Davyd Davydovych Burliuk and the Ukrainian Avant-Garde

Following a brief stop in Canada, Burliuk settled in New York in 1922, where he would reside with his family for the rest of his life.^[1] It was during his New York City period that Burliuk both invented and experimented in the Radio-style, which depicts the radio waves connecting everything and everyone in this new, technological world. Burliuk’s choice to depict technology may seem paradoxical in the context of his affinity for nature, however an assessment of his entire catalog reveals he "had an intuitive understanding of things invisible to the naked eye. This can be noted in both his Radio-style and in his impressionistic landscapes, whether of the steppe or Japan, which pulsate with energy and suggest the existence of patterns just outside human perception."^[2]

^[1] Shkandrij, “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967" in Futurism and After 2008 (2008: Winnipeg Art Gallery, n.d.). Page 14.

^[2] Shkandrij. “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967." Page 14.

During the 1920s, Burliuk also dabbled in surrealistic, symbolic art steeped in allegory.^[1] Shkandrij describes a “pull towards naturalism…evident in his work from the early 1930s,” and a turn towards “painting scenes of New England towns, drawing inspiration from the daily life of ordinary people,”^[2] similar to the more ethnographic works he made of Ukrainian peasants. In these years, Burliuk often depicted human subjects as "thick-set, gnome-like figures, who appear rooted in the earth...add[ing] a mysterious, fairy-tale quality to his documentation of urban life."^[3]

^[1] Shkandrij, “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967” in Futurism and After 2008 (2008: Winnipeg Art Gallery, n.d.). Page 14.

^[2] Shkandrij. “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967.” Page 17.

^[3] Shkandrij. “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967.” Page 14.

Burliuk also applied this surrealistic, allegorical style to his political art. Throughout his life, Burliuk demonstrated an impressive “ability to adapt to the ideological requirements of the Communist Party,” while never becoming its “gullible tool.”^[1] However, Burliuk’s political ambivalence came into focus following the deaths and persecution of many of his Futurist colleagues and friends, including that of Maiakovsky in 1930.

For example, the image to the left, one of Burliuk's largest, represents the evolution of "the spirit of Russia; Tolstoy is the old spirit and Lenin the new."^[2]

^[1] Shkandrij, “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967” in Futurism and After 2008 (2008: Winnipeg Art Gallery, n.d.). Page 14.

^[2] Shkandrij, “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967.” Page 14.

Finally, in the 1950s and 60s, Burliuk painted countless still-lifes, a “last tribute to natural beauty and the mysterious powers of the earth. He was, in the end, a worshipper of the earth’s abundance and glory as much as a Futurist scandalizer of public taste.”^[1]

^[1] Shkandrij. “Beyond Futurism: David Burliuk 1882-1967” in Futurism and After 2008 (2008: Winnipeg Art Gallery, n.d.) Page 17.