Vasily Chekrygin

Graphic artist, engraver, painter, teacher. Studied at the school of icon-painting at the Kiev Monastery of the Caves (1906–10) and at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1910–14; suspended following a scandal at an exhibition of student works). Illustrated the poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky (1913) and travelled round Europe (1914). Served in the Russian army during the First World War (1916). Taught at the Sokolniki House of Arts (1918) and a printing studio (1921). Influenced by Nikolai Fyodorov’s Philosophy of the Common Task, particularly his ideas of immortality and revival of the dead (1921), which formed the basis for his Resurrection cycle of drawings (1922). Founding member of the Makovets group (1922). Killed by a train at Mamontovka station near Moscow (1922).