Artistic Association " donkey tail" M.F. Larionov, N.S. Goncharova.
"Donkey's Tail" is a group of Russian avant-garde artists associated with the exhibition of the same name, staged in 1912 in Moscow. Its shocking name comes from the scandal at the Parisian Salon of Independents (where a group of hoaxers exhibited abstract painting, actually “written” by a donkey using its tail). The core of the Moscow exhibition consisted of the works of the group of M.F. Larionov, who shortly before left, together with N.S. Goncharova and a number of other artists, from the “Jack of Diamonds” association, deciding to organize his own, much more radically avant-garde exhibition. Works were shown here greatest masters Russian futurism (in addition to Larionov and Goncharova - K.S. Malevich, V.E. Tatlin and M.Z. Chagall).
The style was dominated by deliberate primitiveness, powerful color-formal expression, and motifs of rural archaism or rough urban folklore.
Unlike the “Jack of Diamonds,” which became a tradition and a long-term stylistic trend, “Donkey’s Tail,” without taking shape organizationally, disintegrated already in 1913, without forming a general artistic paradigm. In any case, the ephemeral group entered history as important stage Russian futurism, which in this short period moved from “neo-folklore” primitiveness to spontaneous “radiant” abstraction.
M.F. Larionov studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with V.A. Serov and I.I. Levitan. There he met N.S. Goncharova, who became not only his wife, but also a like-minded person in his work. From the beginning of the 1900s, Larionov actively participated in artistic life, exhibiting not only in Russia, but also in Europe, and had a great influence on Larionov French painters. In 1902-06 he worked in the style of late impressionism (“Lilac Bush in Bloom”). In 1907, experiencing the influence of Fauvism and naive art, he turned to the primitivist style, creating memorable (rich colors, sharp lines, sharp scenes) canvases (“Resting Soldier”; “Spring”).
Being at the forefront of the artistic life of that time, by 1912 he created a new artistic concept - rayism, one of the first examples of abstract art in the category of so-called “non-objective creativity”, in which forms were formed as a result of the intersection of rays reflected from various objects.
The painting and graphics of N.S. Goncharova - initially impressionistic, then decided in the spirit of Fauvism - stand at the origins of Russian futurism. In 1907–1911, she managed, perhaps more organically than any of her contemporaries, to combine the traditions of the “primitive” (popular prints, painted signs, etc.), as well as the traditions of the icon, with new avant-garde trends. A special place in her art is occupied by genre and everyday themes (“Haymaking”, “Washing the Canvas”), as well as religious motifs (the “Evangelists” cycle). They are impressive with their menacingly apocalyptic expression “ Mystical images war." Decomposing the forms of the visible world, the artist turned to cubo-futurism (“Cyclist”).
Transforming the avant-garde into the “art of life,” Goncharova and Larionov were involved in theater (the project of the artistic cabaret “Pink Lantern”) and cinema (participation in the filming of the first Russian futuristic film “Drama in Cabaret No. 13”). That is why their transition to scenography was so organic (at the invitation of S.P. Diaghilev). The powerful, picturesque plasticity of Goncharova’s production of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Golden Cockerel” was a resounding success in Paris. While working in Russian Seasons, Goncharova and her husband left Moscow, finally settling in the capital of France in 1919.
1. Russian artists. / Ch. ed. Anisimov A.P. – M.: Delo, 2003.
"Donkey's Tail"- a group of Russian avant-garde artists associated with the exhibition of the same name, organized in 1912 in Moscow. Its shocking name comes from the scandal at the Parisian Salon of Independents (where a group of hoaxers exhibited an abstract painting in 1910, which was actually “painted” by a donkey using a tail).
The core of the Moscow exhibition consisted of the works of the group of M.F. Larionov, who shortly before left, together with N.S. Goncharova and a number of other artists, from the “Jack of Diamonds” association, deciding to organize his own, much more radically avant-garde exhibition. The works of the greatest masters of Russian futurism were shown here (in addition to Larionov and Goncharova - K.S. Malevich, V.E. Tatlin and M.Z. Chagall).
The style was dominated by deliberate primitiveness, powerful color-formal expression, and motifs of rural archaism or rough urban folklore.
Unlike the “Jack of Diamonds,” which became a tradition and a long-term stylistic trend, “Donkey’s Tail,” without taking shape organizationally, disintegrated already in 1913, without forming a general artistic paradigm. In any case, the ephemeral group entered history as an important stage of Russian futurism, which in this short period moved from “neo-folklore” primitiveness to spontaneous “rayonist” abstraction.
