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."
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Artwork Details
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Title:Vladimir Mayakovsky
Artist: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
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"]
[Edwynn Houk]; John C. Waddell, August 6, 1987
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Alexander Rodchenko," June 24, 1998–October 6, 1998.
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. "Alexander Rodchenko," November 6, 1998–January 24, 1999.
Moderna Musset, Stockholm. "Alexander Rodchenko," March 6, 1999–May 24, 1999.
Alexander Rodchenko (Russian, St. Petersburg 1891–1956 Moscow)
1935
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