Page 46 - Studio International - July August 1973

and this boot — then I shall paint everything photograph. This is realism since in all cases adjust to any light).
connected with them arising in my brain: and I only the form and colour of the object's Develop the second object in water-colour if
have the right to do this and I am able to do this, periphery are drawn or painted from a you wish.
and my master-researcher-inventor's analytical specific visual angle, plus or minus the If it won't constrain you, then paint one
intuition provides an absolutely new and orthography of school, nation, tribe or artist. object realistically and the other abstractly.
unprecedented form and colour for their According to this definition, even Picasso Advance from both poles.
depiction. with his violins is a realist : a violin is whole, a A realistic object can be a portrait, a still-life,
The most important thing is persistence and jug is whole, but the violin and the jug are a domestic animal or revolutionary theme, etc.
attention. First and foremost, set them to work broken up into bits and pieces and are arranged You can start with the principle of madeness
on form, on its cellular tissue, on its consistence artificially on the canvas. in the primitive and go on via the distorted line
and specific gravity: don't worry about colour But the knowing eye tells the master- to straightforward photographic realism.
at all. Then your work on form and its researcher more than this. It tells him that in First of all use your pencil honestly and
consistence — providing it's going well — will every atom of the consistence constituting the firmly and then you can begin to use paint.
determine the maximum colour effect from the periphery, in every atom of the surface itself, Dilute the paint with oil — turpentine or
very beginning. there occurs a series of transformative, kerosene — so as to ensure the necessary
Thanks to this disparate colour/form effect, metamorphosing processes, and the master resilience and dialectical malleability of the
maximum result is guaranteed, since every paints these and many other phenomena 'with material. You can begin with those areas which
brushstroke (every touch of the pencil, of the a form which he invents wherever necessary'. you've done in pencil and follow the pencil
sculptor's knife on clay, etc.) is a unit of effect, Hence, one may infer that in the first instance marks. In this way, the work will progress from
and this unit as it transpires, always renders its the concept of form as something preconceived its outer limitations to its centre via each
effect both by form and by colour: but if you and historically crystallized is a quasi-rule (a individual part. This will immediately establish
don't know about this 'unit of effect', then your canon). While realizing its falsity, I can still put a professional basis and discipline.
success can be only fortuitous. it into practice sometimes and paint a concrete Work persistently on every individual detail
Both these phenomena, colour and form, object, but as a thinker, as a researcher who (every segment) of the picture. Paint whichever
which are indissolubly and organically linked studies the content of phenomena and who part of the object you wish to.
to every brushstroke, condition each other and seeks only this content, I stand for an immutable To hell with all concepts of the 'general
constitute extremely important basis and foundation. conception' — let the objects evolve from
interrelationships during the process of (2) The concept: content determines effect particulars developed to their maximum and
execution: hence the primary organizational by form. then you'll see something which is truly
rule to be observed during execution (while Apart from the above, there is a number of authentic and general, and in a form which you
you're working) is the stipulation that every phenomena or concepts which have no didn't expect.
effort should at first be given to working with consistence or periphery at all, e.g. capitalism, Once the object has been made in this way
the form, and then the latter will begin to take prostitution, the worker question, socialism, then, if necessary, you can make a conclusion,
over the colour initiative. etc. — but I want to paint them. i.e. in certain parts you can work on a second
To hell with all existing art trends. Operate In the first instance, thanks to the accepted or third layer (I've had up to nine layers). But
as a researcher-naturalist (as in the disciplines canon of form, I involuntarily lie about content try to paint with certitude — make literally
of the exact sciences). and avoid it artificially, or I don't notice it for a every atom. Your conclusion will be either
Take the following as the basic doctrine on long time, remaining ignorant of it; but in the constructive or colorific, i.e. it will involve work
content: the 'seeing eye' sees only the surface second instance I simply ask myself the question on form or colour; and how to develop your
of things (objects); moreover, it sees only less what do I see within myself and in nature, what work you will find in my elucidation of the
than one half of the surface (periphery) from can I and must I say about what I comprehend `unit of effect'. Perhaps a conclusion to the work
a given angle and within its own perimeter. The — and with my brush I say it boldly and won't even be necessary (since it might be
eye is unable to encompass the whole periphery, assuredly. included therein). Good-bye.
but the 'knowing eye' sees a thing objectively, In the second instance begins what I call Obviously, I haven't managed to say
i.e. the complete and total periphery without analytical art — a naturalistic or abstract solution everything. But this will do. While you're about
any visual angles. in which execution is guided by the form which it, you can verify my words by your work and
The 'seeing eye' sees nothing apart from you invent yourself. make an oil or water-colour painting (i.e. two),
colour and form, i.e. two phenomena on the For every art worker provide canvases no and then I'll say a lot more about our cause.
object's periphery, i.e. two qualities peculiar to smaller than a square arshin,3 cover both sides Comrade Vera, kindly return this letter to me
any object, but the periphery (surface) itself of the canvas with chalk and glue (otherwise or send back a copy of it. I can do the same with
derives from a whole complex of phenomena dust will come through from the other side and yours. This is so that I can show it to my
and processes within the object which the canvas will perish). comrades, who, together with me, are creating
condition its periphery with respect to both Once this glue ground has dried, mix up revolution in art — the master of analytical art.q
colour and form. These processes and some linseed-oil with kerosene in equal parts Translated by John E. Bowlt
phenomena are peculiar to the object's and cover the canvas with this mixture. Put the
consistence and evolve continuously, e.g. glue on moderately so that the canvas won't
growth, metamorphoses, metabolisms, tear later on.
electro-radio-magnetic processes, etc. Hence, Work intensely on this canvas and develop
in place of all the fraudulent trends in art we the picture with whatever content you need. Notes to the Letter
can establish two poles for a potential rendition Remember that madeness is the picture's 'It is not clear what Filonov means by a 'cow-hair'
brush (kist . . . korovyu . . .); in the case of 'cat-hair'
of phenomena: supreme content. It is the picture's greatest (kolonkovuyu) Filonov has in mind the hair of a
(i) The extraction (abstraction) of only two value and criterion. Siberian pole-cat. In both contexts Filonov is, of
course, advocating the use of a soft-haired brush such
of the object's qualities, i.e. the only two This professional criterion also includes the as squirrel or sable.
phenomena visible to the eye, constitutes object's ideological criterion. 2v. 1. Surikov (1848-1916) and I. E. Repin
so-called realism in all its diversity — from the In addition, take a similar canvas or piece of (1844-1930) were among the foremost Russian
realism of the caveman to Cezanne, Surikov and paper and develop a second object — one by day, realists; both were members of the 'Wanderers'
society.
Repin,2 from children's drawing right up to the the other by night (or vary your work so as to °One arshin is the equivalent of 28 inches.
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