Alexander Archipenko
(Alexander Porfirievich Archipenko; Kiev, 1887-New York, 1964) Russian sculptor, pioneer of cubist sculpture.An emigrant from Ukraine, Alexander Archipenko arrived in Paris in 1908 attracted by the works of Picasso and Braque, and a year later he exhibited his first cubist sculpture, Torso , at the Autumn Salon.
The dance (1912), by Alexander Archipenko
"Sculpture, Archipenko stated," can begin at the point where space it is surrounded by matter." This statement came true in the successive game of concave and convex shapes, as an alternation between hollow and volume, with which he built structures such as Woman walking (1912, The Denver Art Musem) or El boxing match (1913, Perls Galleries Collection, New York), in which he inverted the traditional concept of sculpture, making space emerge as a negative of the mass and creating a dynamic of rhythms and contrasts.
His "sculptural paintings" preluded Dadaist assemblages and demonstrated his interest in blurring the boundaries between disciplines, although Archipenko primarily prioritized sculptural research.Established in the United States, he was a professor at the University of Washington, at the New Bauhaus in Chicago and in New York.The sculptures from his famous "Medrano" series, a combination of wood, metal and glass, are good examples of his work.
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