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{{Short description|Russian writer, illustrator and futurist (1877–1913)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Genrikhovna|Guro|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| image = Elena Guro 7.jpg
| image = Elena Guro 7.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| image_size = 200px
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|1|10|mf=y}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|1|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Saint Petersburg]]
| birth_place = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Imperial Russia]]
| birth_name = Elena Genrikhovna Guro
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1913|5|6|1877|1|10|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1913|5|6|1877|1|10|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Saint Petersburg]]
| death_place = [[Uusikirkko]], Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
| caption = Elena Guro {{c.|1900}}
| known_for = ''The Hurdy-Gurdy''<br>''Autumnal Dream''<br>''Finland''
| movement = [[Futurism]], [[Cubo-Futurism]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Mikhail Matyushin]]|1906}}
}}
}}
'''Elena Genrikhovna Guro''' ({{lang-rus|Еле́на Ге́нриховна Гуро́|p=jɪˈlʲɛnə ˈɡʲɛnrʲɪxəvnə ɡʊˈro|a=Yelyena Gyenrihovna Guro.ru.vorb.oga}}; in marriage '''Matyushina''' ({{lang-rus|Матю́шина|p=mɐˈtʲuʂɪnə|a=Yelyena Gyenrihovna Matyushina.ru.vorb.oga}}; January 10, 1877 &ndash; May 6, 1913<ref name="Artists">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Women Artists, Volume 1 |year=1997 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |isbn=1-884964-21-4 |pages=623–624 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_0Y0PALzQMC&pg=PA623 |accessdate=2012-01-08}}</ref>) was a Russian [[Futurism|Futurist]] painter, playwright, poet, and fiction writer.
'''Elena Genrikhovna Matyushina''' ({{lang-rus|Еле́на Ге́нриховна Матю́шина|p=jɪˈlʲɛnə ˈɡʲɛnrʲɪxəvnə mɐˈtʲuʂɨnə|a=Yelyena Gyenrihovna Matyushina.ru.vorb.oga|links=y}}; {{née|'''Guro'''}} [{{lang-rus|Гуро́|p=ɡʊˈro|a=Yelyena Gyenrihovna Guro.ru.vorb.oga|links=no}}]; January 10, 1877 – May 6, 1913<ref name="Artists">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Women Artists, Volume 1 |year=1997 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |isbn=1-884964-21-4 |pages=623–624 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_0Y0PALzQMC&pg=PA623 |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref>) was a Russian [[Futurism|Futurist]] painter, playwright, poet, and fiction writer. Her career spanned the transitional period between [[Russian symbolism|Russian Symbolism]] and Futurism.<ref name=":0" />

Guro is noted for developing new theories of color in painting.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Yelena Genrikhovna Guro {{!}} Russian artist and writer|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yelena-Genrikhovna-Guro|access-date=2021-04-15|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> She was also the only female member of the most influential Futurist group called [[Cubo-Futurism]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rann|first=James|title=The Unlikely Futurist: Pushkin and the Invention of Originality in Russian Modernism|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2020|isbn=978-0-299-32810-8|location=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=8|language=en}}</ref>


