ALEXANDER BOGOMAZOV 1880 – 1930

Alexander Bogomazov was a Ukrainian painter in the Russian Empire and USSR, known artist and modern art theoretician of the Russian Avant-garde.

In 1914, Alexander wrote his treatise The Art of Painting and the Elements. In it he analyzed the interaction between Object, Artist, Picture, and Spectator and sets the theoretical foundation of modern art. During his artistic life Alexander Bogomazov mastered several art styles. The most known are Cubo-Futurism (1913–1917) and Spectralism (1920–1930).

Alexander Bogomazov was born in Yampil, Kharkov Governorate. From 1902 to 1905, Bogomazov attended the Kiev Art School (KKHU), at the same time he had close contact with Alexander Archipenko and Alexandra Exter.

In 1906, he studied in the studio of S. Swiatoslavskiy and had an exhibition in Kiev, together with Archipenko. Same year he moved to Moscow and became the student of Fyodor Rerberg and Konstantin Yuon. In 1908, he participated in the exhibition with the group of artists Zveno (The Link) in Kiev together with David Burliuk, Vladimir Burliuk, Alexandra Exter and others.

From 1913 to 1914, he studied the works of the Italian Futurists. At this time he developed art theories, and published his essay The Art of Painting and the Elements. In 1914, he organized the exhibition Kiltse (“The Ring”) in Kiev, together with Alexandra Exter, Eugène Konopatzky among others.

In 1919, he taught at the First State Studio for Paintings and Decorative art in Kiev. From 1919 to 1920, he was the Head of the Department for Art Education in the Ukrainian Commissariat for Visual Art. From 1922 to 1930, he taught at the Kiev Art Academy (KKHI) together with Vadim Meller, Vladimir Tatlin, Victor Palmov. In 1927, he was a founding member of the Association of the Revolutionary Masters of Ukraine (ARMU), together with D.Burliuk, V.Meller, V.Palmov, V. Ermilov and others. In the same year, he participated in the All-Ukrainian Exhibition Ten years October (Kharkov, Kiev, Odessa), together with Tatlin, Meller, Palmov, Epshtein among others.

His works are in the leading museums of Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States.