Vasilisk Gnedov

Vasilisk (Vasily) Gnedov (1890–1978), a central figure in Russian Futurism, published his best-known work, Death to Art, on the brink of the first World War. Abrasive and wily in his younger years, he became known for his provocations and poetry, which actively sought to collapse language in on itself. Swept up by the cataclysmic events of twentieth-century Russia, he eventually returned to his homeland of Ukraine, where he died in obscurity.