Bull's Head

Created in 1913, 'Bull's Head' emerges from one of the most revolutionary moments in Mikhail Larionov's career. This was the very year he and his lifelong partner Natalia Goncharova invented Rayonism—Russia's first truly abstract art movement. At 32, Larionov was at the forefront of Moscow's avant-garde, breaking away from his earlier Neo-primitive style (influenced by Russian sign painting) toward radical new forms that would fragment reality into rays of light and color. The bull as subject connects to his interest in raw, primal imagery and Russian folk traditions, themes he explored extensively during this period when he was staging provocative public performances and challenging artistic conventions.

This work sits at a pivotal intersection: Larionov had absorbed Cubo-Futurist influences and was now pushing beyond them into pure abstraction. The year 1913 marked his departure from groups like Donkey's Tail as he developed Rayonism's theory of depicting the spatial forms arising from the intersection of reflected rays from various objects. While we don't know if this particular bull's head is rendered in full Rayonist style or represents a transitional moment, its creation during this explosive year makes it a fascinating window into how one of Russia's most radical artists was reimagining even the most familiar subjects—transforming a simple animal form into something that challenged viewers' perceptions of reality itself.