Donkey's Tail (, Romanized: Osliniy khvost) was a Russian artistic group created from the most radical members of the Jack of Diamonds group. The group included such painters as: Mikhail Larionov (inventor of the name), Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, and Aleksandr Shevchenko. The group, according to Gino Severini in his autobiography, was Futurist; it is known that, even if they were not, they were certainly influenced by the Cubo-Futurism movement. The only exhibition of the group took place in Moscow in 1912 (notable for being the start of Malevich's entry into his Cubo-Futurist phase), and in 1913, the group fell apart.
Larionov's Invention of Knave of Diamonds Aspiring to establish their leadership within the Russian avant-garde, Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova became key organizers of several avant-garde art groups of the most radical leaning. In 1907, together with brothers David Burliuk and Vladimir Burliuk, they created the group "Venok-Stefanos". When "Venok-Stefanos" depleted its potential, Larionov decided to consolidate his resources with other radical avant-garde groups - with "New Munich Art Association" of Wassily Kandinsky and the group of Russian Cezannists and Fauvists led by Pyotr Konchalovsky, Ilya Mashkov and Aristarkh Lentulov who had been expelled from Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1909 among 63 other students for radical art inclinations that unnerved their conservative educators.Kovtun, Evgeniy Fedorovich. Mikhail Larionov. 1881-1964. St. Petersburg, Aurora Publishing House, 1998. - 175 p. ISBN 5-7300-0668-3 (Ковтун, Евгений Фёдорович. Михаил Ларионов. 1881—1964. Санкт-Петербург, издательство «Аврора», 1998. - 175 c. ISBN 5-7300-0668-3). Pp.39-41.
They united into a group with the provocative name Knave of Diamonds, which was invented by Mikhail Larionov (later, Aristarkh Lentulov claimed in his memoirs that they had jointly invented this name with Larionov), which in Russian tradition meant “rebellion, disobedience, challenge, audacity and energy of youth”, a sheer break with everything that existed in the realm of painting of that time. According to Alexander V. Kuprin, Mikhail Larionov also valued the connotations which the notion ”valet de carreau” had in France since its first appearing in Molière's "Le Dépit amoureux” in 1656, implying “swindler, rogue”, since it would subtly emphasize the mockingly daring attitude of modern Russian “knaves of diamonds” to the established art schools.Murina E. B., Dzhafarova S. G. Aristarkh Lentulov: The Artist's Path. The Artist and Time. Moscow: Soviet Artist, 1990. ISBN 5-269-00095-4. (Мурина Е. Б., Джафарова С. Г. Аристарх Лентулов: Путь художника. Художник и время. М.: Советский художник, 1990. ISBN 5-269-00095-4.). pp. 81–83
Larionov breaks out and invents Donkey's Tail However, the salon at Levisson House in Moscow which was hired for the “Knave of Diamonds” inaugural first exhibition, turned out to be rather small to offer ample space for all 38 participants. It became especially so since Ilya Mashkov brought in a giant self-portrait of himself and Pyotr Konchalovsky, causing Mikhail Larionov's ire, who complained that this huge canvas took the place intended for his own 3, or even 4 paintings.Shalabayeva, Vera Nikolaevna. Aleksandr Shevchenko. The Artist's Path. The Artist and Time. Moscow, Galart Publishing House, 1994. 232 p. ISBN 5-269-00485-2 (Шалабаева, Вера Николаевна. Александр Шевченко. Путь художника. Художник и время. Москва, издательство “Галарт”, 1994. 232 с. ISBN 5-269-00485-2) Pp.30-32 .
Mikhail Larionov who grew increasingly irritated at the fact that the public and the critics were paying increased attention to the pictures of Pyotr Konchalovsky and Ilya Mashkov, to the detriment of Larionov's own canvases and those of Natalia Goncharova, while he was the very man who had invented the Exhibition's concept and coined the very name of “Knave of Diamonds”, used this as the pretext to stir up open conflict with the Konchalovsky-Mashkov-Lentulov group. On December 20, 1910 Larionov and several of his followers entered the exhibition and began to demonstratively remove their paintings from the walls. Lentulov managed to settle the conflict, but on January 3, 1911, two weeks before the closing of the exhibition, Mikhail Larionov announced in the press that he had already broke with the “Knave of Diamonds” and was preparating a new exhibition of his new group in the coming season of 1911/1912, that will bear the name Donkey's Tail.Kovtun, Evgeny Fedorovich. Mikhail Larionov. 1881-1964. St. Petersburg, publishing house “Aurora”, 1998 (Ковтун, Евгений Федорович. Михаил Ларионов. 1881—1964. Санкт-Петербург, издательство “Аврора”, 1998). Pp.56-57.
Donkey's Tail Name Etymology The name "Donkey's Tail" was selected since it was associated with an incident at the Paris Salon des Indépendants in March 1910, when a group of mystifiers, having previously "warmed up" the public with manifestos of the non-existent “artist Joachim-Raphaël Boronali” (anagram of French word “aliboron” — donkey), exhibited an abstract painting "And the Sun Fell Asleep over the Adriatic", supposedly painted by the tail of a donkey Lolo owned by Frederic Gerard - the owner of cafe “Le Lapin Agile” at Montmartre. The Russian avant-garde artists liked this incident. The famed realist Ilya Repin also liked it and, in his polemical manner, used the details of the Parisian incident in his critical article about the French and Russian innovative artists presented in St. Petersburg at the First "Salon" of Izdebsky, writing: "They tied a brush to a donkey's tail, put a palette with paints and a canvas under the tail. They fed the donkey something tasty: it wagged its tail with pleasure, and a painting by Cézanne appeared.""Birzhevye Vedomosti", May 20, 1910 («Биржевые ведомости», 20 мая 1910).
