Portrait of the Futurist songwriter V. Kamensky

Mediums: oil, canvas, bronze paint.
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery (Russia).

When asked about this creation, the author could, rephrasing Matisse, say that he painted not songwriter Kamensky but a painting about him (the Frenchman’s replica is known, “I draw not women, but paintings”). Despite the futurism declared in the title, the picture is more close to the style of the primitive and to the style of fauvism in terms of expressiveness of the gamma. Nevertheless, the poet, if we remember his curly hairstyle and oval face, is recognizable. The depicted man was satisfied with this image and his second portrait created the following year, where he has not a face but a realistic face in the radiance of a halo. As for the magnificent lady flying over the head of the poet, this is the expression of David’s enthusiasm for the work of his colleague M. Chagall.