Biography

Vladimir Mayakovsky was the leading Russian Futurist poet of the 20th century who created an entirely new form of Russian poetry loosely resembling such modern day rappers as Eminem and Snoop Dogg.

He was born Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky on July 19, 1893, in the town of Bagdadi, Kutaisi province in the Transcaucasian kingdom of Georgia, then part of Russian Empire (now Georgia). He was the last of three children in a Russian-Ukrainian family. His father, Vladimir Mayakovsky, was a Russian Cossack who worked for Imperial Ministry as a forest ranger. His mother, Alexandra Alekseevna, was Ukrainian. Young Mayakovsky grew up in a bilingual environment, his mother spoke Georgian while he learned Russian, and spent his childhood and boyhood attending a grammar school in Kutaisi, Georgia. In 1906, when Mayakovsky was 13, his father died of blood poisoning caused by a finger cut. Young Mayakovsky moved to Moscow with his mother and two sisters.

During his formative years Mayakovsky absorbed multi-cultural influences from Transcaucasia and Russia. From 1906 - 1908 he studied at Moscow Gymnasium, then dropped out and was involved in revolutionary movement with then underground Communist Party of Russia. Because of his association with communists, he was arrested three times, violated the prison rules, and spent over six months in Butyrskaya prison in Moscow. There he wrote his first poems while in a solitary cell in 1909. After his prison term, Mayakovsky refused to join the Communist Party, and for that Vladimir Lenin warranted his communist comrades that they should not trust Mayakovsky and should watch his activities and publications. During the 1910s Mayakovsky emerged as independent thinker and writer. He studied at Stroganov School of Art, then at Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. There he met Futurist artist David Burlyuk, and the two collaborated on several art shows and books.

In 1912, Mayakovsky moved to St. Petersburg, the capital famous for its wealth, cultural diversity, and cosmopolitan lifestyle. There he met Maxim Gorky who was instrumental with his initial steps and introductions. Mayakovsky wrote and directed his first play, a tragedy titled 'Vladimir Mayakovsky', that premiered at a St. Petersburg theatre in 1913. At that time, on a dacha in the Levashovo suburb of St. Petersburg, Mayakovsky met Lilya Brik, the woman who changed his life forever. She became his Muse, lover, and most trusted companion, while her husband, Osip Brik eventually became the publisher of Mayakovsky's most important works. In St. Petersburg Mayakovsky published his passionate poems: 'Cloud in the Trousers' (1915) and 'The Backbone Flute' (1916) alluding to his sexuality and the emerging menage à trois relationship with the Briks.

In the popular literary club "Brodyachaya Sobaka" (aka.. Wandering Dog) Mayakovsky met the aspiring poet Anna Akhmatova, her husband Nikolai Gumilev, and other important figures of the flourishing St. Petersburg cultural scene. Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy, one of the leading writers in St. Petersburg, proclaimed Mayakovsky a genius, and promoted his poetry. However, during the 1914 - 1918, the disastrous First World War, two Russian revolutions, and the following Russian Civil War brought immense destruction, poverty, and instability. Mayakovsky was drafted and served in Petrograd Military Automobile School from 1915 to August 1917. After the Revolution of 1917, he remained in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and was editor of Futurist paper as well as art magazines "Iskusstvo" and other projects.

In 1918 Mayakovsky made his film debut appearing in three silent films made at Neptun studio in St. Petersburg. He appeared as actor co-starring opposite Lilya Brik in Zakovannaya filmoi (1918), which he also wrote, and in Nye dlya deneg radivshisya (1918); both films were directed by Nikandr Turkin. Mayakovsky also co-starred in The Young Lady and the Hooligan (1918), which he also co-directed. At that time his stage-play 'Mystery-Bouffe' (1918) premiered at a St. Petersburg's theatre.

In mid-1919 he moved from St. Petersburg back to Moscow and shared a small room in a communal flat with his friend and lover Lilya Brik. For a while he worked as designer and poet for propaganda publications at ROSTA, the Russian Telegraph Agency. His circle in Moscow included such cultural figures as Osip Brik and Lilya Brik, as well as their friends: artists and filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, and Alexander Rodchenko, writers Boris Pasternak and Viktor Shklovskiy among others. Mayakovsky and Brik published the avant-garde and leftist magazine 'LEF' together with Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov and Sergei Yutkevich, where they opposed the mainstream official Soviet culture. Mayakovsky went to extremes, he called to trash all history and traditional culture, such as the 19th century writers Aleksandr Pushkin and Lev Tolstoy, as well as classical art. He also opposed the dull official "proletariat" propaganda and conformist Soviet mass-culture. His satirical plays 'Klop' (aka.. Bedbug) and 'Banya' (aka.. Bath) were staged by director Vsevolod Meyerhold, but soon were banned. Mayakovsky actively contributed to the emerging Russian-Soviet film industry as a writer, actor, and film director. He also co-wrote scenario for Lilya Brik's film Yevrei na zemle (1927).

During the 1920s, Mayakovsky traveled extensively in Europe and America, and amassed a significant cosmopolitan experience. In Paris he visited the studios of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. In America Mayakovsky fathered a daughter, Patricia Tompson, form his relationship with Russian-American émigré Elli Jones (Elisaveta Petrovna). In Europe he had a relationship with another Russian emigrant actress. At that time he learned that most Russian writers and poets, such as Anastasiya Tsvetaeva, can not make money in the West. Back in Russia, he was so successful that he bought himself a new Renault car and hired a private chauffeur, comrade Gamazin, who was also a secret informant for Soviet Security agency.

By the late-1920s Mayakovsky emerged as a popular and influential figure in Soviet culture and politics; he was a poet, an artist, an actor, a writer, director and public speaker. His highly electrifying public performances often irritated the Soviet officials. Mayakovsky applied his untamed genius in almost every aspect of cultural and political life, and eventually became a much higher and bigger figure than the Soviet officialdom could tolerate. His non-conformist and non-Marxist position became a problem. For that reason he was under constant surveillance by the Soviet authorities.

Intellectuals regarded Mayakovsky for breaking all rules and traditions in literature, art and public life, and for exploding with his bold and highly original style of poetry. He was known for his passionate and intense public performances. He was also known for his hectic relationships with women. His personal life remained unstable for many years, as he was torn between several women in his life. On April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky was found dead, and his death was accompanied by a letter with a rather sarcastic message. The Soviet officials announced that Mayakovsky shot himself directly in his heart, because of his breakup with actress Veronika Polonskaya. Ten days after Mayakovsky's death the criminal investigator of the Mayakovsky's case was also shot dead.

Mayakovsky was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Lilya Brik and her husband Osip Brik inherited the writer's archive. In 1935, five years after the death of Mayakovsky, Lily Brik wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin expressing her idea to publish the collected works of Mayakovsky. Stalin approved the Brik's idea, and ordered that Soviet publishers print collections of "revolutionary" poetry by Mayakovsky. Upon Stalin's instruction, Mayakovsky's "revolutionary" poetry was included in the Soviet school curriculum and reissued in massive printings.

Vladimir Mayakovsky was depicted in the film Mayakovsky itskeboda ase... (1958) by director Konstantine Pipinashvili, based on the autobiographical book "Ya -sam" (aka.. I-myself).