Alexander Archipenko

The Russian-American sculptor and teacher Alexan der Archipenko (1887-1964) was an innovator in translating the elements of cubist painting into sculptural form.

Alexander Archipenko was born in the Ukrainian city of Kiev. His father was professor of engineering at the University of Kiev, and his grandfather painted murals for churches. From 1902 to 1905 young Archipenko studied at the art school in his hometown. He was expelled for his rebellious nature: he had criticized his instructors for being too conservative. After working and exhibiting in Moscow for 2 years, he left for Paris at the age of 20 and entered the école des Beaux-Arts. Archipenko stayed there for only 2 weeks, as he found it more profitable to work on his own and to learn from other artists. He set up a studio near Fernand Léger's and through him came to know Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Archipenko shared with them an enthusiasm for primitive art, and from them he learned about cubism.

By 1909 Archipenko began to realize his cubist style. This first phase of his development displays no indecision or immaturity. His Black Seated Torso (1909) is a fine example of this period. During the next 3 years his style became fully developed, so much so that all his later sculpture tended to be variations of the forms of this period.

Archipenko favored the human female figure, but only as a convention. He interpreted it freely in abstract forms that featured convex and concave characteristics. From the beginning he liked to fuse mass and space in lyrical, rhythmic interplay so as to suggest movement. It has been said that he was influenced by the Italian futurists, notably Umberto Boccioni, whom he knew, but this seems unlikely because Archipenko never adopted the aggressively strident rhythms of the Italians.

In 1912 Archipenko made a number of figures inspired by the circus, his Médrano series. These assemblages of various materials such as wood, wire, glass, and mirror are in a quasi-cubist manner. They led to his "sculpto-paintings," in which he combined relief and polychromy. In these and other works he continued to open up voids within the solid mass of the figure, and he also juxtaposed arabesques against a static, frontal plane.

Archipenko received recognition early in his career, especially in Germany. He had his first one-man show at the Hagen Muμseum in Berlin in 1912. By 1953 he had been given exactly 100 one-man shows.

Archipenko's career as a teacher also began early. In 1912 he established an art school in Paris and soon opened a branch in Berlin. In 1923 he moved to the United States and became an American citizen. He founded the école d'Art in New York City and opened a summer art school in Woodstock, N.Y. He also taught at the Institute of Design in Chicago and numerous American universities. In 1962 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

It is generally agreed that Archipenko did his best work between 1910 and 1920. He was so dexterous that much of his sculpture appears facile. This is particularly true of his later work, in which he often appears to be straining for novelty and effect. For instance, in 1924 he started using motors to cause parts of the sculpture to move; he called this genre "Archipentura." His later sculpture is more complicated and decorative, and he seems to have been distracted by superficialities such as color. Archipenko revealed the extent of his virtuosity when, in the mid-1920s, he executed busts of Fritz Wickerts and Wilhelm Furtwängler in a somewhat naturalistic manner in order to capture a likeness. Archipenko continued work up to the time of his death in New York City on Feb. 2, 1964.

Further Reading

The only recent work on Archipenko is Archipenko: Fifty Creative Years, 1908-1958 (1960). It contains an autobiographical sketch and essays and statements by 50 art historians. For background, plates, and commentary see C. Giedion-Welcker, Contemporary Sculpture: An Evolution in Volume and Space (1955; rev. ed. 1961), and Michel Seuphor, The Sculpture of This Century (trans. 1960).

Additional Sources

Nagy, Ildiako., Archipenko, Budapest: Corvina, 1980. □

Archipenko, Alexander (1887–1964). Russian-born sculptor who became an American citizen in 1928. He studied at the art school in his native Kiev from 1902 to 1905, when he was expelled for criticizing the academic attitudes of his teachers. In 1906 he moved to Moscow and in 1908 to Paris, where he left the École des Beaux-Arts after two weeks' study, again showing his impatience of discipline. Instead, he studied ancient and medieval sculpture in the Louvre, and some of the work of his early years in Paris (mainly female figures) is in a primitivistic manner recalling Egyptian art. In about 1910, however, he was introduced to Cubism by Léger (whose studio was near his own) and he became one of the outstanding sculptors of the movement. In works such as the bronze Walking Woman (Denver Art Museum, 1912) he analysed the human figure into geometrical forms and opened it up with concavities and a central hole to create a contrast of solid and void, thus ushering in a new sculptural idiom: George Heard Hamilton writes that ‘This is the first instance in modern sculpture of the use of a hole to signify more than a void, in fact the opposite of a void, because by recalling the original volume the hole acquires a shape and structure of its own'. In the same year, with Médrano I (destroyed), Archipenko began making sculptures that were assembled from pieces of commonplace materials, parallelling the work of Picasso; Médrano II (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1913) is made of painted tin, wood, glass, and painted oilcloth. (Médrano was the name of a circus in Paris much frequented by artists; these two figures represented performers there.)

