Alexander Kuprin

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer. Studied at the Voronezh Free School of Painting and Drawing opened by the Society of Lovers of the Arts (1896–1901), Lev Dmitriyev-Kavkazsky’s studio in St Petersburg (1902–04), Konstantin Juon and Ivan Dudin School of Painting and Drawing in Moscow (1904–06) and under Abram Arkhipov, Leonid Pasternak and Konstantin Korovin at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1906–10). Founding member and treasurer of the Knave of Diamonds (from 1910), member of Moscow Painters (from 1925) and the Society of Moscow Artists (from 1928). Travelled across Italy and France (1913–14). Taught at the Free Art Studios in Moscow (1918–20, assistant to Konstantin Korovin), Nizhny Novgorod and Sormovo (1920–22), VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN (1922–25), Moscow Textile Institute (1928–32) and Moscow School of Art and Industry (1946–52). Collaborated with Fyodor Bogorodsky on the sets and costumes for a production of Vasily Kamensky’s play Stepan Razin at the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre (1920). Visited the Crimea (1926–30, 1934–40) and Dnepropetrovsk (late 1920s and 1930s), sketched oil fields in Baku and coalmines in the Donbass (from 1926). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1908). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1908), Golden Fleece Salon (1909–10), Knave of Diamonds in Moscow (1910–11, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1916) and St Petersburg (1913), Union of Youth (1911), World of Art (1917, 1921), Moscow Painters (1925), Genesis (1926–27), Society of Moscow Artists (1928–32), Artists of the RSFSR Over Fifteen Years (1933), exhibitions of Russian and Soviet art in Berlin (1922, 1949), United States (1929), Königsberg (1932), Copenhagen (1933), Dresden (1949), Budapest (1949) and India (1952), Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris (1937) and the international exhibitions in Venice (1924, 1928, 1934), United States and Canada (1924–25) and the United States (1934–35). One-man shows in Moscow (1934, 1948, with Grigory Kepinov; 1957, with Georgy Motovilov). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1956), correspondent member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1954).