Information about the author:

Acknowledgements:

The article was prepared at IWL RAS with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 23-28-01239 “From Fact to Artistic Image — Comprehension of the First World War in the Works of Prose Writers and Poets — A.N. Tolstoy, N.S. Gumilyov, S.A. Yesenina, V.V. Mayakovsky, I.E. Babel”.

Abstract:

Mayakovsky’s legacy as a poster artist is associated with his work on popular prints at the beginning of the First World War in the Moscow publishing house “Today’s Lubok” (G.B. Gorodetsky) together with K.S. Malevich, D.D. Burlyuk, V.N. Chekrygin, I.I. Mashkov and A.V. Lentulov. Mayakovsky wrote poetic captions for all military lubki and illustrated three of them, and also drew lubok pictures for postcards. One of Mayakovsky’s most striking popular prints, “The Red and Rough German”, as established in the article, is associated with the military episode in the Yabloni area near Warsaw, when Russian troops shot down a German Zeppelin bomber. Probably, the subject of the fight against the air threat was also caused by other military events in the fall of 1914, in particular, the heroic death of Staff Captain P.N. Nesterov, who for the first time performed a “loop” and an aerial ramming, as a result of which he died. Lubok is also associated with the tradition of depicting enemies pierced with a spear, dating back to icon painting and ancient Russian miniatures. The ditty style, bravado and belittling of the enemy’s power connected these pictures with folklore.