Vladimir Mayakovsky

Alexander Rodchenko

1924 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

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."

Artist

Alexander Rodchenko

Date

1924

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987