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1887 - 1964

Alexander Archipenko

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A world-famous Ukrainian artist and sculptor, an outstanding representative of Cubism and Abstractionism in sculpture and painting, who worked in France, Germany and the USA.

Works of A. Arkhipenko turned over the established understanding of sculpture, showed the possibility of composing a single of various nonequivalent forms, using glass and wood, metal, fabrics and paper in one composition. The expressive constructivity and at the same time lyricism, extraordinary plasticity in the transmission of movement are the main qualities of the works of the artist and sculptor.

The works of Arkhipenko, highly appreciated by his contemporaries Picasso and Duchamp, Leger and Rodchenko, Delaunay and Gris, enjoyed constant attention, caused positive feedback in the press and monographs. The innovative artist held over one and a half hundred solo exhibitions; he had and has many followers and researchers.

The artist generously shared his extraordinary vision of visual creativity – his private studios in Paris, Berlin, various cities of America, as well as lectures and masterclasses with which he traveled around the cities, were attended by thousands of beginners and venerable sculptors and painters.

He never lost touch with his compatriots – he was a member of the Ukrainian Student Club in Paris, a member of the Ukrainian Community in Berlin; in the USA, he joined the Association of Ukrainian Artists, the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences, worked at the Ukrainian Institute of the USA. He created four busts of Taras Shevchenko (one is installed in the Park of Nationalities in Cleveland), portraits of I. Franko, Ukrainian public figures. In Soviet Ukraine, the name of Arkhipenko was not mentioned until the thaw of the 1960s; five works from the Lviv Museum were destroyed in the 1950s, as were twenty-two works from German museums in the 1930s.

Key ideas:

– His works of the earliest Parisian period were so original that some students went to Arkhipenko, although he came to France in search of a teacher. Being the first to use cubist techniques in sculpture, he began not to squeeze or sculpt compositions, but to compose them from geometric shapes.

– Most often, images of the master are conventional and abstract. He emphasized, “Since there is a photograph, resemblance is not necessary. I believe that the task of the artist is not to take pictures, but to create”.

– The artist said, “It is the absence of something that is the reason, the impulse of the motive of creation.” From these words, the reformist idea of emptiness was born as an expressive means – the absence of a face in the figure (simulated emptiness) attracts attention to it. The space inside the sculpture was used as a graphic element, equal in strength to the material details – this technique was later developed by Lipschitz and Moore and used by Picasso.

– The name of A. Arkhipenko is associated with the use of counter-volume in sculpture. Instead of curved lines, the master made transitions of concave surfaces limited by a thin contour. This had a special effect since light could slide and flow over concave elements, creating a new harmony of volumes.

– The combination of metal and fabrics, wood and plastic, cement and terracotta, glass and pearls, as well as complete household items, is inherent in the Arkhipenko’s style in collage sculpture. Now, in designs and sculptures, this seems common; however, the Ukrainian innovator was among the first to propose such a synthesis.

– The sculptor invented moving billboards, now familiar to everyone, in 1912, and embodied a complex mechanism that creates picturesque compositions using narrow coloured stripes in the USA, patenting “moving painting”.

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1887

1902

1906

1908

1910

1912

1920

1921

1923

1927

1933

1946

1952

1964

Alexander Archipenko was born into the family of an engineer-inventor

Alexander Archipenko was born into the family of an engineer-inventor, professor at the University of Kyiv; the grandfather of the future sculptor-innovator was an icon painter.

Entered the Kyiv Art College

Entered the Kyiv Art College to study painting, was expelled after three years for participating in a strike, and soon, with the support of his friend A. Bogomazov, organized the first exhibition of his works in his native city.

He continue his education at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

He did not continue his education at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture for a short time, was dissatisfied with the academic nature of the program and teaching methods, and visited some private schools-studios.

Moved to Paris

Moved to Paris, where he met with F. Leger and other Cubist artists, most of who lived in La Ruche, an international hostel for poor artists. A year later, he exhibited his sculptures at the Salon of Independents with A. Exter, Malevich, Picasso, Derain, Braque and others. Together with A. Modigliani, he visited museums, studying the traditions of Gothic and antiquity, Assyria, Egypt, but did not drown in classics like his friend – both created their unique styles.

Opened a workshop next to Picasso on Montparnasse

Opened a workshop next to Picasso on Montparnasse, participated in exhibitions in The Hague and Berlin, regularly (almost always twice a year) exhibited his works at Paris Salons. He worked with a group of Cubist artists and sculptors.

His first solo exhibition was held in Hagen

His first solo exhibition was held in Hagen (Germany); he became a member of the d’Or artists group. Opened his art school, limited his connections with Cubism because found it more formal than creative. He made a long trip presenting his works in Italy and Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic. The following year, he participated in the famous scandalous Arms exhibition in New York. During World War I, he lived in a suburb of Nice and created “sculptural and pictorial” works.

He brought 85 sculptures and drawings to the Venice Biennale

He brought 85 sculptures and drawings to the Venice Biennale, which Italian critics, not ready for such a reform, called “unpleasant orthopedic combinations”, and the Catholic patriarch forbade believers from visiting the vernissage because of “mockery of the human body”. Such criticism made Arkhipenko even more popular.

Married German woman A. Bruno-Schmitz

Married German woman A. Bruno-Schmitz, settled in Berlin, opened his school-studio. Arkhipenko’s show at the New York Museum of Modern Art was a resounding success, followed by monographs about the sculptor in many languages, including in Russian.

Emigrated to the United States

Emigrated to the United States, where the very next year he created the Peinture Changeante and Archipeinture series – moving paintings that preceded kinetic art. He began teaching: at various times he worked at 17 art schools in the United States, he founded three of them himself – in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

"Method for processing removable images"

The American Patent Office granted Arkhipenko a patent for the invention of the “method for processing removable images”. Together with the next patent for an apparatus for demonstrating them under the name “archipenture”, these inventions became the basis for the functioning of modern big boards. Soon he received American citizenship.

The Chicago World Exhibition

At the Ukrainian pavilion at the Chicago World Exhibition “One Hundred Years of Progress”, one of the halls contained 48 works by Arkhipenko, estimated at a fabulous price of 25 thousand dollars (the most expensive car cost only 1 thousand).

Organized the Summer School of the Arts in Birsville

Organized the Summer School of the Arts in Birsville, where he taught in parallel with teaching at the Institute of Design Chicago. The following year he completed his first carved plastic sculpture illuminated from the inside. To cut plastic, he designed a special machine in the American Bauhaus.

“Ma” was destroyed

His several works, including the wonderful sculpture “Ma”, which was in the National Museum of Lviv, were destroyed along with the works of Boychuk, Glushchenko and Trush as “formal”.