Invitation to Grand Bal des Artistes

Mikhail Larionov was the lifelong companion of Natalia Goncharova. He ranks prominently as a founder of Rayism. Larionov's invitation was published in tandem with Goncharova's poster Grand Bal de Nuit. The design resembles an illustration by Larionov, published in Vladimir Mayakovsky's The Sun, 1922. Each of Larionov's designs contains some letters from the title; the others can be interpolated from the figures. This concept was inspired by the Zaum (transitional) literature of the Russian Futurists, in which printed letters are composed to suggest alternative meanings confounding standard syntax and grammar separating sound from immediate sense. Larionov alleged that his use of letters derived from shop signboards.