History and Culture: The exhibition “David Burliuk. Energy of Futurism in Russia” presented in the Russian State Library

The exhibition David Burliuk. Energy of Futurism in Russia, dedicated to David Davidovich Burliuk, whose 140th anniversary is celebrated this year, is presented in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library (Moscow). The exposition features manuscripts, notebooks, letters, drawings and rare photographs from the archives of the founder of futurism in Russia, as well as books of his followers.

David Davidovich Burliuk (1882–1967) was a painter and a poet, founder of futurism as an art movement in Russia. Since 1956, creative manuscripts, diaries, letters of David Burliuk and his wife Maria Nikiforovna have been entering the collections of the Lenin State Library of the USSR (currently, RSL). The documents were provided by the painter himself, who continuously kept in touch with his motherland. Thus, the Manuscript Department now contains a personal archival collection of Burliuk, which features 1,050 depositary items.

The new exhibition in the Rumyantsev Hall is an illustration of the bright life of David Davidovich, which reflects the energy and charm of his works through archival documents. The exposition showcases notebooks with poems, drawings and memories of the poet. Autographs and drawings of David Davidovich himself, his friends, photographs of relatives and acquaintances, dried flowers and leaves, newspaper clippings are pasted in the notebooks.

Rare photographs of David and Maria Burliuk, members of their family, as well as of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexey Nikolayevich Tolstoy are exhibited for the first time.