Olga Rozanova: Artist and Poet (Works of Early 1910s)
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-3-227-245
Abstract
This article offers a novel interpretation of a number of futurist texts by Olga Rozanova (1886—1918), an artist and poet who ranks among the pioneers of the Russian avant-garde and whose literary output has seldom been subjected to detailed philological scrutiny. Drawing on Rozanova’s earliest theoretical writings, notably the Manifesto of the “Union of Youth” (1913), the study traces the artistic principles that she regarded as central to the New Art movement and examines the extent to which her own creative practice in the 1910s adhered to the programmatic statements of the manifesto. It is demonstrated that the striking visual characteristics of Rozanova’s painting style are closely intertwined with her poetic experiments. A particular focus on color emerges as a hallmark of her poetry from the St. Petersburg period, imbuing her verse with rich imagery and symbolic resonance. The interrelation between her visual and verbal art is illustrated through an analysis of the poem “Is It a Dream…” and the painting “Fire in the City”, revealing profound synergies between Rozanova’s painterly and poetic practices. The paper also proposes a revised dating of “Is It a Dream…”, suggesting that it was composed in 1914 rather than 1917, as previously assumed by scholars. The conclusion emphasizes that a meticulous comparative analysis of Rozanova’s visual and literary oeuvre enables a more precise reconstruction of the chronology and dating of her poetic texts.
Keywords
Olga Rozanova,
visual and verbal art,
cubofuturism,
first Russian avant-garde,
painting and poetry,
Rozanova’s chronology
Supporting agencies: The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project № 25-18-00764 (Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after Fyodor Dostoevsky)
About the Author
O. V. Bogdanova
Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga V. Bogdanova -Doctor of Philology, Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Pedagogy and Arts
ResearcherID: C-5907-2016
ScopusAuthor ID: 57219902824
St. Petersburg
References
1. Alfonsov, V. N. (1999). Poetry of Russian Futurism. In: Poetry of Russian Futurism. Saint Petersburg: Academic Project. 5—66. (In Russ.).
2. Baran, H., Guryanova, N. (2001). Futurism. In: Russian literature of the turn of the century (1890s — early 1920s): in 2 books, 2. Moscow: IMLI RAS; Heritage. 501—574. ISBN 5-9208-0063-1. (In Russ.).
3. Bobrinskaya, E. A. (2006). Russian avant-garde: the boundaries of art. Moscow: New Literary Review: State Institute of Art Studies. 294 p. ISBN 5-86793-448-9. (In Russ.).
4. Bogdanova, O. V. (2025). Visual Poetry of Vasily Kamensky. Nauchnyi dialog, 14 (5): 289— 303. https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-5-289-303 (In Russ.).
5. Bogdanova, O. V. (2025a). “The best poet among artists”: David Burlyuk. Philological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice, 18 (9): 3889—3900. DOI: 10.30853/phil20250534. (In Russ.).
6. Filippova, O. N. (2017). Elena Guro — poet and artist. Art of Eurasia, 2 (5): 71—81. DOI: 10.25712/ASTU.2518-7767.2017.02.006. (In Russ.).
7. Gasparov, M. L. (1993). Russian poems of the 1890s — 1925 in the comments. Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola Publ. 271 p. (In Russ.).
8. Gold, M. (1944). David Burliuk: artist-scholar, father of Russian futurism. New York: A.C.A. Gallery. 238 р.
9. Gray, C. (1962). The great experiment: Russian art 1863—1922. London: [b. i.]. 301 р.
10. Gukosiants, O. Y., Alimuradov, O. A., Gorzhaya, A. A. Color and Color Nominations in Polycode Text. Nauchnyi dialog, 11 (10): 140—155. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2022-11-10-140-155. (In Russ.).
11. Guryanova, N. (2002). Olga Rozanova and the early Russian avant-garde. Moscow: Gileya Publ. 319 p. ISBN 5-87987-021-9. (In Russ.).
12. Gusev, V., Petrova, E. (eds.). (2013). The Russian Museum. From the icon to the present. St. Petersburg: Palace Editions. 391 p. ISBN 978-5-93332-466-9. (In Russ.).
13. Ivanyushina, I. Y. (2003). Russian futurism: ideology, poetics, pragmatics. Author’s abstract of PhD Diss. Saratov. 46 p. (In Russ.).
14. Khardjiev, N. I. (1997). Articles on the avant-garde: in 2 volumes. Moscow: RA. 712 p. ISBN 5-85164-035-9. (In Russ.).
15. Khardjiev, N. I. (2006). From Mayakovsky to Kruchenykh. Selected works on Russian Futurism. Moscow: Gileya. 557 p. ISBN 5-87987-038-3. (In Russ.).
16. Kovtun, E. F. (2014). Russian futuristic book. Moscow: RIP-holding. 229 p. ISBN 9785903190669. (In Russ.).
17. Mints, Z. G. (2004). Futurism and “neo-Romanticism” (on the problem of the genesis and structure of the “Story of the Poor Knight” by E. Guro. In: Poetics of Russian symbolism. Saint Petersburg: [b. i.]. 317—326. (In Russ.).
18. Orlitsky, Yu. B. (1995). Visual component in modern Russian poetry. New Literary Review, 16: 181—192. (In Russ.).
19. Orlitsky, Yu. B. (2022). Poetic idioms of the masters of the Russian verlibra. In: Proceedings of the Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Language, 1. Moscow: V. V. Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 330—344. (In Russ.).
20. Osmukhina, O. Y. (2025). The concept of horror in the prose of the Silver Age (based on the “vampire” stories by A. Amfiteatrov). Nauchnyi dialog, 14 (6): 333—354. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-6-333-354. (In Russ.).
21. Sarychev, V. A. (1991). Aesthetics of Russian modernism: the problem of life creation. Voronezh: Voronezh State University. 316 p. (In Russ.).
22. Shevchuk, V. G. (2014). Synthesis of art as a distinctive feature of D. Burliuk’s work at the beginning of the twentieth century. Scientific Notes of the Tauride National University named after V. I. Vernadsky. Ser. Philosophy. Cultural studies. Political science. Sociology, 27 (66) / 1: 230—241. (In Russ.).
23. Tarasenko, O. (1999). Sacred motifs in the system of symbolic painting by E. Guro and M. Matyushin (rainbow, water, gemstone). Studia Slavica Finlandensia, 16 (2): 214—234. (In Russ.).
24. Terekhina, V. (2020). Olga Rozanova — an artist with a poetic feeling. Available at: https://rozanova.net/article/274.html (accessed 21.12.2025). (In Russ.).
25. Ternova, T. A. (2025). Universals of civilization in the literature of the Russian avant-garde of the first third of the twentieth century. Voronezh: VSU. 190 p. ISBN 978-5-9273-4149-8. (In Russ.).
26. Vasilyev, I. E. (2000). Russian poetic avant-garde of the XX century. Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University. 320 p. ISBN 5-7525-0719-7. (In Russ.).
27. Vlasova, N. I. (2017). Vladimir Zemsky women’s gymnasium. In: Rozanovsky collection. Vladimir: Izdat-Print. 67—74. ISBN 978-5-9500326-5-3. (In Russ.).
28. Zlydneva, N. (2013). Visual narrative: the experience of mythopoeic reading by N. Zlydneva. Moscow: Indrik. 360 p. ISBN 978-5-91674-266-2. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Bogdanova O.V. Olga Rozanova: Artist and Poet (Works of Early 1910s). Nauchnyi dialog. 2026;15(3):227-245. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-3-227-245
Views:
111
JATS XML
Email this article 