Page 40 - Studio International - July August 1973

Introduction
Pave Filonov John E. Bowlt
Self-Portrait 1909-10
Indian ink, 6.8 x 10.5 cm
Russian Museum, Leningrad
30
Among the foremost members of the Russian
avant-garde looms the solitary, but powerful
figure of Pavel Filonov. His works, inadequately
known in the West, contain a febrile energy and
complexity of idea comparable only to the
visions of such intense painters as Van Gogh
and Kirchner. Over recent years historians and
collectors alike have been drawn increasingly
to the expressionistic work of Filonov and his
stature and influence within the evolution of
modernist Russian art are now widely
acknowledged. But although some of Filonov's
pictures are now available in the West, both in
the original1 and in published reproduction2,
too little is known of his painterly system
founded on his Theory of Analytical Art, which
achieved its most striking results during the
192os. Appended to the following brief survey
of Filonov's life and work is the English
translation of a long letter by him setting forth
some of the tenets of his Theory. It is to be
hoped that this translation and the introductory
remarks will contribute to a more thorough
understanding of Filonov's original and
exciting arti.
Biography
Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov was born in Moscow
on 8 January, 1883 and he received his
Notes to the introduction elementary schooling there. In 1896, as an
'Several works came on to the market between 1970 orphan, he moved to St Petersburg and shortly
and 1973. See the catalogues to the Sotheby auctions
of Twentieth Century Russian Paintings, Drawings and thereafter began to frequent private art studios
Watercolours for 1 July 1970, 12 April and 29 March until 1901. In 1903, living in very straitened
1973. circumstances, earning money by fulfilling
'See the non-Russian titles listed in note 12 below;
all of them, except the Burliuk, contain relevant restorative and decorative commissions, he
reproductions. The more general surveys of enrolled in the private studio of the
ModernistRussian art, i.e. C. Gray's The Great Academician, Lev Dmitriev-Kavkazsky.
Experiment (London 1962; republished New York
1970) and V. Marcadé's Le Renouveau de l'art Under the latter's guidance Filonov developed
pictural russe, (Lausanne 1971) also contain a few a profound interest in anatomical line and form,
relevant items.
'This is the first time that this letter has been a fact which is demonstrated succinctly, for
published. It is, in any case, the first English example, by his ink drawings and self-portrait
translation of a full Filonov text, although two essays of 1909/191o. In turn, Filonov's concern with
in the original Russian (one reprinted from 1923) anatomical precision prepared him for his brief
appeared recently in the Czech art journal, Vytvarné
uméní (1967, no. 3), i.e. the 'Declaration of Universal study at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts
Flowering' (Deklaratsiya mirovogo rastsveta) and between 1908 and 1910, although the rigid
`On the Motives of Creation' (0 Prichinakh aesthetic and pedagogical conventions prevailing
tvorchestva).
there contributed little to his artistic
development. By 1910, in fact, Filonov had
already emerged as a professional and highly
individual artist and such works as The Hero
and His Fate (1909/1910) testified to his
powerful and distinctive vision of the
apocalyptic and cosmic forces of existence, a
quality which, justifiably, prompted comparison
with the intense and enigmatic works of
Mikalojus (iurlionis and Mikhail Vrubel.
Filonov's affinities with Vrubel are particularly
close not only because of their very subjective
renditions of themes, often taken from the mists
of Russian folklore and legend, but also because
of their intense concern with technique, with the
`madeness' of the picture. In turn, their minute
attention to brushwork and their concentration
on every detail of the canvas lent their work a
distinctive fragmented and prismatic quality.