Ivan Puni

Ivan Puni was born in Kuokkala (then Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, now Repino in Russia) to a family of Italian origins.[5] He was the grandson of an eminent Italian composer of ballet music, Cesare Pugni. His father, a cellist, insisted that he follow a military career, but Ivan instead decided to take private drawing lessons with Ilya Repin. By 1909, he had his own studio.[1]

Puni continued his formal training in Paris in 1910–11 at the Académie Julien and other schools, where he painted in a derivative fauviste style. Upon his return to Russia in 1912, he married fellow artist Kseniya Boguslavskaya, and met, and exhibited with, members of the St Petersburg avant-garde, including Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin.[1] He made a second trip to Paris in 1914, returning to St. Petersburg in 1915. At this point, he began painting in a Cubist style reminiscent of Juan Gris. In 1915, Puni, (Aleksandra Ekster, Liubov Popova, Ivan Kliun, Ksenia Boguslavskaya, Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Nina Genke and others) formed Supremus, a group of artists dedicated to the promulgation of Suprematism, the abstract art movement founded by Malevich, and first exhibited at the 0,10 Exhibition. Malevich and Puni co-authored the Suprematist Manifesto, published in 1916, which proclaimed a new, abstract art for a new historical era.

Puni also organized the exhibitions Tramway 5 and 0.10, both held in St Petersburg in 1915, in which Malevich, Tatlin, Popova and others participated, and to which Puni contributed constructions, readymades, and paintings.[1] In 1915-1916 Puni, together with other Suprematist artists, worked at Verbovka Village Folk Centre. In 1919, he taught at the Vitebsk Art School under Marc Chagall.[1]

Puni and his wife, Kseniya Boguslavskaya, emigrated from Russia in 1919, first to Finland, then in 1920 to Berlin,[1] where the first exhibition consisting entirely of his work was held at the Galerie der Sturm. While in Berlin, Puni also designed costumes and sets for theatrical productions, and published a book criticising Suprematism.[1]

Puni and Boguslavskaya relocated to Paris in 1924,[1] where his style changed once again to a variant of Impressionism. In France, he signed his work as "Jean Pougny", in an effort to distance his new art practice from his previous one in Russia. In 1946, Puni/Pougny became a French citizen. He died in Paris in 1956.

• Berlinische Galerie, Museumspädagogischer Dienst Berlin (Hrsg.): Iwan Puni. Synthetischer Musiker. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-87584-438-6
• Herman Berninger: Pougny. Jean Pougny (Iwan Puni) 1892–1956. Catalogue de l’Œuvre. E. Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen 1972, ISBN 3-8030-3000-5
• Magdalena Nieslony: Bedingtheit der Malerei. Ivan Puni und die moderne Bildkritik. Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-7861-2764-2
• Herman Berninger, 0,10 Iwan Puni. Werke Aus Der Sammlung Herman Berninger, Zuerich, Und Fotografien Der Russischen Revolution Aus Der Sammlung Ruth Und Peter Herzog, Basel, 2003, ISBN 3-7165-1308-3
• W.E. Gröger, Galerie der Sturm, Iwan Puni, Petersburg, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Berlin, Februar 1921
• André Salmon, Galerie Barbazanges, Œuvres de J. Pougni et Aquarelles de Xana Bougouslavska, Paris, 18.–30. April 1925
• Galerie Jaques Bernheim, 30 Œuvres, Paris, 16.–30. April 1928
• Galerie Jeanne Castel, Iwan Puni, Vorwort von Paul Guillaume, Paris, Juni 1933
• Galerie Louis Carré, Iwan Puni, Paris, 5. Oktober – 20. Oktober 1943
• Galerie de France, Iwan Puni, Vorwort zum Katalog von Charles Estienne, Paris, 3.–31. Mai 1947
• Galerie Knoedler, Iwan Puni, New York, 26. März – 16. April, 1949
• Adams Gallery, Jean Pougny, Vorwort zum Katalog von Alexander Watts, London, 13. April – 12. Mai 1950
• Musée National d’Art Moderne, Rétrospective Pougny, Paris, 24. Januar – 23. Februar 1958
• Musée Toulouse - Lautrec, Rétrospective Pougny, Vorwort zum Katalog von Édouard Julien und R.V. Gindertael, Albi, 29. März – 30. April 1958

