Explore Three Layers of Time in 'Time' by David Burliuk
What message does the leading futurist of his time convey to the viewer?
Time (1918/1919) by David BurliukCFC Big Ideas in association with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
'Time' is a peculiar picture-rebus created by the extraordinary futurist, David Burlyuk, during the years when he enthusiastically experimented with the compositional and textural possibilities of painting. Here, every detail is a clue to the general idea.
Before us is a scene at the station, but it is presented in an unusual way. The title, 'Time' is also intriguing. It can be easily guessed in the Russian-language version by the part, '-emya', as seen in the fragment of the then-newspaper, 'Novoe Vremya', present in the picture.
The movement itself is carried out as if from right to left, but at the same time, overturned wagons create a feeling of return, breaking many clock-wheels.
The canvas, almost square in shape, with central circular composition, in a certain way, resembles a dial. The schematic representation of the figures on the platform is very similar to the hands of a chronometer.
The number 1324 on the left of the canvas is most likely not an abstraction. Perhaps this is the brand documented by the author of a state-of-the-art high-speed locomotive at the time when the Kharkiv plant was produced.
The sense of rhythm in the picture is present everywhere. The composition seems to mix three layers of time. The first is the background, on which time is depicted as emerging and passing, written as if in weightlessness.
The second plane is the present time, realistically embodied in a static face. The third plane, transcendental, is the viewer looking at the picture from the future.
🎨 David Burliuk, 'Time' (1918–1919), canvas, oil, collage, 69.5x59.5 cm
🎨 Ihor Trush, leading researcher of the museum
🎨 From the collection of the Dnipropetrovsk Art Museum
