Photo: Lebedyn City Art Museum

We are very glad to tell you about the launching of the mail-art project "Futurism: 140th Anniversary of the Artist David Burliuk", dedicated to the 140th anniversary of David Davidovich Burliuk (July 9 (21)) 1882 - January 15, 1967 - a famous futurist artist, art theorist and a poet whose work is recognized by the world.

David Burliuk was born into a large family at the colorful and lush Semyrotivka homestead near the village of Riabushky in the Kharkiv region. He studied in Odessa and Kazan before attending the Munich Royal Academy and then the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Burliuk became the quintessential modernist, tying the colors and textures of local Ukrainian folk traditions to the dynamic rapture of modernist urban life. Bold in personality and large in stature, Burliuk became renowned as the initiator of radical avant-garde performances and events (called “poezoconcerts”), establishing his reputation as the impetuous leader of an avant-garde movement that aimed to break with stultifying literary-artistic convention and create a refreshingly new vision for the future.

The project is implemented jointly by the Lebedyn City Art Museum. B.K. Rudneva and Sumy network of art locations (curator - Sumy artist Kosta Aleninski). The project aims to revive the artistic correspondence between David Burliuk and the world, including and from the USSR, where it was addressed to artists, cultural and artistic figures.

In particular, in USSR, one of the addressees of David Burliuk was a local historian Mykola Nikiforov (Tambov), with whom the artist had a friendly correspondence, and then a meeting in Moscow. During this correspondence, David Burliuk gave Nikiforov a large number of interesting works, including bookplates. Some of these bookplates, having come a long way through the collections of Moscow artists Apollinarius and Alexander Chernov (as evidenced by the sign on the back), Kharkov collector Keiserman, Kyiv collector Golfman, today are in the collection of Lebedyn City Art Museum.

David Burliuk tried to start correspondence with the Ukrainian SSR, as well as with his small homeland - Ryabushki (now the Starostinsky district of the Lebedyn community). It was not possible to do that then (due to the fear of the locals, which will be told later), but today nothing prevents it. Therefore, the Art Museum sincerely hopes to support the project and revive the creative correspondence dedicated to David Burliuk.

The conditions for participation in the project are simple: send creative envelopes, author's postcards, small drawings by regular mail to the address below. The format is free. Creative correspondence with the museum on "Futurism: Burlyuk" will last until July 1, 2022. The result will be the opening of an exhibition of mail art project, July 21 in the halls of the Lebedyn Art Museum for the 140th anniversary of David Davidovich! The entire exhibition will be included in the museum collection.

Address of the Lebedyn City Art Museum named after BK Rudnev: Freedom Square, 17, Lebedyn, Sumy region, Ukraine, 42200 (Lebedyn Art Museum, postcode 42200, 17 Volia square, Lebedyn, Sumy region, Ukraine).

Based on the results of the exhibition, its electronic catalog will be formed. Also on July 1, 2022, the art museum will send special postcards in response to the project participants, which will be printed for the exhibition.