Oslinyĭ Khvost. Katalog vystavki kartin gruppy khudozhnikov Oslinyĭ Khvost. (Donkey's Tail. Catalogue of the Exhibition of Paintings by the Donkey's Tail Group of Artists.)
Larionov, Mikhail, Natalia Goncharova, Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Kirill Zdanevich et al
Moscow. Miasnitskaia, Uchilishche Zhivopisi, Vaianiia i Zodchestva. 1912
The very scarce catalogue for the first exhibition of 'The Donkey's Tail', the avant-garde Neo-Futurist / Primitivist group that included Larionov, Goncharova, Malevich and Tatlin.
'Donkey''s Tail' was a short-lived avant-garde Russian Neo-Futurist / Primitivist group that formed around Mikhail Larionov and the most radical members of the 'Jack of Diamonds'. The rupture with 'Jack of Diamonds', due to disagreements about the influence of French avant-garde ideas and tendencies, occurred in the latter part of 1911 and in December Larionov issued a proclamation 'Ssora 'Khostov' s 'Valetami'' (The Quarrel between the 'Tails' and the 'Jacks') in the 'Voice of Moscow' (Golos Moskvy). The group held only one exhibition - this is the catalogue for it - opening on 11th March, 1912. The group did form a further affiliation (Larionov alludes to the 'Target' in his 1911 announcement) holding a second, albeit amalgamated exhibition, and publishing 'Oslinii Khvost i Mishen' (The Donkey's Tail and Target) in 1913.
The major contributors to the exhibition - all contributors are listed in alphabetical order in the catalogue - were Goncharova with 54 works, Mikhail Larionov (as opposed to his brother Ivan who also contributed and exhibited) with 37, Malevich with 24 and Tatlin with 43; other contributors were Chagall (1), Kyrill Zdanevich, brother of Ilya (4), Mikhail Le Dentu (8), Shevchenko (26) as well as the artists Anisimov, Bart, Bobrov, Matvey, Morgunov, Rogovini, Sagaidachny, Skuye, Fon-Visen and Yastrezhemsky. The final leaf - unusual in almost any context - gives the contemporary addresses of the contributors.
'That the 'Tails' and the 'Jacks' had parted company definitively became clear at the debate that the Jack of Diamonds society organized at the Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, on 12 February 1912. As the Cubo-Futurist poet Benedikt Livshits recalls, it was during her lecture on Cubism there that Goncharova condemned the Jack of Diamonds, which 'has replaced creative activity with theorizing', inspiring Larionov to issue a 'dithyramb to the Donkey's Tail'. The debate ended raucously with Larionov walking off the stage to whoops and whistles from the audience.' (John Bowlt).
'For it had been in 1910 that Roland Dorgelès had taken the step of attaching a loaded brush to a donkey's tail, allowing it to swish and sway, and submitting the subsequent painting to that year's Salon des Indépendants under the pseudonym Boronali.' (George Baker).
As stated, this catalogue is extremely scarce and we can locate only a handful of copies in institutions: at MoMA, the Getty and Johns Hopkins in the US and at the British Library and Tate in the UK. The book is scarcer still on the market with only two copies appearing at auction in the last 50 years.
[not in Rowell & Wye; see John E. Bowlt's 'Jacks and Tails', The Journal of the Walters Art Museum, Vol. 60 / 61, 2002 / 2003; see George Baker's 'The Artwork Caught by the Tail', October, Vol. 97, 2001].
'Donkey''s Tail' was a short-lived avant-garde Russian Neo-Futurist / Primitivist group that formed around Mikhail Larionov and the most radical members of the 'Jack of Diamonds'. The rupture with 'Jack of Diamonds', due to disagreements about the influence of French avant-garde ideas and tendencies, occurred in the latter part of 1911 and in December Larionov issued a proclamation 'Ssora 'Khostov' s 'Valetami'' (The Quarrel between the 'Tails' and the 'Jacks') in the 'Voice of Moscow' (Golos Moskvy). The group held only one exhibition - this is the catalogue for it - opening on 11th March, 1912. The group did form a further affiliation (Larionov alludes to the 'Target' in his 1911 announcement) holding a second, albeit amalgamated exhibition, and publishing 'Oslinii Khvost i Mishen' (The Donkey's Tail and Target) in 1913.
The major contributors to the exhibition - all contributors are listed in alphabetical order in the catalogue - were Goncharova with 54 works, Mikhail Larionov (as opposed to his brother Ivan who also contributed and exhibited) with 37, Malevich with 24 and Tatlin with 43; other contributors were Chagall (1), Kyrill Zdanevich, brother of Ilya (4), Mikhail Le Dentu (8), Shevchenko (26) as well as the artists Anisimov, Bart, Bobrov, Matvey, Morgunov, Rogovini, Sagaidachny, Skuye, Fon-Visen and Yastrezhemsky. The final leaf - unusual in almost any context - gives the contemporary addresses of the contributors.
'That the 'Tails' and the 'Jacks' had parted company definitively became clear at the debate that the Jack of Diamonds society organized at the Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, on 12 February 1912. As the Cubo-Futurist poet Benedikt Livshits recalls, it was during her lecture on Cubism there that Goncharova condemned the Jack of Diamonds, which 'has replaced creative activity with theorizing', inspiring Larionov to issue a 'dithyramb to the Donkey's Tail'. The debate ended raucously with Larionov walking off the stage to whoops and whistles from the audience.' (John Bowlt).
'For it had been in 1910 that Roland Dorgelès had taken the step of attaching a loaded brush to a donkey's tail, allowing it to swish and sway, and submitting the subsequent painting to that year's Salon des Indépendants under the pseudonym Boronali.' (George Baker).
As stated, this catalogue is extremely scarce and we can locate only a handful of copies in institutions: at MoMA, the Getty and Johns Hopkins in the US and at the British Library and Tate in the UK. The book is scarcer still on the market with only two copies appearing at auction in the last 50 years.
[not in Rowell & Wye; see John E. Bowlt's 'Jacks and Tails', The Journal of the Walters Art Museum, Vol. 60 / 61, 2002 / 2003; see George Baker's 'The Artwork Caught by the Tail', October, Vol. 97, 2001].
[8 leaves; pp. 16]. 12mo. (167 x 124 mm). Leaf with printer's credit verso, printed title and a list of 307 numbered works listed under each contributing artist (see below), final leaf with a list of the contributors and their addresses recto and verso, decorative tail-piece to foot. Original publisher's white glossy printed wrappers stapled as issued with titles in black to front cover.
#48512