Mikhail Larionov stated: "The gutter press made a fuss about this incident. Now we are picking the gauntlet. The spectators believe that we paint with a donkey's tail - so let us be a donkey's tail for them."Khardzhiev, Nikolay Ivanovich. Poetry and painting (Харджиев, Николай Иванович. Поэзия и живопись) // К истории русского авангарда. The Russian avant-garde. Stockholm: Hylaea Prints, 1976. Pp.33-34.
But despite the fact that Larionov announced the upcoming “Donkey's Tail” exhibition during the first inaugural exhibition of the Knave of Diamonds in January 1911, the preparations for the exhibition dragged on for more than a year and were not yet finished. As a result, the Knave of Diamonds managed to prepare its exhibition first, making it on 23 Jan — 26 Feb 1912. Because of this, Larionov had no choice but to make a premature propaganda salvo against the Knave of Diamonds group on December 11, 1911 in the newspaper "Voice of Moscow", where Larionov toppled the achievements of his recent comrades, calling them depreciatively "Repin-style realists", recalling that it was he who invented the name "Knave of Diamonds ", and expressed the credo of his new group: "The public already recognizes "Knave of Diamonds ". While we are absolutely free. We were "Knave of Diamonds ". This year we will be "Donkey's Tail", next year we will turn out as "Target". We are not bound - not even by a name. Always young and independent." From a conversation with Mikhail Larionov. “The quarrel between the ‘tails’ and the ‘jacks’” // The Voice of Moscow newspaper, December 11, 1911 (Из беседы с Михаилом Ларионовым. «Ссора „хвостов“ с „валетами“» // Газета «Голос Москвы», 11 декабря 1911 года).
However, in order to get ahead of the Knave of Diamonds, Larionov hastily prepared a trial mini-exhibition of the formative Donkey's Tail group in St. Petersburg from January 4 to February 12, 1912 - as part of a larger “3rd exhibition of the Union of Youth”. His group participated with less than half of its listed members: Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich, Alexey Morgunov, Vladimir Tatlin, Artur Fonvizin, Aleksandr Shevchenko. Conservative St. Petersburg critics met the new Moscow group with indignation and sarcasm: "Donkey's Tail", this is something incredible! A kind of a mental asylum."Breshko-Breshkovsky, Nikolai Nikolaevich. Exhibition of the "Union of Youth" // "Birzhevye Vedomosti", January 4, 1912 (Брешко-Брешковский, Николай Николаевич. Выставка «Союза молодёжи» // «Биржевые ведомости», 4 января 1912).
"Here is a complete mockery of both art and the public. And what pathetic mischief had forced these unknown youths to choose such a name and stand under the flag of a donkey's tail!" Zagulyaeva Yulia. Letters from Saint Petersburg. VIII. // "Moskovskie vedomosti" («Московские ведомости»), February 19, 1912 (Загуляева Ю. Петербургские письма. VIII. // «Московские ведомости», 19 февраля 1912).
First Donkey's Tail Exhibition in Moscow in March 11 – April 8, 1912 The first trial mini-exhibition of the "Donkey's Tail" in St. Petersburg paved the way for the main "Donkey's Tail" exhibition of 1912, where Mikhail Larionov was supposed to give the principal fight to the Knave of Diamonds. However, Larionov failed to organize his exhibition simultaneously with the Knave of Diamonds exhibition which ended on 26 Feb 1912, so that he could compete with it face to face, and exhibited only on 11 March - half a month later.
The "Donkey's Tail" exhibition was held in the exhibition hall of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Myasnitskaya St., 21), and showed canvases by Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Aleksandr Shevchenko, Marc Chagall, Artur Fonvizin. Larionov also invited Olga Rozanova, Pavel Filonov, Ilya Shkolnik.
The first "Donkey's Tail" exhibition occurred under unfavorable circumstances for Larionov and his group due to the significant success of the "Knave of Diamonds " exhibition, since the Knave of Diamonds not only presented their best canvases, but also acquainted the public with the latest achievements of European painting - works by French Cubists, including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Robert Delaunay, abstract "improvisations" by Wassily Kandinsky and Germans from Der Blaue Reiter - August Macke, Franz Marc and Marianne von Werefkin.Kovtun, Evgeniy Fedorovich. Mikhail Larionov. 1881-1964. St. Petersburg, Aurora Publishing House, 1998. - 175 p. ISBN 5-7300-0668-3 (Ковтун, Евгений Фёдорович. Михаил Ларионов. 1881—1964. Санкт-Петербург, издательство «Аврора», 1998. - 175 c. ISBN 5-7300-0668-3). Pp.51-53.
To counter this preponderance, Larionov and Goncharova made a demarche that allowed them to seize the initiative in the struggle for public interest before the opening of their exhibition. On February 12, 1912 they stormed into the Polytechnic Museum, where Knave of Diamonds under Pyotr Konchalovsky were having debates "On Modern Art", and Larionov attacked them with the provocative statement that the Knave of Diamonds were conservative and backward. After the audience burst with indignation, Mikhail Larionov shouted: "The French are great. The Jacks of Diamonds merely mimick the French and me!" and left, hitting the lectern so that it cracked. This stirred sensation in the newspapers, and the spectators became eager to see what Donkey's Tail was to offer.Shuisky B. Artistic dispute // “Against the Current”, No. 22, February 18, 1912 (Шуйский Б. Художественный диспут // «Против течения», No. 22, 18 февраля 1912).
The "Donkey's Tail" exhibition was centered around the paintings of the group's leader Larionov, executed in the style of neo-primitivism, with numerous scenes from the life of ordinary soldiers (as Larionov had just completed his annual military training), and by Natalia Goncharova - dominated by the peasant life scenes and religious themes.