KOLTSOVA-BYCHKOVA Alexandra Grigorievna

April 24, 1892 (Moscow) — April 8, 1985 (Moscow)

Painter, graphic artist, scene-designer, master of decorative and applied arts

Alexandra Grigorievna Bychkova was born to a poor family. She finished vocational trade school. In 1912–1916 she studied at the Stroganov School of Industrial Art under P. P. Pashkov, in 1918–1920 — at the First State Free art studios under A.A. Osmerkin, in 1920–1921 — at the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) under A. A. Vesnin, L. S. Popova and N. P. Ulyanov. At the same time she attended lessons at the Filmmakers’ school under Photo and Cinema department at the National commissariat of education (Narkompros); graduated in 1919. Since that year she began to participate in the exhibitions.

Bychkova lived in Moscow. In 1922 she worked as a scene-designer at the Children’s Puppet Theatre under the P. Alekseev People’s House. In 1920s she was engaged mainly in decorative and applied arts. In 1924–1926 Bychkova headed the Art Embroidery Workshop. In 1926 she married sculptor S.V. Koltsov.

In 1927 Koltsova–Bychkova received an order from the Central Committee of the USSR Miners Union to create twelve theatrical curtains in technique of application for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution and five banners for Palaces of Culture in Donbass, the Northern Caucasus, Kazakhstan and Sweden.

In 1928 Koltsova–Bychkova together with her husband was sent on the instructions of Narkompros on a trip to Paris in order to gather material for creative work. In 1929 personal exhibition of the artist was held in the gallery Hirondelle. She exhibited her woks at the Salon of Independents, the Autumn Salon and the Salon of scene-designers. Koltsova-Bychkova worked predominantly in the industrial graphic art: she designed labels, advertising posters and trade marks. She collaborated with Pascal printing-house; Gallimard, Calvas publishing houses; magazine Le Jordin des Modes. She received a lot of orders from well-known industrial companies in France and Germany; in particular she created drawings for the firm Oppenheimer and sportswear designs for the house Hermès. At the same time she was engaged in easel painting and graphic art, created a series Paris, in which she depicted everyday situations and character types.

After returning to the Soviet Union in 1932, Koltsova-Bychkova left decorative and applied arts and concentrated on painting. She painted landscapes and still lifes. In 1939 she participated in group exhibition at the Directorate of Writers’ Club in Moscow. In 1940 personal exhibition of the artist was held in Moscow.

In 2008 the exhibition of Koltsova-Bychkova’s works was held at the gallery Ulei (“La Ruche”) in Moscow.

Works by Alexandra Koltsova-Bychkova are in several museums and private collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and the All-Russia Museum of Decorative–Applied and Folk Art.