==Early life==
==Early life==
Guro was born in St. Petersburg on January 10, 1877. Her father was Genrikh Stepanovich Guro, an officer in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] of French descent. Her mother Anna Mikhailovna Chistyakova was a talented amateur artist. Guro spent her childhood in the village of Novosely near [[Pskov]] and at her father's estate in [[Luga, Leningrad Oblast|Luga]]. She inherited a government pension and property in Finland from her father, using both to support her artistic career. Her sister Ekaterina was also a writer.<ref name="Dictionary">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Russian Women Writers |year=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-26265-9 |pages=238–241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI4hPO8u3ecC&pg=PA241 |accessdate=2012-01-08}}</ref>
Guro was born in St. Petersburg on January 10, 1877.<ref name=":3" /> Her father was Genrikh Stepanovich Guro (or Gouraud), an officer in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] of French descent. Her mother Anna Mikhailovna Chistyakova was a talented amateur artist. Guro spent her childhood in the village of Novosely near [[Pskov]] and at her father's estate in [[Luga, Leningrad Oblast|Luga]]. She inherited a government pension and property in Finland from her father, using both to support her artistic career. Her sister, Ekaterina Guro, was also a writer.<ref name="Dictionary">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Russian Women Writers |year=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-26265-9 |pages=238–241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI4hPO8u3ecC&pg=PA241 |access-date=2012-01-08}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
[[File:Matushin Guro.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Guro and Matyushin.]]
[[File:Matushin Guro.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Guro and Matyushin.]]
From 1890 to 1893 she studied art at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg. From 1903 to 1905 she studied in the private studio of [[Jan Ciągliński]] where she met her future husband [[Mikhail Matyushin]] (they were married in 1906).<ref name="Artists"/> In 1905 she illustrated the Russian translation of a book of fairy tales by [[George Sand]]. In 1906 she and Matyushin moved to the school of Elizaveta Zvantseva, where Guro worked under [[Mstislav Dobuzhinsky]], [[Léon Bakst]] and [[Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin]].<ref name="Artists"/> In 1908 she left the school and established her own studio. By 1908 her home was an important meeting place for discussions on art and literature.<ref name="Dictionary"/>
From 1890 to 1893 she studied art at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg. From 1903 to 1905 she studied in the private studio of [[Jan Ciągliński]] where she met her future husband [[Mikhail Matyushin]] (they were married in 1906).<ref name="Artists"/> The year 1905 marked her literary debut with the publication of ''Early Spring'' (''Rannjaja vesna'').<ref name=":0" /> This was her first short story and was published in an anthology of contemporary Russian writers called ''Sbornik molodyx pisatelej''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Banjanin|first=Milica|date=Summer 1986|title=Nature and the City in the Works of Elena Guro|journal=The Slavic and East European Journal|volume=30| issue = 2|pages=230–246|doi=10.2307/307598|jstor=307598}}</ref> One year previously, in 1904, she illustrated the Russian translation of a book of fairy tales by the French writer [[George Sand]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=International Yearbook of Futurism Studies|publisher=De Gruyter|year=2015|editor-last=Berghaus|editor-first=Günter|volume=5|pages=267–76}}</ref> In 1906 she and Matyushin moved to the art school of [[Elizaveta Zvantseva]], where Guro worked under [[Mstislav Dobuzhinsky]], [[Léon Bakst]] and [[Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin]].<ref name="Artists"/> In 1908 she left the school and established her own studio. By 1908 her home was an important meeting place for discussions on art and literature.<ref name="Dictionary"/>
[[File:Guro olen.jpg|thumb|right|170px|''Little Deer'' by Guro, 1908/09]]
[[File:Guro olen.jpg|thumb|right|170px|''Little Deer'' by Guro, 1908/09]]
Guro published her first prose work in 1905. Her first book of prose, poetry, and drama ''The Hurdy-Gurdy'' came out in 1909.<ref name="Artists"/> In 1910 she contributed to the journal ''Trap for Judges'' the first publication of the [[Russian Futurism|Russian Futurists]]. She also contributed to the second volume of ''Trap for Judges'' in 1913. Guro and her husband subsidized both issues. In 1911 Guro's manuscript of a book of fairy tales she had been planning to publish was lost by her publisher along with the illustrations she had done for it. Her second book ''Autumnal Dream'' was published in 1912.<ref name="Artists"/><ref name="Dictionary"/>
Her first book of prose, poetry, and drama ''The Hurdy-Gurdy'' came out in 1909.<ref name="Artists"/><ref name=":0" /> In 1910 she contributed to the journal ''Trap for Judges,'' one of the first publications of the [[Russian Futurism|Russian Futurists]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Elder|first=R. Bruce|title=DADA, Surrealism, and the Cinematic Effect|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-55458-625-7|location=Waterloo, Ontario|pages=246}}</ref> She also contributed to the second volume of ''Trap for Judges'' in 1913. Guro and her husband subsidized both issues. In 1911 Guro's manuscript of a book of fairy tales she had been planning to publish was lost by her publisher, along with the illustrations she had done for it. Her second book ''Autumnal Dream'' was published in 1912.<ref name="Artists"/><ref name="Dictionary"/>

