Kosak
Artist
David Burlyuk
(Ukrainian, active in the United States, 1882–1967)
Date1923
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions33 x 43.1 cm (13 x 16 15/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Louis W. Black
Object number1955.14
Label TextBriefly a member of Der Blaue Reiter in Germany alongside Wassily Kandinsky, David Burliuk is considered the father of Russian Futurism and a major innovator in early Russian modernism. The Russian Futurists celebrated the mythic origins of Slavic culture and embraced a primitive style that affirmed folkloric themes while advancing a modernist aesthetic.
Kosak is the third version of a favored theme of Burliuk: the legend of Cossack Mamai. A hero in Ukrainian folklore, Mamai defended his people against Tatar invasions and became a famous symbol of individualism, bravery, and self-sufficiency. Here Burliuk returns to the ancient traditions of his homeland by rendering Mamai in an archetypal form common since the seventeenth century. He plays a kobza, a lute-like instrument symbolic of the Ukrainian soul, while his horse, representing fidelity and freedom, stands attentively nearby.
This work has not been on view in decades and was recently rediscovered in storage. A cleaning by paintings conservators Philip Klausmeyer and Birgit Straehle has restored the original bright color harmonies, and the museum commissioned a new, more appropriate frame for the work based on a modernist design from the 1920s.ProvenanceLouis W. Black, Boston MAOn View
Not on view
Christoph Unterberger
about 1776
