"Forgetful Nikolai"

The artists of the Russian avant-garde were not satisfied with merely understanding and replicating folk art. Through painting and applied arts, they sought to find the forms and techniques that would constitute the alphabet of the new art. A group of artists and poets from the first generation of the avant-garde saw in the "primitif" technique of folk woodcuts, known as "lubki," the missing communicative element in the ornamental art of modernism. "Lubki" first appeared in Russia in the 16th century and were woodcuts with folk representations that had religious, educational, and decorative purposes. The so-called "contemporary lubki" depicted patriotic scenes from the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. Artists like Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Mayakovsky created "contemporary lubki" for propaganda purposes. In the propaganda poster against the Tsarist regime titled "Forgetful Nikolai" created by Vladimir Mayakovsky and printed by the publishing house "Paris," a soldier is depicted attacking the Tsar. This illustration depicts the uprising of the army with the aim of overthrowing the Tsarist regime. It is accompanied by the captions: "I' ll drive them out and beat /them up!" Thought the tsar as he handed out rifles. / But among other things he forgot / That the soldier is born a worker".