Guro is well-known for her fascination with the contrast between the urban world and nature, once writing in a short story about the psychology of people based in cities.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Wünsche|first=Isabel|title=The Organic School of the Russian Avant-Garde: Nature's Creative Principles|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|pages=57–8}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Her fascination appears to have begun with the way a city looks, for example its street lights and gilded windows. It is said that Guro was the most "urbanist" of the early twentieth-century Russian poets for the "concreteness" of her representations of the Russian cityscape.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steinberg|first=Mark D.|title=Petersburg Fin de Siècle|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-300-16504-3|location=New Haven, CT|language=en}}</ref> Eventually, she became tired of the subject in about 1910, when the very theme was growing popular with her [[Cubo-Futurist]] colleagues. According to Matyushin, she would now stay in the countryside from Spring until Autumn.<ref name=":1" />

In her paintings, Guro explored the rules of color. This interest, which began in 1911, became a defining feature of her works.<ref name=":3" /> She developed theories of color based on the [[Art Nouveau]]'s basic principle of form creation and the [[Scandinavia]]n folk art.<ref name=":3" /> Matyushin applied the theories she developed after her death.


==Last days==
==Last days==
In 1913 she continued to write and paint, even though she was suffering from [[leukemia]]. She died the same year at her country house in what was formerly Uusikirkko, Finland. At the time of her death she had nearly completed a major work ''The Poor Knight''. Several poems and two works of prose were published posthumously, in the collection ''The Three'' and in the journal ''[[Soyuz Molodyozhi|Union of Youth]]'', in 1913. Her third book ''The Little Camels of the Sky'' was published in 1914.<ref name="Artists"/><ref name="Dictionary"/>
In 1913 she continued to write and paint, even though she was suffering from [[leukemia]]. She died the same year at her country house in then [[Uusikirkko]], [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]]. At the time of her death she had nearly completed a major work ''The Poor Knight''.<ref name=":0" /> Several poems and two works of prose were published posthumously, in the collection ''The Three'' and in the journal ''[[Soyuz Molodyozhi|Union of Youth]]'', in 1913. Her third book ''The Little Camels of the Sky'' was published in 1914.<ref name="Artists"/><ref name="Dictionary"/>

[[File:A Woman in a Headscarf by Elena Guro 1910.jpg|200px|thumb|''A Woman in a Headscarf'' by Guro, 1910]]
== Characteristics of art ==
Guro's work is characterised by the [[syncretism]] of painting, poetry and prose, an impressionistic perception of life, the poetics of the laconic lyrical fragment. Favourite themes include motherhood spreading throughout the world and a pantheistic sense of nature.

An interest in Guro was awakened by Vladimir Markov's work "Russian Futurism" (1968). In 1988, a collection of her was published in Stockholm and in 1995, unpublished works from her archives in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], California, were published. A large number of studies in Russia and abroad have been dedicated to Guro's creative work.

The archive of Guro archive is kept in [[Russian State Archive of Literature and Art]] (fund 134).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-20|title=РГАЛИ г.Москва|url=http://rgali.ru/obj/10455511|access-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020045620/http://rgali.ru/obj/10455511|archive-date=2019-10-20}}</ref>[[File:A Woman in a Headscarf by Elena Guro 1910.jpg|200px|thumb|''A Woman in a Headscarf'' by Guro, 1910]]


==Writings==
==Writings==
[[File:Tpoe.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Kazimir Malevich]]'s cover for ''The Three'', containing Guro's most famous poem ''Finland'']]
[[File:Трое.jpg|200px|thumb|left|[[Kazimir Malevich]]'s cover for ''The Three'', containing Guro's most famous poem ''Finland'']]
*''The Hurdy-Gurdy'' (1909)
* ''The Hurdy-Gurdy'' (1909)
*''Autumnal Dream'' (1912)
* ''Autumnal Dream'' (1912)
*''The Poor Knight'' (1913)
* ''The Poor Knight'' (1913)
*''The Little Camels of the Sky'' (1914)
* ''The Little Camels of the Sky'' (1914)
*''The Three'' (1913) (posthumously); contains Guro's most famous poem ''Finland''
* ''The Three'' (1913) (posthumously); contains Guro's most famous poem ''Finland''


==English translations==
==English translations==
*''The Little Camels of the Sky'', Ardis Publishers, 1983.
* ''The Little Camels of the Sky'', from ''The Ardis Anthology of Russian Futurism'', Ardis Publishers, 1983.
*''Thus Life Passes'', from ''50 Writers: An Anthology of 20th Century Russian Short Stories'', Academic Studies Press, 2011.
* ''Thus Life Passes'', from ''50 Writers: An Anthology of 20th Century Russian Short Stories'', Academic Studies Press, 2011.
* ''Arlekin, the Beggar'', in ''[sic] - a Journal of Literature, Culture, and Literary Translation'', University of Zadar, 2020.


