"Head" (1925)
While the best-known lines of Russian avant-garde artistic development passed through Malevich and Tatlin, Pavel Filonov (1883-1941) worked slowly and painstakingly to develop a highly personal style. Although he started his career in the Futurist camp (and contributed to the design of Mayakovsky's "Vladimir Mayakovsky. A Tragedy" in 1913. Like most of the Futurists, Filonov welcomed the Bolshevik coup. Throughout the 1920s, Filonov developed a school of what he called "analytical art" which he practiced and taught to a devoted band of followers. His paintings, like this "Head" (1925) are distinguished by great delicacy and minute brushwork. Every inch of the painted surface is filled with an abundance of detail which flows together to create the whole. Filonov was fascinated by the grotesque, by the art of children and the insane.