Presidential Library marks Vladimir Mayakovsky's birthday

On 19 July 1893 in the village of Baghdadi, Kutaisi governorate, in the family of Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky, an impoverished nobleman who served as a forester, and Alexandra Alexeevna Pavlenko, who came from a family of Kuban Cossacks, was born a son Vladimir - the future Soviet poet, playwright, painter, graphic artist.

On the portal of the Presidential Library one can read the edition 255 pages of Mayakovsky (1923), where Vladimir Vladimirovich gives interesting facts from his "so-called biography", starting it with the words: "I am a poet. This is it – interesting. That's what I write about."

About the beginning of his studies: "Mum and my cousins taught me. Arithmetic seemed implausible. I had to calculate apples and pears distributed to boys ... I learnt to read with pleasure".

About studying in the gymnasium: "Preparatory, 1st and 2nd. I go first. All A's. I'm reading Jules Verne. Fantastic stuff. Some bearded man began to discover in me the abilities of an artist. He taught me for nothing.

After the death of his father, in 1906, the family moved to Moscow. About this the poet will write: "After the funeral of my father - we have three rubles. Instinctively, feverishly, we sold tables and chairs. We went to Moscow. Why? I didn't even have any acquaintances".

In Moscow, Vladimir Mayakovsky became close to Bolshevik students and became interested in Marxist literature. In early 1908 he joined the RSDLP(b). He was arrested several times, spent 11 months in Butyr prison. "Didn't want to sit. Scandalised. He was transferred from unit to unit - Basmannaya, Meshchanskaya, Myasnitskaya, etc. - and finally - Butyrki. Solitary No. 103," Mayakovsky recalled. In prison he began to write poetry: "It came out stilted and revolting. Something like: The forests were dressed in gold and purple, / The sun played on the heads of churches... I wrote a whole notebook with it. Thanks to the guards, they took it away on the way out. Otherwise I would have printed more!"

Mayakovsky called his first experiments in writing poetry "deplorable", and he "took up painting". In 1911-1914, the poet studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. At the same time he took part in left-radical modernist exhibitions and disputes of the artists' associations "Jack of Diamonds" and "Union of Youth", joined the Cubofuturists. This was very much disliked by the management of the educational institution: "Of course. The generalship of the arts lingered. Prince Lvov. Principal of the school. Offered to stop criticism and agitation. Refused. The Council of "artists" expelled us from the school," Mayakovsky wrote.

Mayakovsky's work of the early 1920s is characterised by an optimistic tone and reflects the emotional rise of the poet, who rushed together with his people to build a society of social justice. From his autobiography: "Finished "One Hundred and Fifty Million". I'm printing it without a surname. I want everyone to write it down and make it better. They didn't do that, but everyone knew the name. It's all the same. I am printing here under my surname." 150 million people - such was the population of the USSR at that time. The poet united many people into one powerful voice that advocated change and reform.

In 1919-1921, Vladimir Mayakovsky was one of the authors of satirical propaganda posters Windows of ROST, which are often called the first Soviet social advertising. In 1922-1928, the poet led the literary and artistic association Left Front of Arts. From 1923 to 1925 he headed the futurist magazine "LEF".

Mayakovsky often gave speeches in the cities of the USSR and abroad. He described his impressions of his visits to America in the essay "My Discovery of America" (1925).

In recent years, the poet painfully experienced the divergence of revolutionary ideals with Soviet reality. In February 1930, he left the REF (Revolutionary Front of Art, into which the LEF was reorganised) and joined the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers), causing many of his literary associates to break off relations with the poet. According to the official version, Vladimir Mayakovsky committed suicide on 14 April 1930. The poet is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

More information about the life and work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky can be found on the Presidential Library's portal from the materials of the collection Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), as well as in the section On this Day.