Elena Genrikhovna Guro was a Russian Futurist

Futurism

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...

 painter, playwright, poet, and writer of fiction.

Early life

Guro was born in St. Petersburg on January 10, 1877. Her father was Genrikh Stepanovich Guro, an officer in the Imperial Russian Army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

 of French descent. Her mother Anna Mikhailovna Chistyakova was a talented amateur artist. Guro spent her childhood in the village of Novosely near Pskov

Pskov

Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

 and at her father's estate in Luga

Luga

Luga is a town and the administrative center of Luzhsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Luga River south of St. Petersburg. Population:...

. She inherited a government pension and property in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 from her father, using both to support her artistic career. Her sister Ekaterina was also a writer.

Career

From 1890 to 1893 she studied art at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg. From 1903 to 1905 she studied in the private studio of Ian Tsionglinsky where she met her future husband Mikhail Matyushin

Mikhail Matyushin

Michael Vasilyevich Matyuschin was a Russian painter and composer, leading member of the Russian avant-garde. In 1910–1913 Matyushin and his wife Elena Guro were key members of the Union of the Youth, an association of Russian Futurists...

 (they were married in 1906). In 1905 she illustrated the Russian translation of a book of fairy tales by George Sand

George Sand

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...

. In 1906 she and Matyushin moved to the school of Elizaveta Zvantseva, where Guro worked under Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early twentieth-century city....

, Leon Bakst

Léon Bakst

Léon Samoilovitch Bakst was a Russian painter and scene- and costume designer. He was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes...

 and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin

Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin, was an important Russian and Soviet painter and writer.-Early years:...

. In 1908 she left the school and established her own studio. By 1908 her home was a central meeting place for discussions on art and literature.

Guro published her first prose work in 1905. Her first book of prose, poetry and drama The Hurdy-Gurdy came out in 1909. In 1910 she contributed to the journal Trap for Judges the first publication of the Russian Futurists

Russian Futurism

Russian Futurism is the term used to denote a group of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism"...

. She also contributed to the second volume of Trap for Judges in 1913. Guro and her husband subsidized both issues. In 1911 Guro's manuscript of a book of fairy tales she had been planning to publish was lost by her publisher along with the illustrations she had done for it. Her second book Autumnal Dream was published in 1912.

Last days

In 1913 she continued to write and paint, even though she was suffering from leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

. She died the same year at her country house in Polyany, Leningrad Oblast, formerly Uusikirkko, Finland. At the time of her death she had nearly completed a major work The Poor Knight. Several poems, and two prose works were published posthumously in the collection The Three and in the journal Union of Youth

Soyuz Molodyozhi

Soyuz Molodyozhi was an artistic group and an art magazine of Russian avant-garde organized in 1910.There were more than 30 members of the group and most of other Russian avant-garde participated in their exhibitions....

in 1913. Her third book The Little Camels of the Sky was published in 1914.

English translations

• The Little Camels of the Sky, Ardis Publishers, 1983.
• Thus Life Passes, from 50 Writers: An Anthology of 20th Century Russian Short Stories, Academic Studies Press, 2011.