David Burliuk

The Artist and the Model

«The Artist and the Model», 81 x 61 cm. Oil on canvas.

David Burliuk's painting «The Artist and His Model» depicts a classic scene of the creative process. In a studio with yellow-green walls, a young nude woman, the model, poses on a table. To her left, the artist stands before an easel with palette and brushes in hand. Beside him, paints are arranged on the table, while the canvas on which he is working is visible on the easel. The composition is completed by objects from the studio, including a shelf with brushes and a vase above the painter's head. The work is executed in rapid, energetic brushstrokes typical of Burliuk's style, conveying the vitality and dynamism of the creative act.

The work is signed at lower right.

David Davidovich Burliuk (1882-1967) was born in the Kharkiv Governorate of the Russian Empire, in present-day Ukraine, into a family of agronomists. He received his artistic training in Kazan, Odesa, at the Munich Academy and in Paris. He was one of the founders and leading theorists of Russian Futurism, as well as co-author of the celebrated manifesto «A Slap in the Face of Public Taste». He actively supported young poets, including Vladimir Mayakovsky, who declared: «Burliuk made me a poet». After the Revolution he emigrated first to Japan and, in 1922, settled in the United States, where he continued to paint until his death.

Provenance: Hempel auction, Germany, 2025.