Burliuk, David

Burliuk, David (1882–1967) and Burliuk, Vladimir (1886–1917). Russian painters, brothers, leading members of the avant-garde in the period leading up to the First World War. They were born in the Ukraine and both of them had varied artistic educations, including a period in Munich. Some of their early work was in Neo-primitive vein close to that of Goncharova and Larionov. In 1909 they were among the founders of the Knave of Diamonds group, and they were among the first exponents of Futurism in Russia, c. 1911. In Munich they had become friendly with Kandinsky, and through him they participated in the second Neue Künstlervereinigung exhibition in 1910 and in the first Blaue Reiter exhibition in 1911. David wrote an article on the state of Russian painting for the Blaue Reiter Almanac, translated into German by Kandinsky as ‘Die Wilden Russlands’ (The Russian Savages). Vladimir, who was considered by Kandinsky to be the more talented of the two, was killed in action in the First World War. David settled in New York in 1922 and became an American citizen in 1930. He edited an art magazine, Color Rhyme, and ran an art gallery. There was another painter brother, Nikolai (1890–1920), and two painter sisters, Lyudmila and Nadezhda.