Aleksandra Ekster
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 Aleksandra Ekster, c.1912 | |
| Born |
January 6, 1882 Białystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (now Poland) |
|---|---|
| Died |
March 17, 1949 (aged 67) Fontenay-aux-Roses, near Paris, France |
| Web | Wikipedia |
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster (Russian: Александра Александровна Экстер, Ukrainian: Олександра Олександрівна Екстер; 1882–1949), also known as Alexandra Exter, was a Cubo-Futurist, Suprematist, Constructivist painter and designer.
Aleksandra Ekster in front of Nadezhda Udaltsova's paintings at the exhibition The Store, Moscow, 1916. Among the works visible are Restaurant and Violin.
Ekster (seated in center) and her students in Kyiv, 1918-19, in front of a panel painting by Pavel Tchelitchew, who is seated next to Ekster.
Chronology[edit]
- 1882 born to a wealthy Belarusian family.
- 1892-99 attends the St. Olga Women's Gymnasium in Kyiv.
- 1898 moves with her parents to Kyiv.
- 1901-03 attends the Kyiv Art Institute.
- 1904 marries her cousin, Nikolai Ekster, a lawyer.
- 1906-08 reenrolls in the Kyiv Art Institute.
- 1908 begins visiting Paris and other European cities.
- 1908 takes part in several Kyiv exhibitions, including the avant-garde show The Link; produces her first book illustrations.
- 1909-14 travels and lives abroad frequently; becomes acquainted with Apollinaire, Braque, Picasso, Soffici, and many other members of the international avant-garde.
- 1910 contributes to The Triangle and Union of Youth exhibitions in St. Petersburg.
- 1910-11 contributes to the first Jack of Diamonds exhibition in Moscow.
- 1912-13 moves to St. Petersburg; continues to contribute to major exhibitions. 1913-14 lives mainly in France.
- 1915 influenced by Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin, begins to investigate non-objective painting.
- 1915-16 contributes to the exhibitions Tramway V and The Store.
- 1916-17 begins her professional theater work with designs for Thamira Khytharedes in 1916 and Salomé in 1917, both produced by Alexander Tairov at the Chamber Theater, Moscow.
- 1918 Nikolai Ekster dies.
- 1918-19 opens her own studio in Kyiv, among her students are many artists who later achieve success, such as Isaak Rabinovich, Pavel Tchelitchew, and Alexander Tyshler.
- 1918-20 works intermittently in Odessa as a teacher and stage designer.
- 1920 moves to Moscow; marries Georgii Nekrasov, an actor; works at the Theater of the People's House.
- 1921 contributes to the exhibition 5x5=25 in Moscow.
- 1921-22 teaches at VkHUTEMAS; contributes to First Russian Art Exhibition in Berlin, which travels to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam the following spring.
- 1923 turns to textile and fashion design for the Atelier of Fashions in Moscow; is a member of the design team for the Izvestiia Pavilion at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow; begins work on the costumes for Yakov Protazanov's movie Aelita.
- 1924 emigrates to Paris; contributes to the Venice Biennale; works for Russian ballet companies with Léon Zack and Pavel Tchelitchew; teaches at Fernand Léger's Académie Moderne.
- 1925 contributes to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris; continues to work on stage design and interior design (which she will do throughout the 1920s and 1930s): designs costumes for seven ballets performed by Bronislava Nijinska's Théatre Choréographique.
- 1927 exhibition at Der Sturm, Berlin.
- 1929 exhibition at Galerie des Quatre Chemins, Paris.
- 1936 illustrates several elegant children's books, beginning with her own Mon Jardin (1936).
- 1937 exhibition at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris.
- 1949 dies in Paris.
Catalogues[edit]
- Exter, Goncharova, Popova, Rozanova, Stepanova, Udaltsova: Amazons of the Avant-Garde, eds. John E. Bowlt and Matthew Drutt, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2000. (English)
Literature[edit]
- Miuda Yablonskaya, "Alexandra Exter", in Yablonskaya, Women Artists of Russia's New Age, 1900-1935, trans. Anthony Parton, New York: Rizzoli, 1990, pp 117-140. (English)
- Ian Christie, "Down to Earth: Aelita Relocated", in Inside the Film Factory: New Approaches to Russian and Soviet Cinema, eds. Richard Taylor and Ian Christie, Routledge, 1991, 81-102, n227-232. (English)
- Georgii Kovalenko (Георгий Ф. Коваленко), Aleksandra Ekster. Put khudozhnika. Khudozhnik i vremya [Александра Экстер: Путь художника. Художник и время], Moscow: Galart, 1993, 287 pp. (Russian)
- Georgii Kovalenko, "Alexandra Exter", in Amazons of the Avant-Garde, eds. John E. Bowlt and Matthew Drutt, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2000, pp 130-154. (English)
- Georgii Kovalenko (Георгий Ф. Коваленко), Aleksandra Ekster / Alexandra Exter [Александра Экстер], 2 vols., Moscow, 2010, 303 & 361 pp. (Russian)/(English)
