Tragedy, 1914
Lithographs, letterpress; bound volumeexpand_more
Gift of funds from the Print and Drawing Council and The Christina N. and Swan J. Turnblad Memorial Fundexpand_more B.90.4
Not on Viewexpand_more
Vladimir Mayakovsky's Tragedy was inspired by an avant-garde English production of Hamlet performed at Moscow in 1911. Mayakovsky wrote his Tragedy, an unusually short play with exuberant stage activity, first performed at Saint Petersburg in 1913; the author appeared in the title role. It was received with great enthusiasm. There was only one character in the production who is recognizable as a character, Mayakovsky himself; the others are figments of the protagonist's imagination. The Burliuk's illustrations portray them as fragments dominated by their characteristics, for example The Old Man with Cats, rendered in a reductivist Cubo-Futurist style. The actors in the production became doll-like figures with costumes painted on canvas stretched on figure frames pushed by the performers. The theatrical effect is conveyed in David Burliuk's design.
Details
- Title
- Tragedy
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- B.90.4
- Provenance
- (MJS Books and Graphics, Northampton, Mass.); sold to MIA, 1990.
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Markov 142-147; Compton 38; Janacek 176-177; Futurisms and Futurismi 438; Doria 18-19; Stein 15
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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