M.F. Larionov studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with V.A. Serov and I.I. Levitan. There he met N.S. Goncharova, who became not only his wife, but also a like-minded person in his work.
From the beginning of the 1900s, Larionov actively participated in artistic life, exhibiting not only in Russia, but also in Europe, and French painters had a great influence on Larionov. In 1902-06 he worked in the style of late impressionism (“Lilac Bush in Bloom”). In 1907, experiencing the influence of Fauvism and naive art, he turned to the primitivist style, creating memorable (rich colors, sharp lines, sharp scenes) canvases (“Resting Soldier”; “Spring”).
Being at the forefront of the artistic life of that time, by 1912 he created a new artistic concept - rayism, one of the first examples of abstract art in the category of so-called “non-objective creativity”, in which forms were formed as a result of the intersection of rays reflected from various objects.
The painting and graphics of N.S. Goncharova - initially impressionistic, then decided in the spirit of Fauvism - stand at the origins of Russian futurism. In 1907–1911, she managed, perhaps more organically than any of her contemporaries, to combine the traditions of the “primitive” (popular prints, painted signs, etc.), as well as the traditions of the icon, with new avant-garde trends. A special place in her art is occupied by genre and everyday themes (“Haymaking”, “Washing the Canvas”), as well as religious motifs (the “Evangelists” cycle). “Mystical Images of War” impresses with its menacingly apocalyptic expression. Decomposing the forms of the visible world, the artist turned to cubo-futurism (“Cyclist”).
The exhibition became notorious thanks to censorship.
banning a number of paintings by Goncharova, representing
popular prints of saints (“Evangelists”, 1911),
considering that they could not be shown at the exhibition
with a similar name.
Transforming the avant-garde into the “art of life,” Goncharova and Larionov were involved in theater (the project of the artistic cabaret “Pink Lantern”) and cinema (participation in the filming of the first Russian futuristic film “Drama in Cabaret No. 13”). That is why their transition to scenography was so organic (at the invitation of S.P. Diaghilev). The powerful, picturesque plasticity of Goncharova’s production of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Golden Cockerel” was a resounding success in Paris. While working in Russian Seasons, Goncharova and her husband left Moscow, finally settling in the capital of France in 1919.
The Russian art association "Donkey's Tail", created in 1912, is one of the most famous. The name of the community was given by a painting exhibited in Paris, painted with the tail of a donkey. This organization, which gained scandalous fame, included artists with similar views and keen on the avant-garde movement in art. Since its inception, Donkey's Tail has been the center of attention. However, despite its popularity and rapid rise, a year after its founding, in 1913, this community of artists ceased to exist.
Participants of "Donkey's Tail"
Artists in the community advocated for unification European school painting from Russian folk tradition. Antique paintings participants of the Donkey's Tail of the early 1910s are performed in a deliberately primitive style. They resemble lubok, ethno-primitivism - and all this is combined with avant-garde.
In addition to the organizers of Donkey's Tail, Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova, the association included many other artists. Among them are V. Bart, K. Malevich, V. Tatlin, A. Shevchenko. Despite the popularity of "Donkey's Tail", gradually many participants began to move away from the direction chosen by the association, wanting to try their hand at other genres and styles - this was the reason for the collapse of the community.
Note from an antiques expert
Today, the works created by the members of this association are especially popular in the market. The collection of the Old Petersburg salon invites visitors to familiarize themselves with a rich collection of ancient paintings. Our experts will evaluate your antiques free of charge, both over the phone and online.
The organization was created in 1911. The organizers of “Donkey’s Tail” were K. Malevich, M. Larionova, A. Shevchenko, N. Goncharova. The Moscow artists who were part of the Donkey's Tail gave this name to their society due to the popularity at that time of the painting painted with a donkey's tail. The painting was presented to society in 1910 at an exhibition in Paris.
Organization's activities
Members of the art association organized exhibitions at which they showed not only their paintings, but also paintings by their students - aspiring artists. Unfortunately, the organization collapsed in 1913, even before it was officially registered. Results of activities art group The following paintings have become popular in our time: “Washwomen” and “Peasants Picking Apples” by N. Goncharova, “Morning in the Barracks” and “Resting Soldier” by M. Larionov, “Flossers” by K. Malevich, “Sailor” and “Fish Seller” V. Tatlin. The collection of Russian avant-garde artists "Donkey's Tail", despite its short existence, left a noticeable mark on the history of Russian painting.
Just a hundred years ago, art was the center of attention of society and serious passions boiled around it. This article, published in 1920 in the Niva magazine, is an attempt to ridicule the progressive artists from the Salon of Independents. How successful this attempt is is for you to judge.
