KLYUN (real surname Klyunkov) Ivan Vasilyevich

August 20 (September 1), 1873 (Bolshie Gorki, Vladimir province) — December 13, 1943 (Moscow)

Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, art historian

Ivan Klyun was born to a family of woodworker. In 1881 the family moved to Ukraine. In 1890s Klyun together with his father worked at the sugar mill in Ramon, later he lived with his uncle in Lomza (the Kingdom of Poland in Russian Empire). He worked as a bookkeeper, and at the same time he studied painting in the Drawing School under the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in Warsaw (1896).

Since 1898 Klyun lived in Moscow; till 1908 he visited the art studios of V. Fisher, I. I. Mashkov and F. I. Rerberg, where he studied watercolour. The artist started his career as a painter of impressionistic landscapes and still lifes. In 1907 Klyun met K. S. Malevich, who exerted great influence on the artist. Malevich acquainted Klyun with the circle of founders of Russian avant-garde, directed his attention to cubo-futurism, and later — to suprematism.

Since that time Klyun took active part in art life of futuristic Moscow. In 1910 Klyun was on friendly terms with the members of the Union of Youth; he participated in the exhibitions of the Union. The artist was one of the founders of Moscow Salon, in 1915 — one of the authors of suprematist lampoon for the exhibition 0,10. He created illustrations for the booklet Secret Vices of the Academicians by A. E. Kruchenykh, and published his essay Primitives of the 20th Century in this booklet. In 1916 Klyun joined the group Supremus founded by K. S. Malevich, and the groups Tramway V, Magazin (“Shop”), and Bubnovy Valet (“Jack of Diamonds”).

Klyun had to combine work in bookkeeping with studies of painting in order to provide for his family. Bookkeeping required seriousness, strong character, personal organization and analytic abilities (all these features were characteristic for him); the artist succeeded to combine this work with his passion for avant-garde art. In order to avoid hardship at work, the artist signed his paintings with a pseudonym, so he lived under two surnames: Klyunkov and Klyun.

The most significant artist’s works of that period were Portrait of Malevich (1912), Ozonizer, Gramophone (both — 1914), Flying sculpture, Suprematism (both — 1915), Musician (1916) and others. Klyun was under the influence of art nouveau and early avant-garde; finally he formed his art manner in cubism with elements of poetic absurdity (or recondite poetry), e. g. the series Sawyer Head, 1914–1915.

In 1913 Klyun created new type of artworks — collapsible constructions from wood, metal, glass and other different stuff, so-called sculpture-pictures or picto-reliefs. A good example of such sculpture is the artist’s Flying landscape (1913), where dynamic forms are rhythmically organized in compositional structure.

A lot of researchers noted that cubism by Klyun was more conventional then by Malevich. Cubism by Klyun is more aesthetic; his painting manner is full of freedom, play of light and shadow, irrational forms, colour lines and spots. Compositions by Klyun are always thoroughly constructed and well arranged. The main motifs of his paintings were household devices and the dishes (ozonizer, gramophone, jug). Alternation of round and rectangular forms, rhythm of transparent planes like rays creates sensation of logical harmony. In contrast to Malevich, who considered possibility of alogisms in cubism, Klyun found first of all logic in it.

After the revolution Klyun was engaged in organizational activities. In 1918 he worked in the Department of Fine Arts of National commissariat of education (Narkompros) and taught in the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS); in 1920–1922 he worked in the Institute of Art Culture (Inkhuk) and in the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences (RAKhN). Klyun collaborated with the Society of Easel Artists (OST) and the society Four Arts.

At the same time Klyun created a lot of paintings and wrote theoretic articles. In 1918 Klyun quarrelled with K. S. Malevich and left suprematism, but he continued developing principles of non-figurative painting: picture as a pure art experiment but not a technical project.

Klyun together with A. V. Lentulov performed agitation design for the Theatre square Moscow. In 1923 he designed the book Word Texture. Declaration by A. E. Kruchenykh. In 1920s–1930s Klyun created a lot of works in the traditions of abstract art: Scarlet Overcolour (1919), Suprematism (1921), Work on the principles of light and colour (1925), Portrait of A. E. Kruchenykh (1926), Electrification (wood, metal, glass; 1926), Construction on the principle of movement (1933).

In the mid-1920s Klyun was almost the only representative of the Purism in Russian painting. His still life compositions were characterized by light and rhythmic constructions, straight geometric forms and lines, decorative silhouettes, without any ideological nuances or pretentious modernity.

However such still lifes (realistic and traditionally figurative) condemned Klyun to isolation in Soviet art at the end of 1930s. In 1938 Klyun was excluded from the All-Russian co-operative society Vsekokhudozhnik ("Artist"), and he had to earn his living by small orders (a series of drawings at the album Flaws of wood for the Forestry Institute).

There is very few works by Ivan Klyun in the museums and private collections, most of them are in different collections in Russia, Europe and America. The Klyun’s chamber avant-garde art shows the tragic way of abstract art in Russia in the first half of the 20th century.