==References==
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guro, Elena}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guro, Elena}}
[[Category:19th-century Russian painters]]
[[Category:19th-century painters from the Russian Empire]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century women painters from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian painters]]
[[Category:Futurist painters]]
[[Category:Futurist painters]]
[[Category:Russian women artists]]
[[Category:Women poets from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian women painters]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian women poets]]
[[Category:Short story writers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Novelists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian women short story writers]]
[[Category:Russian women novelists]]
[[Category:Futurist writers]]
[[Category:Futurist writers]]
[[Category:Imperial Russian women writers]]
[[Category:Russian avant-garde]]
[[Category:Writers from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Writers from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Deaths from leukemia]]
[[Category:Deaths from leukemia]]
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:Women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Women writers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Painters from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Painters from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Russia]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century women artists]]
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[[Category:19th-century women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian short story writers]]

Latest revision as of 14:52, 23 December 2024

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Genrikhovna and the family name is Guro.
Elena Guro
Elena Guro c. 1900
Born
Elena Genrikhovna Guro

(1877-01-10)January 10, 1877
Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia
DiedMay 6, 1913(1913-05-06) (aged 36)
Uusikirkko, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
Known forThe Hurdy-Gurdy
Autumnal Dream
Finland
MovementFuturism, Cubo-Futurism
Spouse
​
(m. 1906)​

Elena Genrikhovna Matyushina (Russian: Еле́на Ге́нриховна Матю́шина, IPA: [jɪˈlʲɛnə ˈɡʲɛnrʲɪxəvnə mɐˈtʲuʂɨnə] ⓘ; née Guro [Russian: Гуро́, IPA: [ɡʊˈro] ⓘ]; January 10, 1877 – May 6, 1913[1]) was a Russian Futurist painter, playwright, poet, and fiction writer. Her career spanned the transitional period between Russian Symbolism and Futurism.[2]

Guro is noted for developing new theories of color in painting.[3] She was also the only female member of the most influential Futurist group called Cubo-Futurism.[4]

Early life

[edit]

Guro was born in St. Petersburg on January 10, 1877.[3] Her father was Genrikh Stepanovich Guro (or Gouraud), an officer in the Imperial Russian Army of French descent. Her mother Anna Mikhailovna Chistyakova was a talented amateur artist. Guro spent her childhood in the village of Novosely near Pskov and at her father's estate in Luga. She inherited a government pension and property in Finland from her father, using both to support her artistic career. Her sister, Ekaterina Guro, was also a writer.[5]

Career

[edit]
Guro and Matyushin.

From 1890 to 1893 she studied art at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg. From 1903 to 1905 she studied in the private studio of Jan Ciągliński where she met her future husband Mikhail Matyushin (they were married in 1906).[1] The year 1905 marked her literary debut with the publication of Early Spring (Rannjaja vesna).[2] This was her first short story and was published in an anthology of contemporary Russian writers called Sbornik molodyx pisatelej.[2] One year previously, in 1904, she illustrated the Russian translation of a book of fairy tales by the French writer George Sand.[6] In 1906 she and Matyushin moved to the art school of Elizaveta Zvantseva, where Guro worked under Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Léon Bakst and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin.[1] In 1908 she left the school and established her own studio. By 1908 her home was an important meeting place for discussions on art and literature.[5]

Little Deer by Guro, 1908/09

Her first book of prose, poetry, and drama The Hurdy-Gurdy came out in 1909.[1][2] In 1910 she contributed to the journal Trap for Judges, one of the first publications of the Russian Futurists.[7] She also contributed to the second volume of Trap for Judges in 1913. Guro and her husband subsidized both issues. In 1911 Guro's manuscript of a book of fairy tales she had been planning to publish was lost by her publisher, along with the illustrations she had done for it. Her second book Autumnal Dream was published in 1912.[1][5]

