Pavel Nikolayevich Filonov ( rus, Па́вел Никола́евич Фило́нов, p=ˈpavʲɪl nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ fʲɪˈlonəf, a=Pavyel Nikolayevich Filonov.ru.vorb.oga; January 8, 1883 – December 3, 1941) was a Russian avant-garde painter, art theorist, and poet.

Biography

Filonov was born in Moscow on January 8, 1883 (

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...

) or December 27, 1882 (

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

). In 1897, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he took art lessons. In 1908, he entered St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, from which, he was expelled in 1910. In 1910–1914, he took part in the arts group Soyuz Molodyozhi created by artists Elena Guro and Mikhail Matyushin. In 1912, he wrote the article ''The Canon and the Law'', in which, he formulated the principles of analytical realism, or "anti-Cubism". According to Filonov, Cubism represents objects using elements of their surface geometry but "analytical realists" should represent objects using elements of their inner soul. He was faithful to these principles for the remainder of his life. During the years 1913 to 1915, Filonov was close to

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

Velimir Khlebnikov Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name Velimir Khlebnikov ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922) was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of th ...

, and other futurists. He co-illustrated Khlebnikov's ''Selected Poems with Postscript, 1907–1914'' alongside Kazimir Malevich during this time. In the autumn of 1916, he enlisted for service in World War I, and served on the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n front. Filonov participated actively in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

and served as the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Committee of Dunay region. In 1919, he exhibited in the First Free Exhibit of Artists of All Trends at the Hermitage. In 1923, he became a professor of St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and a member of the Institute for Artistic Culture (INKhUK). He organized a large arts school of Masters of Analytical Realism (over seventy artists, including an American sculptor and portrait painter Helen Hooker). Their work influenced

suprematism Suprematism (russian: Супремати́зм) is an early twentieth-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstra ...

and expressionism. In 1929, a large retrospective exhibition of Filonov art was planned at the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...

; however, the Soviet government forbade the exhibition. From 1932 onward, Filonov literally starved but still refused to sell his works to private collectors. He wanted to give all his works to the Russian Museum as a gift so as to start a Museum of Analytical Realism. He died of starvation on December 3, 1941 during the Siege of Leningrad.

Method

Under the umbrella of

Universal Flowering Universal Flowering (''Mirovoi rastsvet'') is the name given by Pavel Filonov to his system of analytical art. The system arose from cubo-futurist experiments and works that he undertook from 1913 to 1915. It is characterized by very dense, ...

, Filonov put forth a manner of working that proceeded from the particular to the general. He believed that objects and fields should be built up from small details and bits and stated that doing it the other-way-round was nothing short of "charlatanism". To this end, he worked, and required his students to work, with very small brushes in painting and the finest of points when drawing.

Legacy

Most of Filonov's works were saved by his sister Yevdokiya Nikolayevna Glebova. She stored the paintings in the Russian Museum's archives and eventually donated them as a gift. Exhibitions of Filonov's work were forbidden. In 1967, an exhibition of Filonov's works in Novosibirsk was permitted. In 1988, his work was allowed in the Russian Museum. In 1989 and 1990, the first international exhibition of Filonov's work was held in Paris. During the period of half-legal status of Filonov's works it was seemingly easy to steal them; however, there was
legend
that Filonov's ghost protected his art and anybody trying to steal his paintings or to smuggle them abroad would soon die, become paralyzed, or have a similar misfortune.

Selected works

Image:Pavel_Filonov_Heads.jpg, ''Heads'' (1910). Filonov considered this painting to be his first real work. Image:Pavel_Filonov_ManWoman.jpg, ''A Man and a Woman (Adam and Eve)'' (1912–1913). Image:Pavel_Filonov_KingsFeat.jpg, ''The Banquet of Kings'' (1913). Image:Pavel Filonov universal flowering.jpg, ''universal flowering'' (1915). Image:Pavel_Filonov_Pedagogics.jpg, ''The Formula of Contemporary Pedagogy of IZO'' (1923). Image:Pavel_Filonov_Horses.jpg, ''Horses'' (1924–1925). Image:Pavel_Filonov_2Heads.jpg, ''Two Heads. Rabbles'' (1925). Image:Pavel_Filonov_Animals.jpg, ''Animals'' (1930). Image:Pavel_Filonov_Faces.jpg, ''Countenances (Faces on an Icon)'' (1940)

References

External links