Alexandr ARCHIPENKO

Cultural Program – UKRAINIAN-AMERICAN SCULPTOR  Alexandr ARCHIPENKO

Today’s session of the Gabfest speaking Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the complicated topic – the art of sculpture. It was decided to introduced to the club members the works of a Ukrainian born sculptor Aleksandr Archipenko.

The slide show of his world known works started the topic. We have explored the web site of the Archipenko Foundation in the USA and translated some of his quotes.

After studying in Kiev, in 1908 Archipenko briefly attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but he quickly abandoned formal studies to become part of more radical circles, especially the Cubist movement. He began to explore the interplay between interlocking voids and solids and between convex and concave surfaces, forming a sculptural equivalent to Cubist paintings’ overlapping planes and, in the process, revolutionizing modern sculpture. As he developed his style, Archipenko achieved an incredible sense of vitality out of minimal means: in works such as Boxing Match (1913), he conveyed the raw, brutal energy of the sport in nonrepresentational, machinelike cubic and ovoid forms. About 1912, inspired by the Cubist collages by other artists Archipenko introduced the concept of collage in sculpture in his famous Medrano series, depictions of circus figures in multicolored glass, wood, and metal that defy traditional use of materials and definitions of sculpture.  During that same period he further defied tradition in his “sculpto-paintings,” works in which he introduced painted color to the intersecting planes of his sculpture. He worked as an art teacher for the rest of his life in New York City.

The second part of the session was dedicated to the introduction ritual of the newcomers. Among them were 2 girls who told about their participation in the FLEX exchange program for high school students. We hope for the fruitful cooperation with these girls with wonderful American English.

Participants - 18 persons.