4 March 1917. Leonide Massine

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Leonide Massine

Rome, Italy

It’s difficult to convey the excitement of working with artists like Picasso and Cocteau. Every time we met in the Piazza Venezia in Rome to exchange ideas, sparks would fly across the room. Any innovation – sound effects, Cubist-style costumes, megaphones – would engender a fresh new chain of ideas. It seemed to me that Cocteau’s indefatigable imagination served to stimulate the complex artistic vision of Picasso.

, and others

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✍ Also today

Felix Dzerzhinsky

Butyrskaya prison, Moscow, Russian Empire

My dearest Zosya,
Here, in prison I can’t keep a postcard even from our young son. I was hoping they would give me at least one day to look at it. Perhaps even more. I have Yasik’s postcard before me, written by him, and his words, thoughts, and feelings make me smile. How happy I am with you, my dear, I would release bubbles in the air, so that they, colorful and beautiful, floated slowly, and we would follow them, with our heads craned and blowing so they didn’t fall.
And I think when you grow up, and you'll be big and strong, we will teach ourselves how to fly a plane. We’ll fly like birds, to the high mountains, to the clouds in the sky, and the towns and villages, fields and forests, valleys and rivers, lakes and seas—the whole beautiful world—will be below us. And the sun will be above us, and we'll fly. My Yasik, don’t worry that I'm no longer with you. It can’t be otherwise. I love you, my sweetheart. You are my joy though I can only see you in my thoughts and dreams. You’re my entire happiness. Be good, kind, cheerful and healthy. Always be happy for mommy, me, and the people so that when you grow up, work, and enjoy your work and please others, and be an example to them. I kiss you and hug tightly, my sonny boy.

, and others

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Sophie Buxhoeveden

Winter palace, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire

Not far from the Winter Palace, scrawled on the wall of the Staff Headquarters, I personally saw a slogan that read ‘Down with the Tsar!’ It was erased – only to reappear the next morning. When my carriage got caught in a traffic block, a passerby deliberately spat through the open window: no one was even attempting to camouflage their hostility now.

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Amedeo Modigliani

Paints "Reclining Nude"

Emil Gudo's square, 13, Paris, France

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Olga Rozanova

ap. 38, 10, Sadovo-karetnaya street, Moscow, Russian Empire

My most esteemed Mikhail Vasilyevich!

The art collective Supremus is soon to begin publishing a journal of the same name. It will be periodical and make no pretences at impartiality. Its programme is to be Suprematism in paintings, sculpture, architecture, music, new theatre e.t.c. Its content will be articles, news, letters, aphorisms, poems, reproductions of Suprematist paintings and craftworks, articles in fiction and non-fiction e.t.c.

Aware of your sympathies for our movement, the art collective Supremus invites your participation in the journal and, should you be interested, invites you to send at your first possible convenience any articles on art, criticism or other related fields which you have currently written and ready for publication. You have, I believe, previously heard from Kazimir Severinovich concerning our project and the character of the proposed journal.

I have now moved to Moscow where I am considering establishing myself on a more permanent footing. Contributors to the journal will include members of the Supremus collective such as Udaltsova, Popova, Klyun, Menkov, Pestel, Arkhipenko, Davydova, Rozanova and others. Malevich is to be editor. We are to have poems from Kruchenykh, Alyargov and others.

With respect, Olga Rozanova

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3 March

The strike at the Putilov plant

“The French couldn’t care less what’s going on inside the country – provided Russia’s fighting well”

Modigliani finishes a new painting

1917. Zombies, drugs, and progress

Why did the Russian Empire collapse

Map of the Royal dynasties of Europe

Romanovs dangerous liaisons

-17

in Petrograd

-12

in Moscow