Aleksandra Ekster

Aleksandra Ekster was a Russian and French painter and designer, who was one of the most prominent figures of the Russian avant-garde movement. She was born in 1882 in Białystok, then part of the Russian Empire, to a wealthy Belarusian family. She received a private education in languages, music and art, and studied at the Kiev Art School with Alexander Bogomazov and Alexander Archipenko. She moved to Paris in 1908, where she met Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Guillaume Apollinaire, and became influenced by cubism and futurism. She participated in various exhibitions, such as the Salon de la Section d'Or, the Salon des Indépendants and the 1913 Armory Show in New York. She also collaborated with other avant-garde artists, such as Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger and Kazimir Malevich. She experimented with different media and techniques, such as painting, collage, textile, ceramics, theatre and film. She was one of the pioneers of abstract art, creating non-objective compositions of geometric forms and vibrant colours. She also designed costumes and sets for several theatrical productions, such as the ballets Romeo and Juliet (1920) and Salome (1922), and the opera Victory over the Sun (1923). She was also involved in the art deco movement, creating elegant and stylized designs for fashion, furniture and interiors. She moved to France permanently in 1924, and became a French citizen in 1930. She continued to work and exhibit until her death in 1949 from cancer. She is regarded as one of the most original and influential Russian modernist artists of the 20th century.