• St. Petersburg, Union de la jeunesse, 1911
• Paris, Salon des Indépendants, 1914
• St. Petersburg, Palais des Beaux Arts, Premiére Exposition Futuriste des Tableaux Tramway V, 1915
• St. Petersburg, Galerie Dobytchine, Dernière Exposition Futuriste des Tableaux 0.10, 1915
• Berlin, Galerie der Sturm, Iwan Puni, Petersburg, February, 215 Kunstwerke, 1921
• Düsseldorf, Erste Internationale Kunstausstellung, 1922
• Berlin, Große Berliner Kunstausstellung, Sektion Novembergruppe, 1922
• Paris, Salon de Tuileries, 1924
• Paris, Salon d'Automne, 1924
• Paris, Galerie Barbazanges, Œuvres de J. Pougni et Aquarelles de Xana Bougouslavska, 1925
• Brüssel, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Exposition Internationale, 1928
• Paris, Galerie Jaques Bernheim, Pougny,1928
• Paris, Galerie Jeanne Castel, Iwan Puni, Essay from Paul Guillaume, 1933, Einzelausstellung
• Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Salon des Temps Présent, 1934
• Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Exposition des Œuvres des candidates aux Prix Paul Guillaume, 1935
• Paris, Exposition Internationale, 1937
• Paris, Galerie Louis Carré, Pougny, 1943
• Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Exposition Internationale d'Art Moderne organisée pas l'UNESCO, 1946
• Paris, Musée de Luxembourg, L'Art francais contemporaine, 1946
• Paris, Galerie de France, Pougny, preface from Charles Estienne, 1947
• New York, M Knoedler & Co, Jean Pougny, 1949
• Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Vente aux Enchéres de Tableaux Modernes, 1950
• London, Adams Gallery, Jean Pougny, 1950
• Nice, Gallery des Ponchettes, Les Peintres par Témoins de leur Temps, 1953
• Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Peintres d'Aujourd'hui France-Italie, Pougny est invité d'honneur, 1953
• Paris, Palais du Louvre, La Demeure Joyeuse - Paul Marrot et ses Amis, 1953
• London, Royal Academy, Les Peintres d'aujourd'hui d'Utrillo à Picasso, 1955
• Aix-en-Provence, Pavillon de Vendôme, Collection d'un Amateur Parisien (Collection of Madame Marie Cuttoli), 1958
• Albi, Musée Toulouse - Lautrec, Rétrospective Pougny, preface from Édouard Julien and R.V. Gindertael, 1958
• Zürich, Kunsthaus, Rétrospective Pougny, 247 œuvres, preface from René Wehrli, Gotthard Jedlicka, Werner Weber und R. V. Gindertael, 1960
• Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Rétrospective Pougny, 222 œuvres, 1961
• Paris, Palais du Louvre, Collections d'Expression Française, 1962
• Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Rétrospective Pougny, 297 œuvres, 1962
• Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Schrift und Bild, Exposition Internationale, 1963
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Rétrospective Pougny, 1964
• New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Russian Stage and Costume Designs for the Ballet, Opera and Theatre, 1967
• London, Royal Academy of Arts, French Painting since 1900 from Private collections in France, 1969
• Berlin, Haus am Waldsee, Rétrospective Pougny 100 œuvres, 1975
• Leverkusen, Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Rétrospective Pougny 100 œuvres, 1975
• Venedig, Biennale di Venezia, Ambiente / Arte dal Futurismo alla Body Art, 1977
• Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris - Berlin 1900-1933, Rapports et Contrastes, 1978
• Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Libertad Colour and Form: Russian Non-Objective Art 1915-1922, 1978
• New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Planar Dimension Europe 1912-1932, 1979
• Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Avant-Garde in Russia, 1910-1930, New Perspectives, 1980
• Moscow, Galerie Tretiakov, Moscow - Paris, 1900–1930, 1981
• Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle, Die große Utopie, Die Russische und Sovjet Avantgarde 1915-1932, 1992
• Basel, Kunstmuseum, TransForm, BildObjekt Skulptur im 20. Jahrhundert, 1992
• Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Rétrospective Pougny, 1993
• Zürich, Kunsthaus, Chagall, Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avantgarde, 1999
• Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Auf der Suche nach 0.10, 2015