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, Sturm über Asien (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.
