?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 40,000 - $ 60,000
DAVID BURLIUK Head
Oil on board, 1911. 445x328 mm; 17 1/2x12 7/8 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right recto.
Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Sol Brody, Philadelphia; Gloria Cherkas, Pennsylvania and Florida; private collection, New Jersey.
Exhibited: Philadelphia Museum of Art, May 12-July 7, 1985, paralleling Chagall, the major retrospective which emphasized the Russian aspects in Marc Chagall's art, with the museum label verso.
During his career, Burliuk (1882-1967) explored a diverse spectrum of artistic styles, though he always returned to a place of exuberance, often with vivid colors and broad brushstrokes. As a young man, Burliuk studied fine arts in Odessa before attending the Munich Royal Academy of Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1907, Burliuk settled in Moscow and befriended members of the city's avant-garde. He attended the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1911 until his expulsion in 1913. During these years, Burliuk was an active member of Russian Futurism and adhered to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Manifesto of Futurism which idealized progress. Rejecting conventional artistic norms and public taste, Burliuk would sometimes dress wearing a wooden spoon for some of his art classes.
In the present portrait, Burliuk stressed the importance of paring down painting to the essential basic elements: line, surface, color and texture. These early paintings were often painted on hard, coarsely textured board and seem to unify elements of Cubism and Futurism. As noted in ARTnews in a 1924 exhibition review, the "coarse texture gives animation to flat areas of color." Burliuk continued in this more abstract style until settling on Long Island in 1941. It is likely also that Burliuk returned to earlier compositions to rework them as his style evolved. During World War I, Burliuk fled Russia and travelled through Siberia, Japan and Canada promoting his art before reaching New York.
