Aleksandr Vasilievich Shevchenko also Oleksandr Vasyliovych Shevchenko (; 24 May 1882,

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

– 28 August 1948,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a Ukrainian modernist painter and sculptor.

Biography

From 1890 to 1898, he took private drawing lessons from Dmytro Bezperchy and was employed by a workshop that produced theater sets. He then moved to Moscow and entered the Stroganov State Academy of Arts and Industry that he graduated from in 1907. That same year, he was admitted to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From 1905 to 1906, he spent some time in Paris at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

with Étienne Dinet and Jean-Paul Laurens. He also made the acquaintance of

Mikhail Larionov Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov (; – May 10, 1964) was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Russian art. He was founding member of two important artistic groups Knave ...

and his followers. Under their influence, he worked in the Neo-Primitivist and, later, Rayonist styles. He was expelled from the school in 1909. In 1910, he joined the Oslini khvost circle (rus.: ''Ослиный хвост, eng.:'' Donkey's Tail; founded by Mikhail Larionov, producing a series of Rayonist works between 1913 and 1914 and writing two essays titled '''Neo-Primitivism: Its Theory and Its Capacities''' (1913) and '''Principles of Cubism and Other Trends of Modern Art, in which he delineated his view of modern painting as a combination of influences from Cézanne, Cubism, Futurism, and the popular forms of traditional art of the Russian Empire. After 1911, he took part in group exhibitions by the Soyuz Molodyozhi (Union of Youth) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and participated in the first Moscow Salon. In 1912, he joined a major show by the Donkey's Tail. The following year, Shevchenko published two works of art theory: '''Neo-primitivism, its Theory, its Possibilities, its Achievements''' and The Principles of Cubism and Other Trends in World Art of All Times and All People''.'Valentine Marcadé, ''Le Renouveau de l'art pictural russe 1863–1914'', L'Âge d'homme, Lausanne, 1971 In these works, he defends the spontaneity of the folk art of the Russian empire and the

lubok A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki''; ) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. ''Lubki'' prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early exampl ...

(a popular print style), and claims that it has "oriental" roots. From 1913 till 1921, he participated in the exhibitions organized by the magazine ''The World of Art'' 'Mir Iskusstva''">Mir_Iskusstva.html" ;"title="'Mir Iskusstva">'Mir Iskusstva'' For a brief period, he painted in the Cubo-Futurist style. He was called for service by the army in 1914, but was not mobilized until 1917, shortly before the October Revolution. After that, he was attached to the "Plastic Arts Section", established by the new

People's Commissariat for Education The People's Commissariat for Education (or Narkompros; , directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the Soviet agency charged with the administration of public education and most other issues related to culture. In 1 ...

(NARKOMPROS) and was assigned to their college in Moscow, where he helped to direct the contemporary art workshop. Later, he taught at Vkhutemas and, typical for that time, was a member of numerous government committees. In 1920, he was named to the Institute of Artistic Culture. Throughout the 1920s, he was a regular participant in state-sponsored exhibitions; notably the First Russian Art Exhibition in Berlin (1922). During the 1930s, he travelled to

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and

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, creating Orientalist works and gathering evidence for his theory on the origins of Russian art. The Tatar artist, Baqi Urmançe, was one of his students. After 1941, he headed the Department of Painting at the Moscow State Textile University. In his final years, he was accused of "Formalism", but was able to continue painting.

Selected works

File:Shevchenko-Lake.jpg, Landscape with a Lake File:Shevchenko Musicians.jpg, Musicians File:Shevchenko-Daughter.jpg, Portrait of the Artist's Daughter File:Alexander Shevchenko. Moscow outskirts. 1929.jpg, On the Outskirts of Moscow File:Shevchenko-Mirror.jpg, Portrait at the Mirror

References

Biography
@ Энциклопедия Кругосвет
Brief biography
@ Академик

External links

More works by Shevchenko
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Shevchenko, Aleksandr 1882 births 1948 deaths Neo-primitivism Soviet avant-garde Russian avant-garde Post-impressionist painters 20th-century Russian painters Ukrainian male painters Ukrainian male sculptors Russian male painters Académie Julian alumni 20th-century Russian male artists Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry alumni Mir iskusstva artists