The poet of a tragic fate, Aleksey Kruchenykh, has lived a long life, but this is precisely where drama lies. For over 30 years he was forced to live the hated life of the layman. The bright period of his life was short-lived, but extremely bright, illuminated by genius.
Family and childhood
Alexey Kruchenykh was born on February 21, 1886 in the village of Olivskoye in the Kherson province in a simple family. His father left the peasant environment, was first a traveling coachman on the estate, and until the age of 8 the future futurist lived in a small village of 30 houses, and then his father decided to sell the house in the village and became a cabman in Kherson, so Alexey spent his childhood in this city . Here Kruchenykh graduated from school in three classes and in 1902 entered the Odessa Art College. Thus ended the quiet childhood of the young man. The choice of a place of study took place under the strong influence of an older brother, who possessed an extraordinary talent as a painter.
Rebellious youth
Odessa School in those days was the best art institution of the Russian Empire. Aleksey Kruchenykh arrived there with unclear hopes for something bright and sparkling, and faced with painstaking work, learning the basics of drawing and composition. The school taught realism and in this style Kruchenykh wrote his first works, which differed in similarity with nature and testified to the presence of artistic talent, but the novice author was not captured by this work. A stormy life was going on in Odessa at that time: a lot of entertainment, active and varied political activity, all of this fascinated Alexei. He participated in the work of the Marxist circle and was even once arrested for possession of banned literature, at the same time the acquaintances of the Krucheny with David Burliuk, the future founder of Russian futurism.
First calling
In 1907, Alexei Kruchenykh received a diploma from the school and went to Kherson to serve as a drawing teacher. But he dreamed of becoming a free artist, so he went to the service irregularly and in the same year he applied for admission to the Moscow School of Painting. And, despite the fact that he was not accepted to the school, in the fall of 1907 he went to Moscow with a strong desire to be an artist.
In Moscow, he makes numerous acquaintances in the artistic environment, begins to work in the magazines "Alarm Clock" and "Spring", in the "Moscow newspaper" as an illustrator and cartoonist. He became famous as a caricaturist and even created a series of works "All Moscow in caricatures" commissioned by a major publisher. He is quite successfully engaged in creativity, overcomes his academic school, finds his own style, but his dream is to study literature. Kruchenykh participates in the periodic exhibition of the Art Society of Moscow Artists, in the exhibition "Impressionists". He enters the circle of the Russian avant-garde, meets with Elena Guro, Mikhail Matyushin, Vasily Kamensky.
Literary calling
Aleksey Eliseevich Kruchenykh begins his journey into literature with critical articles, reviews, and satirical poems. He feels that literature is his main work in life. In 1912, he met with Vladimir Mayakovsky and Velimir Khlebnikov, who helped to finally shape the worldview of the Twisted, who saw himself as the creator of new poetry. He writes stories and reviews that differ sharply in style from the surrounding literary reality, in which he tries to present declarative ideas about the future of society and art.
Alexey Kruchenykh and Russian avant-garde
Alexei Kruchenykh, whose biography since the 1910s is associated with the avant-garde movement in art, has become an active participant in many outstanding events in the artistic environment of Moscow. In 1911, he met with Benedict Livshits, who, together with the brothers Burliuk and Alexei Kruchenykh, would later revive the futuristic society "Boudlyany". At this time, avant-garde is rapidly developing in the world, there are various circles and groups that urge to create new art.
Aleksey really likes all these ideas, he collaborates with several groups at once and takes part in the release of several almanacs of futurists: “Zadok Judges”, “Three”, “Dead Moon”, “Slap in the face of public taste”. Kruchenykh also publishes his own books with theoretical articles and poems, and he appears here in two guises: not only as a writer and theorist, but also as a graphic designer. The year 1912 was rich in artistic events, Kruchenykh participated in D. Burliuk’s group “Gilee”, collaborated with Jack of Diamonds, and participated in disputes and public events.
Poetry
In 1912, Alexei Kruchenykh, poetry for which comes to the fore, begins to work closely with Velimir Khlebnikov. By this time, both poets were seriously engaged in the creation of poems in their own language, both wanted to reform poetry, saving it from academic boredom. Kruchenykh brought Khlebnikov to show the beginning of his poem, and he, having begun to read, unexpectedly began to append a sequel. Thus was born their joint poem "The Game in Hell." Later, they will also write together the libretto for the futuristic opera Victory over the Sun.
From this began the activity of the Twisted in the field of poetic avant-garde, he publishes his debut poetry book “Old Love”, in which he continues to develop a primitive tradition. The book, like the poem, was illustrated by the outstanding Russian avant-garde artists M. Larionov and N. Goncharova and was an example of the synthesis of words and graphics. Kruchenykh begins experiments on the creation of illogical verses, professing the invented principle of the “worldly leader”, which was later realized in the collection of works by Khlebnikov and Krucheny with the same name.
In 1913-14, Kruchenykh experimented with a new style - literary zaum, he begins to write poetry in the language of his own invention. New works are included in the collection "Lipstick". The most famous of them was the text:
holes bul shchil
ubeschschur
skum
you with boo
r l ez ..
According to A. Kruchenykh, there was more Russian national spirit in it than in all the poetry of A. Pushkin. The poet continues his literary experiments until 1930, when the collection of his poems “Ironiad” comes out.
Years without poetry
Since 1930, Aleksey Eliseevich Kruchenykh, whose photo often appeared in collections of avant-garde works, begins to move away from literature. His associates left him: Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov died, the Burliuk brothers, like many other futurists and leading artists and poets, left the country.
Since 1934, the work of the Twisted has ceased to be published, later he was refused admission to the Writers' Union. He is engaged in second-hand and antique activities, is preparing to publish a book of his associates, in particular Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov. During World War II, Alexey works at the TASS Windows news agency. For his life, Twisted collected a unique library. The Soviet government did not allow the poet to work; he was interrupted by various earnings. And only 2 years before his death took place his only creative evening in his life. June 17, 1968 Alexey Eliseevich Kruchenykh passed away.