Guro is well-known for her fascination with the contrast between the urban world and nature, once writing in a short story about the psychology of people based in cities.[8][6] Her fascination appears to have begun with the way a city looks, for example its street lights and gilded windows. It is said that Guro was the most "urbanist" of the early twentieth-century Russian poets for the "concreteness" of her representations of the Russian cityscape.[9] Eventually, she became tired of the subject in about 1910, when the very theme was growing popular with her Cubo-Futurist colleagues. According to Matyushin, she would now stay in the countryside from Spring until Autumn.[8]

In her paintings, Guro explored the rules of color. This interest, which began in 1911, became a defining feature of her works.[3] She developed theories of color based on the Art Nouveau's basic principle of form creation and the Scandinavian folk art.[3] Matyushin applied the theories she developed after her death.

Last days

[edit]

In 1913 she continued to write and paint, even though she was suffering from leukemia. She died the same year at her country house in then Uusikirkko, Finland. At the time of her death she had nearly completed a major work The Poor Knight.[2] Several poems and two works of prose were published posthumously, in the collection The Three and in the journal Union of Youth, in 1913. Her third book The Little Camels of the Sky was published in 1914.[1][5]

Characteristics of art

[edit]

Guro's work is characterised by the syncretism of painting, poetry and prose, an impressionistic perception of life, the poetics of the laconic lyrical fragment. Favourite themes include motherhood spreading throughout the world and a pantheistic sense of nature.

An interest in Guro was awakened by Vladimir Markov's work "Russian Futurism" (1968). In 1988, a collection of her was published in Stockholm and in 1995, unpublished works from her archives in Berkeley, California, were published. A large number of studies in Russia and abroad have been dedicated to Guro's creative work.

The archive of Guro archive is kept in Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (fund 134).[10]

A Woman in a Headscarf by Guro, 1910

Writings

[edit]
Kazimir Malevich's cover for The Three, containing Guro's most famous poem Finland
  • The Hurdy-Gurdy (1909)
  • Autumnal Dream (1912)
  • The Poor Knight (1913)
  • The Little Camels of the Sky (1914)
  • The Three (1913) (posthumously); contains Guro's most famous poem Finland

English translations

[edit]
  • The Little Camels of the Sky, from The Ardis Anthology of Russian Futurism, Ardis Publishers, 1983.
  • Thus Life Passes, from 50 Writers: An Anthology of 20th Century Russian Short Stories, Academic Studies Press, 2011.
  • Arlekin, the Beggar, in [sic] - a Journal of Literature, Culture, and Literary Translation, University of Zadar, 2020.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Dictionary of Women Artists, Volume 1. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 1997. pp. 623–624. ISBN 1-884964-21-4. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e Banjanin, Milica (Summer 1986). "Nature and the City in the Works of Elena Guro". The Slavic and East European Journal. 30 (2): 230–246. doi:10.2307/307598. JSTOR 307598.
  3. ^ a b c d "Yelena Genrikhovna Guro | Russian artist and writer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
  4. ^ Rann, James (2020). The Unlikely Futurist: Pushkin and the Invention of Originality in Russian Modernism. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-299-32810-8.
  5. ^ a b c d Dictionary of Russian Women Writers. Greenwood Press. 1994. pp. 238–241. ISBN 0-313-26265-9. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  6. ^ a b Berghaus, Günter, ed. (2015). International Yearbook of Futurism Studies. Vol. 5. De Gruyter. pp. 267–76.
  7. ^ Elder, R. Bruce (2015). DADA, Surrealism, and the Cinematic Effect. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-55458-625-7.
  8. ^ a b Wünsche, Isabel (2015). The Organic School of the Russian Avant-Garde: Nature's Creative Principles. Routledge. pp. 57–8.
  9. ^ Steinberg, Mark D. (2011). Petersburg Fin de Siècle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16504-3.
  10. ^ "РГАЛИ г.Москва". 2019-10-20. Archived from the original on 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
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