Grishchenko Alexei

Still life with fruit 51x55 cm, oil on board, 1930

Alexey Vasilievich Grishchenko (1883-1977) – one of the most prominent artists and theorists of art, a representative of cubofuturism and primitivism in Russian art of the early XX century.

Impressed by the collection of paintings of the St. Petersburg Hermitage, young A. Grishchenko became interested in art as early as 17 years old. He was engaged in the workshop of the painter S.I. Svyatoslavsky in Kiev (since 1905), later – in the studios of K.F. Yuona and I.I. Mashkov in Moscow (from 19Yu-1911). Along with art education A. Grishchenko was a student of the philological faculty of St. Petersburg, Kiev and Moscow universities. In 1911, he traveled to Paris, where he became acquainted with contemporary trends in art. In 1912 and 1914 the artist traveled a lot around the country, traveled to the ancient cities of Russia, studying fresco painting, and in 1914 made a trip to Italy. In 1910, the artist exhibited his works at the exhibition of the new society of artists in St. Petersburg, took part in the Moscow Salon, then – in the exhibition “Jack of Diamonds” in Moscow, at the exhibition of modern painting (1913), participated in expositions of the Youth Union in ( 1913-1914), in the exhibition of leftist movements in art (1915).

Since the 1910s, success came to the artist not only as a painter, but also as an author of sharp polemical reports and articles on art. Since 1917, A. Grishchenko became a member of the World of Art association, took part in the exhibition of the association in December 1917. At the same time, the artist exhibited his work at the exhibition of the Free Creativity Society in Moscow, at the exhibition of contemporary painting and drawing in Petrograd. In 1919, together with A.V. Shevchenko organized the exhibition “Tsvetodinamos and Tectonic Primitivism” in Moscow, accompanying the catalog with theoretical articles and a manifesto. The artist was a member of the Council of the Professional Union of Moscow Artists and Painters, later in the Russian College of Museums and the Protection of Antiquities.

Since 1920, A. Grishchenko emigrated to Constantinople. During the years of emigration, the artist traveled extensively in Turkey and Greece, performing on trips many sketches, city scenes, architectural and sea landscapes, later published in Paris. In 1922, the artist moved to France, where until 1924 he lived in Paris, then in Cannes. In 1922 he organized a personal exhibition “Constantinople – Mystra” in the Marsan Gallery, which brought A. Grischenko not only great commercial success, but also fame in European art circles. In the 1930s – 1960s he continued to work and exhibit a lot. Retrospective exhibitions of the master’s works took place in Gothenburg, Lviv, Limoges, Paris, Strasbourg, New York and Toronto.

The artist’s early works were marked by an interest in the work of the Impressionists, later the painter was influenced by the Russian icon, lubok, Italian fresco painting, cubism and Fauvism. Later A. Grishchenko developed his own style, which he called “color dynamos.” Using mainly the techniques of expressionism, he again approached the interaction with nature: in work on the painting, he abandoned the previously drawn scheme, building the form solely according to the laws of color.

Grishchenko’s works are in many private and museum collections in Russia and abroad, in particular in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, and the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, Museum of New Art in Madrid, National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Royal Museums of Copenhagen and Brussels.

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