# Russian Futurist Book

> The cheap, small-run books of the Russian Cubo-Futurist poets and painters, from Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov to Goncharova, Larionov and Rozanova. Against the luxurious Symbolist book, they lithographed handwriting and crude neo-primitive drawings together, at times with rubber stamps or colour hectograph, or printed mixed letterpress founts on wallpaper, in thin sewn or stapled pamphlets. Transrational zaum words made the letter itself a visual sound. They adopted Marinetti's manifesto but obstructed his 1914 visit. The Burliuks, Malevich and Kruchenykh were Ukrainian-born, Zdanevich Georgian.

- Period: 1910–1920
- Where: Eastern Europe
- Origin: Moscow and St Petersburg, with makers from across the Russian Empire: Hylaea (the Burliuk brothers, Khlebnikov, Kamensky, Kruchenykh, Mayakovsky), the Larionov–Goncharova circle and the Union of Youth; later Tiflis (the 41° group)
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Cubo-Futurist book, Budetlyane books, Zaum books, Russian avant-garde artist's book
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/russian-futurist-book/

## How it works

- Write the text by hand and print it by lithography together with the drawings, so script and picture share one surface.
- Keep the book cheap and small: thin, unevenly cut pages sewn or stapled as a pamphlet, often with a collaged cover.
- Draw figures in a deliberately crude, neo-primitive line that borrows from icons and lubok prints.
- Stamp, misspell and break up words, and let transrational zaum sound decide what the letters look like.
- Where type is used, mix founts, weights and sizes, stack or turn lines vertically, and print on wallpaper or coloured paper so the found pattern faces the text.
- Keep the ink mostly black and bring colour in through the ground (coloured, metallic or wallpaper stock), a collaged cover, colour linocut or hectograph.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Organic flow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/organic-flow/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (characteristic)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (characteristic)
- [Tight setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/tight-setting/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (characteristic)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (defining)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (occasional)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (occasional)
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (occasional)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (defining)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (defining)
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Ironic & self-aware](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ironic-and-self-aware/) (occasional)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (occasional)

Avoids: Modular grid, Naturalistic depiction, Straight photography, Photomontage, Gloss & highlights, Gradients, Rational & objective, Luxurious & glamorous

Palette: #ede4cf, #1c1a17, #b8996a, #8ea596, #d6b44a, #b5463a

Typefaces: The poets' own handwriting transferred to the lithographic stone (Rozanova and Kruchenykh's samopismo, 'self-writing'), Rubber-stamp letters for zaum poems (Explodity, 1913), Mixed letterpress founts in Kamensky's ferro-concrete poems (Tango with Cows, 1914), Ilia Zdanevich's letterpress compositions for the 41° group in Tiflis (Milliork, 1919)

Known for: Aleksei Kruchenykh & Mikhail Larionov, Old-Fashioned Love (Starinnaia liubov', 1912), lithographed text and images; Kruchenykh & Velimir Khlebnikov with Goncharova, Larionov, Rogovin and Tatlin, Worldbackwards (Mirskontsa, 1912), collaged cover; Khlebnikov & Kruchenykh, A Game in Hell (Igra v adu, 1912, Natalia Goncharova; 1914 edition with Kazimir Malevich and Olga Rozanova); Kruchenykh & Larionov, Pomade (Pomada, 1913), with the zaum poem 'Dyr bul shchyl'; some lithographs laid down on metallic leaf or red paper; Kruchenykh with Goncharova, Kulbin, Malevich, Rozanova and Altman, Explodity (Vzorval', 1913), lithographs and rubber stamp; Olga Rozanova & Nikolai Kulbin, Te li le (text by Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov, 1914), manuscript text and images hectographed in seven colours; Vasily Kamensky with David and Vladimir Burliuk, Tango with Cows: Ferro-Concrete Poems (1914), mixed-fount letterpress and lithographs on wallpaper; Olga Rozanova, Kruchenykh & Roman Jakobson, Transrational Boog (Zaumnaia gniga, 1916), colour linocuts and collage

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Italian Futurism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism.md) (1909–1944)
- Influenced by: [Cubist Pictorial Space](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cubism.md) (1907–1925)
- Influenced by: [Lubok Popular Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lubok.md) (1650–1920)
- Led to: [Kultur-Lige & Yiddish Avant-Garde Book Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kultur-lige-book.md) (1917–1924)
- Alike in its design choices: [Expressionist Woodcut Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/expressionist-graphics.md) (1905–1925), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Arab Independent Comics (Samandal, TokTok, Lab619, Skefkef)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arab-independent-comics.md) (2007–present), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Dada](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dada.md) (1916–1924), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Taller de Gráfica Popular](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular.md) (1937–1977), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Brazilian Modernismo Graphics (Klaxon and the Semana de 22)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/brazilian-modernismo-graphics.md) (1922–1929), 53% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mavo](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mavo.md) (1923–1925), 53% alike

## Sources

- J. Paul Getty Museum, Tango with Cows: Book Art of the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910–1917 (exhibition, 2008–09): https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/tango_with_cows/, with the Te li le page (https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/tango_with_cows/telile.html) and curator's essay (https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/tango_with_cows/curators_essay.html)
- Art Institute of Chicago collection records for Worldbackwards (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/199083), A Game in Hell (199125, 199126), Old-Fashioned Love (199061), Pomade (199060), Explodity (153596), Tango with Cows (199067), Transrational Boog (199129), A Trap for Judges (199073) and Milliork (199543)
- Museum of Modern Art collection records for Sadok Sudei (A Trap for Judges), 1910 (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/9421) and Te li le, 1914 (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/10866)
- Wikipedia: 'Russian Futurism' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Futurism), 'Aleksei Kruchenykh' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksei_Kruchenykh), 'Olga Rozanova' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Rozanova) and 'Soyuz Molodyozhi' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_Molodyozhi)
- Encyclopaedia of St Petersburg, 'Youth Union' (https://www.encspb.ru/object/2804029049?lc=en)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Russian Futurist Book”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/russian-futurist-book/