Osip Brik

Biography

Osip Maksimovich Brik was born on January 16, 1888, in Moscow, Russia. He was raised in Moscow in a traditional Russian-Jewish family. His mother, named Paulina Yurievna (nee Segal) was a multilingual interpreter. His father, named Maksim Pavlovich Brik, was the 1-st Guild Merchant, and the owner of the international trade company, dealing between Russia and Italy. Osip Brik traveled with his father, then studied at the Law school of the Moscow University, from which he graduated in 1910. He practiced Law in Moscow and St. Petersburg. On February 26, 1912, Brik married Lilya Urievna Kagan in Moscow, and soon the couple moved to St. Petersburg. There Lilya's junior sister, Elsa Kagan, who later became known as writer Elsa Triolet, introduced her boyfriend poet Vladimir Mayakovsky to Osip and Lilya Brik in July of 1915. Mayakovsky became obsessed with both, charming and coquettish Lilya Brik, and intellectually challenging Osip Brik. But Lilya remained married to Osip Brik, who extended his hospitality to her greatest admirer. Osip Brik financed the publication of Futuristic poetry collection 'Cloud in Pants' (1915) by Vladimir Mayakovsky, which was inspired by their muse Lilya Brik. From 1913-1918 Brik was a lawyer for his father's international trade company. Brik was involved in trade deals with Italian sellers and byers in Siberia and in Central Asia. He traveled to locations in Central Asian area of Turkestan. During the Russian Revolution Brik lived in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). There he briefly served at the special militarized Revolutionary Automobile Group, and had risen to the rank of a Commissar. From June of 1920, Brik worked in Moscow as a Legal Councel for the CheKa (predecessor of the KGB). From there Brik was fired with a verdict, "for negligent attitude and evasion from work", but he still managed to help emigration of the parents of writer Boris Pasternak. After the Bolshevik revolution and the Russian Civil War, in 1919, Brik moved with the "family" to Moscow. There he became one of the important literary critics and film writers in Russia. In 1919 he published his philological research 'Zvukovye Povtory' (Sound Repetitions), where he analyzed the Russian avant-garde literature. Brik's tiny room near the Yaroslavsky Station, was the meeting place for Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Eisenstein, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Rodchenko, Yuri Tynyanov, and many others. Brik was among the active proponents of new artistic ideas in art, literature, theatre and film in the 1910s-1930s Russia. He was an important member of the Russian Formalism. He also identified himself as one of the Russian Futurists in literature and art. In 1922-23 Brik made a trip to Europe and visited Wassily Kandinsky and Bauhaus in Germany. In Russia Brick collaborated in several film and literary projects and creativity influenced Vladimir Mayakovsky and other Russian writers and filmmakers of his time. From 1922-1928 Brik and Vladimir Mayakovsky published the magazine 'LEF' (Leftist Front of Arts), which became the platform for the LEF group, and for the Russian Constructivist art. Brik organized a group of writers, artists and film directors, such as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein, Sergei Yutkevich, Viktor Shklovskiy, V. Ivanov-Zhemchuzhny and others. In 1923 Brik collaborated with Sergei Yutkevich on a film script titled 'Priklyucheniya elvista' (Adventures of elvist). The script was bought by Goskino, but was never produced. In 1926 Brik was appointed the head of writers department at the Mezhrabpom Film Studio in Moscow. There he continued working together with his colleagues from the 'LEF' group. Brik believed mainly in making documentaries. His position was shared by many in the time of silent film. He worked on the script for the feature film 'Potomok Chingiskhana' in spite of his main passion for documentaries. The author of the unpublished novel 'Potomok Chingiskhana' was 'I. Novokshonov' , who worked on the book in 1926-1933. He later was exiled for political reasons and died during the repressions under Joseph Stalin. His book was not published until 1966. Osip Brik adapted the unpublished book into the form of a film scenario. Together with director Vsevolod Pudovkin they made one of the best Russian silent films, Storm Over Asia (1928) (aka..The Heir to Genghis Khan / Storm Over Asia). Osip Brik was the literary adviser to Vladimir Mayakovsky and editor of many of his works. Brik financed some of the early publications of Mayakovsky's poetry. In 1930, during the Brik's trip abroad, Mayakovsky committed suicide. Brik's literary works were severely criticized during the 1930s, when official Soviet propaganda began the crackdown on the avant-garde art. Brik survived through the repressions during the "Great Terror" under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. In 1942 Brik wrote a drama 'Ivan the Terrible'. Osip Brik died of a heart attack on February 22, 1945, in his apartment on Arbat street in Moscow.