Alexander Archipenko
(1887-1946)

Alexander Archipenko was a pioneer Modernist, innovator and teacher who began his studies at the Kiev Artist Institute in 1902. Archipenko lived and exhibited in Moscow before he moved to Paris in 1908. While in Paris he attended the Ecole Des Beaux Arts and worked with Modigliani and Henri Gaudier. He became associated with the Passey Group of Cubists around this time, who included Leger and Duchamp. In 1912 Archipenko created “Medrano I”, his first multi-media sculpture with wood, glass and wire. He elaborated on this idea with his “sculpto-paintings” which were reliefs made from carved and painted plaster.

Archipenko emigrated to the U.S. in 1921. Upon his arrival he opened the Archipenko Guild School in New York and devoted much of his time to teaching there. In the mid ‘30s (1935-37) Archipenko opened a second art school in Los Angeles. His artwork contributed greatly to the shift between two and three-dimensional work of this period, paving the way for artists like Robert Rauchsenberg. Archipenko died in 1946.