Back to Works in the Exhibition

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Related Content

Pine Trees in Pushkin Park

Pine Trees in Pushkin Park

Morning Wash

Morning Wash

Foxtrot

Foxtrot

Asphalting a Street in Moscow

Asphalting a Street in Moscow

Vladimir Majakowski

Vladimir Majakowski

Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

Exhibitions:

Events:

Events:

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Alexander Rodchenko  (Russian, St. Petersburg 1891–1956 Moscow)

Date:
1924
Medium:
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
16.9 x 11.2 cm (6 5/8 x 4 7/16 in.)
Classification:
Photographs
Credit Line:
Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Accession Number:
1987.1100.145

This artwork is not on display

  • Description

    Impatient with the backwardness of Russia, and in search of a concrete, immediate art, Mayakovsky became the poet of a revolutionary regime. Rodchenko, a fellow revolutionary, evoked his friend's inner conviction in a series of brilliant portraits that match Boris Pasternak's description of his character: "He sat on a chair as on the saddle of a motorcycle....His way of carrying himself suggested something like a decision when it has been executed and its consequences are irrevocable. This decision was his very genius...and he had devoted his whole being to incarnate it without any pity or reserve."

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: Artist's (?) studio stamp, verso LC: [illegible, in Russian]; inscribed in ink, verso UC: "geen negatief - ge Kregen van [illegible] // Rodchenko // Moskau Sept '60"; inscribed in pencil, verso C and LL: "30/40"; "v. Mayakovski, 1924", "Rochenko [sic] - 1"; [Translation of Dutch inscription by Janine Dudok van Heel: "No negative gotten from Rodchenko, Moscow Sept '60"]

  • Provenance

    [Edwynn Houk]; John C. Waddell, August 6, 1987

190016966

Close