Untitled
Kliun Ivan (1873-1943)
περ. 1917 | 30.5 x 26 cm
Watercolor, ink and pencil on paper
Museum of Modern Art | Costakis Collection
CC-0174/I.Kliun-/75.78-204
Greek State purchase by the heirs of the Costakis family
ARTWORK DETAILS
Type: Drawing
Subject: Drawings and prints, Suprematism
ARTWORK DESCRIPTION
During the period 1916-1917, Kliun produced a series of compositions in which he made various combinations of geometric shapes in various colour scales, extending the boundaries of Suprematism. The emblem of Suprematism was Malevich's Black Square, which contained all shapes and colours. In this painting Ivan Kliun takes a black square and literally fills it with shapes and colours. A blue rectangle, a yellow and a smaller black circle, a green triangle and a pink ellipse make up this suprematist work. The shapes are transparent and flow into each other, affecting the contour and coloration of each shape.
CREATOR
The Kliunkov family lived in Ukraine (1881- 1892), where Ivan Vasilievich Kliun (Kliunkov) (Bolshiye Gorki, Porkoskii regim, Vladimir province, September 1st, 1873- Moscow, December 13th, 1943) worked as a bookkeeper at a sugar factory in Voronezh Province. During the years 1892-1893 he lived in Poland. In 1898 he returned to Moscow and started attending the School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Working as a bookkeeper he attended lessons at various studios, such as Fiodor Rerberg’s, where he met Malevich (1906). He participated in several exhibitions in Moscow, St.Petersburg, Orel and Kursk. From 1914 to 1916 he created a series of relieves and spatial sculptures. In 1915 he followed Malevich’s Suprematism. In 1915-1916 he participated in the major avant-garde exhibitions, including First Futurist Exhibition of Paintings: Tramway V and The Last Futurist Exhibition of Pictures: 0.10 in Petrograd as well as in The Store and in the sxhibition of the group “Jack of Diamonds”, both in Moscow. From 1918 onwards he was the director of the Central Exhibition Bureau of the People’s Commissariat for Enlightenment (IZO-NARKOMPROS). From 1918 to 1921 he taught painting at the Free State Art Studios (SVOMAS) and at the Higher State Art-Technical Studios (VKHUTEMAS). In 1920-1921 he joined the Institute of Artistic Culture (INKHUK). In 1919 he participated in the Fifth State Exhibition: From Impressionism to Non-objective Art and in the Tenth State Exhibition: Non-objective Creation and Suprematism in Moscow. During the 1920s and 1930s he created a series of still life paintings based on geometric forms and color relationships. In 1922 he participated in the First Russian Art Exhibition at the “Galerie van Diemen” in Berlin. In 1923-1930 he designed a series of Futurist publications and in 1925 he turned to Pourism. In 1936 he painted a monumental panel, entitled Life in the sea, for the vestibule of the All-Soviet Research Institute of Fishery and Oceanography.