How a French journalist ridiculed modernist artists with a donkey
Many times common-sense artistic criticism has fallen upon decadent artists with their eccentric, obviously absurd works: but never has any criticism achieved such thunderous results as the witty farce recently perpetrated by the Parisian magazine Fantasio on the artists of the “Independents” circle.
The "Independents" have their own "Salon", diligently visited by the public, who are surprised, indignant, laugh, but willingly go to the "Independents" for the sake of curiosity and some love for scandal. This year there really was a scandal with these artists - an unprecedented, malicious one...
About a month and a half or two ago, a fiery manifesto of the “School of Excessivists” appeared in some newspapers. The manifesto was signed resoundingly, to this day no one has yet unknown by name Joachim-Raphael Boronali and said the following: “Excess in everything is strength, the only strength! The sun can never be too hot, the sky too green, the distant sea too red, the twilight too black... Let's exterminate meaningless museums! Down with the shameful routine of artisans making candy boxes instead of paintings! No lines, no drawing, no crafts are needed, but long live the dazzling fantasy and imagination!”
Soon after, an extraordinary painting appeared in the Salon of Independents, signed by the same Boronali. The “independents” were delighted with it: there really were no lines or patterns in it, but some kind of chaos of flashy, blatant colors. Red, blue, green - the colors danced in it like a wild tarantella... The content of the picture was absolutely incomprehensible and impossible. However, it bore a very poetic caption: “Et le soleil s’endormit sur l’Adriatique” (“And the sun fell asleep over the Adriatic Sea”). It should be noted, however, that other paintings at the “Independents” exhibition were of the same kind...
Boronali's painting became the highlight of the exhibition. The “independents” looked at her with emotion. The name of the “famous” Boronali was on everyone’s lips. And suddenly something happened in high degree unexpected: certain gentlemen came to the Salon and presented a notary certificate stating that the painting “And the Sun Fell Asleep Over the Adriatic” was painted by a donkey with its tail...
The notarial protocol, drawn up by the notary I. A. Brionne, stated the following in a very detailed and businesslike manner: “The editors of Fantasio magazine, wanting to discredit decadent artists, “engaged” a donkey from the Lapin agile cabaret. In the presence of a notary, a brush with paint was tied to the donkey's tail, the donkey was placed with its back to the canvas, and one of the “intruders” began to feed it cookies. The donkey shook his tail gratefully - and... he painted the Adriatic Sea with it... The brush was changed several times - and the result was the above-mentioned picture, “amazing with the richness and sophistication of its coloring.”
The donkey expresses its pleasant taste sensations in colors
The scandal turned out to be amazing... And only now the “Independents” realized that the sonorous “Italian” surname Boronali is just an anagram French word Aliboron, i.e. "donkey", "ignoramus".
This purely French farce with the participation of a representative of public authority and the application of a government seal turned out to be an excellent way to combat the ignorance and arrogance of modernist painters. “Funny kills,” say the French, and it is safe to say that “Excessivists” like the “Independents” or our “Triangles” can be completely debunked in this way in the eyes of the public, which they fool with their art. The Montmartre Aliboron touched not only ignorant French artists with its tail: the story of Boronali’s painting has already spread throughout Europe...
Indeed, what can any excessivists object to now? How much are their works worth when a donkey draws with its tail no worse than them? What brilliant competition they had!
From the editors of "Favorites"
The Society of Independent Artists (French: Société des Artistes Indépendants) is an association of artists created in Paris on July 29, 1884. Among the founders are Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.
In France at that time there were many artists who had no opportunity to exhibit their paintings, and therefore gain recognition and earn a living. These were oppositionists of all stripes, various kinds unreliable, as well as simply artists and sculptors, whose work did not enjoy the support of the Royal Academy.
The number of disgraced creators and works of art rejected by Parisian salons grew every year - artists had to organize themselves. So in 1884 the Group of Independent Artists was formed. That same year they received permission from the authorities to hold their first exhibition. From May 15 to June 15, 1884, visitors saw more than 5,000 contemporary paintings by more than 400 artists. The exhibition aroused enormous interest and the most controversial reactions in society - from adoration to hatred.
In 1920, the Salon of Independents took over the Grand Palace in Paris. The Independents still exist and regularly hold exhibitions. IN different times Marc Chagall, Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, etc. exhibited at the salon. and many others.
Needless to say, at first the “Independents” caused a terrible allergy among “sensible art critics”, and simply among respectable citizens.
