Russian Museum
Augmented Reality

Annotation

Painted during the First World War, Pavel Filonov’s The German War is stylistically similar to two other compositions — Untitled (1917) and Untitled (1919). It also has much in common with the Cubo-Futurist works of Kazimir Malevich, Lyubov Popova and Nadezhda Udaltsova.
The picture is painted in restrained grey-brown tones and divines the contours of Filonov’s future works. Following the artist’s desire to convey the dynamics and chaos of destruction, the forms break up into “splinters”, reuniting in crystals and new variations.

Author's Biography

Filonov Pavel

Filonov, Pavel Nikolaevich
1882/83, Moscow -1941, Leningrad
Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer, poet. Studied at painting studios in St Petersburg (1897-1901), Lev Dmitriyev-Kavkazsky''s studio (1913-08), School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1893-1901) and under Vasily Savinsky and Jan Ciaglinskj at the Higher School of Art, Imperial Academy of Arts (1908-10). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1910). Founding member of the Union of Youth (1910). Founded the Made Pictures studio of painters and draughtsmen and published its manifesto (1914; second version published in 1923). Helped to design the sets and costumes for a production of Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy (1913). Wrote the poem Chant of Universal Flowering (1914-15). Headed the Department of General Ideology at the Museum of Artistic Culture (1923). Helped to write the statute of the Institute of Artistic Culture. Formed the Masters of Analytical Art (1923).