Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr;
Ukrainian: Олександр Порфирович Архипенко,
romanized: Oleksandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; May 30 [
O.S. May 18] 1887 – February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian-American
avant-gardeartist,
sculptor, and
graphic artist, active in France and the United States.[1][2][3][4] He was one of the first to apply the principles of
Cubism to architecture, analyzing human figure into geometrical forms.[5]
Biography
Alexander Archipenko was born in
Kyiv (
Russian Empire, now
Ukraine) in 1887, to Porfiry Antonowych Archipenko and Poroskowia Vassylivna Machowa Archipenko; he was the younger brother of
Eugene Archipenko.
From 1902 to 1905 he attended the
Kyiv Art School (KKhU). In 1906 he continued his education in the arts at
Serhiy Svetoslavsky (Kyiv), and later that year had an exhibition there with
Alexander Bogomazov. He then moved to
Moscow where he had a chance to exhibit his work in some group shows.
In 1912, Archipenko had his first personal exhibition at the
Museum Folkwang at
Hagen in
Germany, and from 1912 to 1914 he was teaching at his own Art School in
Paris.
Archipenko moved to
Nice in 1914. In 1920 he participated in Twelfth Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte di Venezia in
Italy and started his own Art school in
Berlin the following year. In 1922 Archipenko participated in the First Russian Art Exhibition in the
Gallery van Diemen in Berlin together with Aleksandra Ekster, Kazimir Malevich,
Solomon Nikritin,
El Lissitzky and others.
In 1923, he emigrated to the United States.[6] He became a US citizen in 1929. In 1933 he exhibited at the Ukrainian pavilion in
Chicago as part of the
Century of Progress World's Fair. Alexander Archipenko contributed the most to the success of the Ukrainian pavilion. His works occupied one room and were valued at $25,000 dollars.[9]
In 1936 Archipenko participated in an exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art in
New York as well as numerous exhibitions across
Europe and other places in the U.S. He was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1962.[10]
Alexander Archipenko died on February 25, 1964, in New York City.[6] He is interred at
Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
Contribution to art
Archipenko, along with the French-Hungarian sculptor
Joseph Csaky, exhibited at the first public manifestations of
Cubism in Paris; the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d'Automne, 1910 and 1911, being the first, after Picasso,[11] to employ the Cubist style in three dimensions.[6][12] Archipenko departed from the
neo-classical sculpture of his time, using faceted planes and
negative space to create a new way of looking at the human figure, showing a number of views of the subject simultaneously. He is known for introducing sculptural voids, and for his inventive mixing of genres throughout his career: devising 'sculpto-paintings', and later experimenting with materials such as clear
acrylic and
terra cotta. Inspired by the works of Picasso and Braque, he is also credited for introducing the collage to wider audiences with his Medrano series.[13][14]
The sculptor
Ann Weaver Norton apprenticed with Archipenko for a number of years.[15]
Public collections
Among the public collections holding works by Alexander Archipenko are:
Archipenko's 14.5-foot (4.4 m) tall
cubist statue of
King Solomon is installed at the
University of Pennsylvania campus. Archipenko began work on a smaller prototype of the statue in 1964, but died before the work was finished, leaving his wife to oversee its completion. The full-sized statue was completed in 1968 and was donated to the university in 1985.[17]
Commemoration and Legacy
During his lifetime Arkhipenko maintained close ties with the Ukrainian community in the USA, participating in the creation of monuments to Shevchenko, Frank and Prince Volodymyr on American soil.[18]
A street in the
Obolonskyi District of
Kyiv and a street in the Sofiivka area of
Lviv are named in his honour.
On May 30, 2017, Ukraine celebrated the 130 years since the birth of Oleksandr Arkhipenko.[19]
On November 9, 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine circulated a 2-
hryvnia commemorative coin dedicated to the artist. His portrait is depicted on the reverse of the coin.[20]
Gallery
Le baiser (The Kiss), 1910
Portrait de Mme Kameneff
Venus, 1910–11
L'Héros (The Hero), ca.1912
Femme Marchant (Woman Walking), 1912
Dancers (Der Tanz), 1912, original plaster, 24 in. This first version of Dancers was illustrated on the front cover of The Sketch, 29 October 1913, London
^P. Lagasse, & Columbia University.
"Archipenko, Alexander". The Columbia Encyclopedia (8th ed.). Columbia University Press. Retrieved 2023-02-16. Ukrainian-American sculptor
^Oxford illustrated encyclopedia. Judge, Harry George., Toyne, Anthony. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. 1985–1993. p. 21.
ISBN0-19-869129-7.
OCLC11814265.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (
link)