David Burliuk

(1882 - 1967)

2717

H. Ishi and D. Burliuk

[First Exhibition of Russian Art in Japan]

Tokyo: Kyobashi, 1920

535 x 376 mm. folded page

Edition: unknown.

In the Summer of 1919 Burliuk arrived in Vladivostok, where he joined a young group of futurist artists founded by Sergei Tretiakov, called Tvorchestvo [Creation]. In the Fall of 1920 David Burliuk and Viktor Palmov  were invited to Japan. With the help of the ROSTA-agency and the Japanese mission he and Palmov arrived in Tokyo October 1st 1920. Within two weeks after their arrival an exhibition opened in Tokyo’s Kyobashi district showing 28 artists represented by 473 works (of which 150 by Burliuk and 43 by Palmov). The exhibition, traveling from Tokyo on to Kyoto and Osaka, also featured works by Chagall, Jawlensky, Kamenskii, Malevich and Tatlin and the Khabarovsk Green Cat artists such as Liubarski and Naumov. The First Russian exhibition in Japan became a milestone in the development of modern Japanese art and was embraced by the Japanese futurists. The catalogue in Japanese with a foreword by Hakutei Ishi was printed in three variants: as a broadside without illustrations, as a broadside on slightly better paper with illustrations, and as a booklet (folded broadside). All have the photograph of Burliuk and Palmov in top-hats at the top and the red rubberstamp: Russian Exhibition in Japan. Directors: Burliuk, Palmov. This rubberstamp  also appears on the first page of the album that Burliuk and Palmov made for Segei Tretiakov back in Vladivostok with 7 photographs of paintings and a postcard by the Japanese futurist Seiji Togo. The last page had two drawings, one by Palmov and the other by Burliuk. In November 1920 Burliuk, who stayed in Japan, saw the arrival of his wife Marussia, his sons David jr. and Nicholas, his sister Marianna, Marussia’s sister Lydia as well as Viaclav Fiala for a stay of almost two years. In August 1922 Burliuk and his family left Kobe for the USA. Marianna, who had married Fiala in 1921 went to Prague.

References:

Brussels 2005, no.79.