, David Burliuk published his work entitled Die Wilden Russlands ( «Wild Russian») and collaborated with Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova , with whom he showed his paintings in the exhibition «The Jack of Diamonds». Burliuk was known abroad, where he tirelessly promoted the Russian avant-garde art, participating in the Munich merger «Blue Rider» and exposing their work in Berlin and Paris.

As part of the Russian bid to Christie's auction will be exhibited two early works by the artist, the analogy that the market does not appear have a very long time. Do canvases «Rider-Death» (around 1911, estimeyt 300-500 thousand dollars) and «Hairdresser Headless» (around 1912 and 300-500 thousand dollars) a very similar story. Both paintings had been in the collection of a collector Max Granika and November 12, 1988 were purchased by the present owner (a Canadian private collector).

In the biography, written in 1944, Katherine Drayer (which has organized the first exhibition in Burliuk 1924), spoke about the relationship between the artist and brothers Granik:

«Another eminent connoisseur of art, and in particular painting Burliuk - is Arthur Granik. Find in this country a man who also refers to the art of Arthur Granik and Oniya La Tour, it is quite difficult. Arthur is very anxious treated Burliuk writing style - to the rhythm of his lines, and thick layers of paint ... His brother, Max Granik, was also a great admirer of art Burliuk - each of the brothers were on the 50-60 works, including the most interesting of all, that he ever created ».

K. Drayer, «Burliuk», New York, 1944, pp. 129

Job «Rider-Death» (1911) the completion of early phase of creativity Burliuk, during which he used in his paintings complex composite solutions, and greatly affected by Russian folk art. Name canvases, some art historians, is the allusion to the title of the «Blue Rider», together with participants of the Burliuk first exhibited his work in 1911.

Cloth «Hairdresser without head» (1912) is perhaps one of the most important works kubofuturisticheskogo period Burliuk. This picture is often seen by experts as the interpretation of paintings by Mikhail Larionov Burlyuk «officer Hairdresser», which was written three years earlier under the impression from the XVIII century satirical lubka «barber wants to shave the beard splitter». Also Burliuk work can be considered as a response Larionov, who in February 1912 accused him of decadence and borrowing from the Munich artists. And while the true history of this painting is unknown, the canvas reflects the artist's belief that art should not copy life, but to distort it. February 24, 1912 during a debate at the exhibition «The Jack of Diamonds» Burliuk proclaimed:

«Art - distortion of reality, rather than copying it. Photography so bad and that is never wrong. Modern painting rests on three principles: disharmony, dissimmetrii and diskonstruktsii. Diskonstruktsiya expressed as a linear shift, a plane, or colors. However, since the elements of line, plane and color can not be completely separated from each other, it would be scholasticism strive to implement these changes in the pure form ».

Quoted in B. Livshits, «Polutoraglazy Sagittarius», 1933

These «changes» and «Distortion» clearly visible in the painting «Hairdresser without head»: the mirror, is depicted on the canvas, is made up of scattered fragments, hair piece - is just the set of geometric shapes and the colors are far from reality.

Source: Press Releases Christie's

works of Paul Chelischeva bids April 24, can be read here .
works Nicholas and Svyatoslav Roerich at auction April 24, can be read here .