NEW YORK, NY.- An exhibition that provides an overview of the most important periods in the life of famed Futurist David Burliuk opened at The
Ukrainian Museum.
Futurism and After: David Burliuk, 1882-1967, includes examples of Burliuk's work during his early years in Ukraine and Russia (1907-1918), his travels through Siberia (1918-1920), his time in Japan (1920-1922), and his life in the United States, both in New York City (1922-1941) and on Long Island (1941-1967).
The exhibition the first major U.S. show of Burliuk's art since 1962 was organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, where it was on view from April 24 to July 20 of this year. Curated by Professor Myroslav Shkandrij of the Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba, the exhibition draws on the extensive private collection of the artist's granddaughter, Mary Clare Burliuk. At The Ukrainian Museum, the approximately seventy works displayed in Winnipeg are being supplemented by an additional forty paintings from Ms. Burliuk's collection. One of David Burliuk's early works was recently included in another Museum exhibition, Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, 1910-1930, which was on view in late 2006/early 2007.
David Burliuk was born into a Cossack family near the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. He studied art both locally and abroad (in Munich, Paris, and Moscow), wrote poetry, traveled extensively, and tirelessly promoted modern art and literature. Burliuk is considered to be one of the great avant-garde artists of the early 20th century and is often referred to as "the father of Futurism" in both Russia and his native Ukraine. His works are typically filled with vitality, energy, and color. They can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other major institutions around the world.