Rayonism

Rayonism ( French ; rayon: ray of light ) is a style of painting of the Russian avant-garde .

Natalija Goncharova: Rayon Lilies, 1913, State Art Gallery, Perm

Rayonism (or more rarely: Rayonism ) goes back essentially to the Russian artist Michail Fjodorowitsch Larionow . Influenced by the futuristic manifesto (1909) of the Italian theorist Marinetti , he published the "Manifesto of Rayonism" in 1913. In this, in analogy to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity , he demanded the representation of the fourth dimension, light. Furthermore, cubism was important for the development of rayonism. From 1910 to 1914 Larionow experimented with light bundles and dismantled objects into color beam compositions in order to represent energy and develop a feeling for the fourth dimension. Together with Natalija Goncharova , his partner and later wife, he painted pictures by transforming objects into abstract ray diagrams.

The rayonists are also called "Lutschisten", from Russian lutsch ( ray ). The arrangement of all picture elements in parallel, overlapping, ray-like color fields, which split up like light bundles like facets, was given the name "Luminarism".

The two artists also implemented the concept of rayonism for stage decorations in Parisian theaters, in which moving light was used.

List of artists of rayonism

• Natalija Goncharova (1881–1962), Russian painter
• Michail Larionow (1881–1964), Russian painter
• David Burliuk (1882–1967), Russian-American painter
• Vladimir Burliuk (1886–1917), Russian-Ukrainian painter, brother of the aforementioned
• Michail Le-Dantju (1891-1917)