Le futurisme russe dans le contexte du transfert culturel europeen: la guerre et le monde (1909-1920)

In the cultural space of post-symbolism the Russian avant-garde had a distinctly receptive character. Outwardly, French painting and poetry were, of course, the main source of movement of cultural values to Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Openly declaring his connection with Western art, for example, “The Jack of Diamonds” attracted to participate in the exhibition of paintings in February 1912 the French artists: Matisse, Picasso, Van Dongen, Le Fauconnier, Léger, Derain, Friesz and Delaunay. But if you rely on the concept of cultural transfer by Michel Espagne, excluding the notions of “center” and “periphery” the process of cultural transfer did not look like a one-way street. The way of development of the Russian avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century lay in conditions of “war” both between various participants within the avant-garde movement itself (for example, Larionov and Burliuk brothers), and between their own creative societies and groups (for example, “Jack of Diamonds” and “Donkey’s tail”). Russian avant-garde theories were created mainly on the basis of denial of the traditions and canons of the classics, therefore Larionov’s “rayonism”, built on the objectlessness of painting, practically different from the technique of Futurists’ painting, theoretically did not contradict him, and this explains the artist’s participation in the issues of the “budetlyan” program edition “A Trap for Judges”. The “war” between various avant-garde currents can be viewed as events of endless quarrels between “friends-enemies”, for example, futurists and acmeists. The First World War was not widely reflected in the literature of the Russian avant-garde. There was no so-called “trench” poetry, since almost none of the prominent figures of the Russian literary avant-garde directly participated in the war itself. Among writers, of course, one can call the name of Nikolai Gumilev, but he was not such a war legend as, for example, Guillaume Apollinaire or Ernest Hemingway. The traditional reflection of the Russian avant-gardists is pacifism. For example, the poem “Declaration of War” by Mayakovsky, in which the “victory” was declared “murderer”. However, the peacekeeping orientation of the poet’s activities could change as soon as his civic position changed. By equating the “feather to the bayonet,” Mayakovsky in the poem “The Last Page of the Civil War” glorifies the “red star heroes” walking through the trenches filled with the corpses of dead people. Universal humanism is instantly transformed into a monstrous and ruthless anti-humanism, demonstrating eccentricity and radicalism of the creative subject as a futuristic character of a historical event.