Alexandra Exter

(Poland-France, 18/01/1882 - 17/03/1949)

Born in Białystok, then part of the Russian Empire, Exter came of age at a moment of radical artistic transformation. After graduating from Kyiv Art School in 1906 she travelled to Paris to study at the Grande Chaumière Academy where she moved fluidly across stylistic borders, becoming a crucial conduit between the artistic innovations of Western Europe and the emerging Modernism of Eastern Europe and Russia. 

In Paris, she encountered Cubism and Futurism first-hand, forming friendships and professional relationships with artists such as Amelia Peláez del Casal and Natalia Goncharova, which had a profound impact on her artistic output. Featuring fractured planes, dynamic rhythms and bold chromatic contrasts, her paintings from this period synthesise Cubist structure with the kinetic energy of Futurism, forming a highly personal idiom grounded in movement and colour. 

Returning to Russia in 1910, she participated in the first exhibition of the Jack of Diamonds group alongside Gabriele Münter, Marianne von Werefkin and Erma Bossi, after which time she became a central figure in Russian avant-garde circles while maintaining close ties with Paris, where she regularly travelled and exhibited.  

The circle of avant-garde artists she cultivated around her found a home in her Kyiv studio in 1918, and became an influential hub that attracted young artists eager to engage with international Modernism. It was here that she began experimenting with traditional craft techniques while collaborating with peasants in cooperatives, becoming one of the first to transpose avant-garde art to everyday objects, as well as the first to show an interest in children’s art. 

After returning to Moscow in 1921, she adopted many Constructivist theories, though without adhering to their rejection of easel painting, and, that same year, participated in the highly influential exhibition 5 x 5 = 25 and became a course Director at the Russian state art school in Moscow. 

Following the upheavals of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent civil war, Exter emigrated permanently to Paris in 1924 where she continued to producing art while teaching at the Académie d’Art Contemporain. Her influence on the avant-garde art world also led her to be heavily involved in the planning and organisation of the 14th Venice Biennale, held in 1914. 

Although her later years were marked by relative marginalisation and financial difficulty, her artistic vision remained uncompromising and, today, she is recognised as a key architect of international Modernism with an oeuvre that exemplifies the avant-garde ambition to unite art and the modern experience, and her legacy endures as a testament to the power of cross-cultural exchange and fearless experimentation.

Image: Alexandra Exter, Theatrical Composition (c.1925). Oil on canvas, 149 x 108.9 cm. Museum of Modern Art, U.S.A.