Archipenko quickly built up a reputation in France and elsewhere, particularly in Germany. In 1912 he had a one-man exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in Hagen and in 1913 one at the Sturm Gallery in Berlin; also in 1913 his work was included in the Armory Show in New York. His rise to international prominence was interrupted by the First World War, during which he lived in Cimiez, a suburb of Nice; his work of this period included a number of sculpto-paintings, a type of work he created in which forms project from and develop a painted background. After the war he soon relaunched his career, organizing an exhibition of his work that toured widely in Europe in 1919–21 (Athens, Brussels, Geneva, London, Munich, among several other cities). He also exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1920, on which occasion his work was condemned by a Venetian cardinal. His first one-man show in the USA was given by the Société Anonyme in New York in 1921. At this time he was undoubtedly the best known and most influential of all Cubist sculptors.

From 1921 to 1923 Archipenko lived in Berlin, where he ran an art school, then emigrated to the USA. He lived, worked, and taught in various places, but chiefly in New York, where he directed his own school of sculpture from 1939 until his death. The work he did in America did not compare in quality or historical importance with that of his European period, but he continued to be highly inventive. In 1924, for example, he invented the Archipentura (a kind of Kinetic painting), and after the Second World War he experimented with ‘light’ sculptures, making structures of plastic lit from within. His work was influential in both Europe and America, notably in the revival of polychromy, in the use of new materials, and in pointing the way from the sculpture of solid form towards one of space and light.

Archipenko, Alexander (b Kiev, 30 May 1887; d New York, 25 Feb. 1964). Russian-born sculptor who became an American citizen in 1928. In 1908 he moved from Moscow to Paris, where he was introduced to Cubism by Léger and became one of the outstanding sculptors of the movement. In works such as the bronze Walking Woman (1912, Denver Art Mus.), he analysed the human figure into geometrical forms and opened parts of it up with concavities and a central hole to create a contrast of solid and void, issuing in a new idiom in modern sculpture. At about the same time he began making sculptures that were assembled from pieces of commonplace materials, paralleling the work of Picasso. Archipenko quickly built up a reputation in France and elsewhere (especially Germany), and although his career was interrupted by the First World War, he vigorously relaunched it afterwards, and by the time of his first one-man show in the USA (given by the Société Anonyme in 1921) he was the best known and most influential of all Cubist sculptors. In 1921–3 he lived in Berlin, then settled in the USA. He taught in various places, but principally in New York, where he ran his own school of sculpture from 1939 until his death. The work he produced in America did not compare in quality or historical importance with that of his European period, but he continued to be imaginative and technically resourceful. In 1924, for example, he invented the Archipentura (a kind of Kinetic painting), and after the Second World War he experimented with ‘light’ sculptures, making structures of plastic lit from within. His work was influential in both Europe and America, notably in the revival of polychromy, in the use of new materials, and in pointing the way from a sculpture of solid form towards one of space and light.

Archipenko, Alexander (1887–1964). Russian-born sculptor who became an American citizen in 1928. In 1908 he moved from Moscow to Paris, where he was introduced to Cubism by Léger and became one of the outstanding sculptors of the movement. In works such as the bronze Walking Woman (1912, Denver Art Mus.), he analysed the human figure into geometrical forms and opened parts of it up with concavities and a central hole to create a contrast of solid and void, issuing in a new idiom in modern sculpture. At about the same time he began making sculptures that were assembled from pieces of commonplace materials, paralleling the work of Picasso. Archipenko quickly built up a reputation in France and elsewhere (especially Germany), and although his career was interrupted by the First World War, he vigorously relaunched it afterwards, and by the time of his first one-man show in the USA (given by the Société Anonyme in 1921) he was undoubtedly the best known and most influential of all Cubist sculptors. In 1921–3 he lived in Berlin, then settled in the USA. He taught in various places, but principally in New York, where he ran his own school of sculpture from 1939 until his death. The work he produced in America did not compare in quality or historical importance with that of his European period, but he continued to be imaginative and technically resourceful. In 1924, for example, he invented the Archipentura (a kind of Kinetic painting), and after the Second World War he experimented with ‘light’ sculptures, making structures of plastic lit from within. His work was influential in both Europe and America, notably in the revival of polychromy, in the use of new materials, and in pointing the way from a sculpture of solid form towards one of space and light.

Archipenko, Alexander (1887–1964) Russian-US modernist sculptor, one of the most radical innovators of his day. Largely self-taught, Archipenko helped to introduce the idea of making space an integral element of sculpture, as in the cubist Walking Woman (1912). He also developed a form of sculpture using light. He took part in the Armory Show (1913) and opened a sculpture school in New York in the late 1930s. His work influenced Gabo and Henry Moore.