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“Masters of Analytic Art”: Filonov, His School and the Kalevala

In 1933 the Soviet publishing house Academia produced a remarkable volume: an edition of the folk epic Kalevala, whose design represents the ambitious endeavour of 14 artists (led by P. N. Filonov) to produce a collective work of art. Filonov’s work, his theoretical legacy and his educational influence constitute an extraordinary but little-charted area of the Russian ‘modern movement’, modifying accepted notions of the history of art in the U.S.S.R. The Kalevala is the one surviving visible monument to the Filonov School; its outstanding artistic qualities give it a place in the wider history of graphic art. In this article Filonov’s career, his ideas and the history of his School are outlined. His originality in the field of book design is emphasized. On the basis of hitherto uncollected and unpublished information from surviving Filonovtsy, the contribution of various artists to the finished Kalevala is assessed, and conclusions are drawn as to the success of the project. In an appendix the summary of the main tenets of Filonov’s principles, as printed in the catalogue to the intended retrospective exhibition of 1929, is republished for the first time, in English translation.