Between 1910 and 1915, Russian Futurist artists created a new form of art called zaum (“beyond the mind”) that fused words, visuals, and sound. Their hand-lithographed books emphasized “sound as such” and rejected logical meaning.
Explore four of these unique books and hear 10 of the poems read aloud in Russian in a brand-new online interactive that also features Russian transliterations and English translations. The interactive is a companion piece to a new book about sound, image, and word in Russian Futurist book art.
Cover and poem from Mirskontsa (Worldbackwards), 1912, Natalia Goncharova, cover design; Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh, poetry; Mikhail Larionov, Nikolai Rogovin, and Vladimir Tatlin, lithography. The Getty Research Institute, 88-B27486. Cover of Pomada (Pomade), 1913, Mikhail Larionov, lithographer. The Getty Research Institute, 88-B26240
