Vadym Meller
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Vadym Meller (or Vadim Meller, 1884–1962) was a painter, avant-garde artist (Cubist, Constructivist), theatrical designer and architect.
Meller was born in Saint-Petersburg. He was the son of a top official in the Ministry of Justice in the Russian Empire. His father was a noble-born Swede, his mother, half-Italian-half-Greek, was also from a noble family. After graduating from the Kiev University with a degree in law, he acquired artistic education in the Munich Academy of Arts.
Meller was in close contact with Der Blaue Reiter group. In this time he met Wassily Kandinsky with whom he became friends. He started to exhibit his works after he had moved to Paris, where he joined the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Meller was also a student of Antoine Bourdelle.
In 1912-1914 together with Kazimir Malevich, Sonia Delaunay, Alexander Archipenko, Aleksandra Ekster he participated in exhibitions: Salon des Indépendants, Spring Salon, and Salon D' Automne along side Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and André Derain.
After returning to Kiev in 1917, he worked at easel and monumental painting, graphic design, and costume design. His transition to scenography as the main field of artistic activity took place in the first post-revolutionary years.
From 1919-1920, he worked with dancer Bronislava Nijinska (Vaslav Nijinsky's sister) in her ballet studio.
In 1922 Les Kurbas invited Meller to the recently founded Berezil' theater.
In 1925 Meller participated in Exposition Internationale des Modernes in Paris where he was awarded a gold medal for the interior design of the Berezil theater. Meller became the leader of Constructivism in Ukrainian theater design. He worked there as a chief artist till 1945. From 1925 he also taught at the Kiev Art Academy (KKHI) together with Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Bogomazov. In the same year he became the member of the union of artists Association of the Revolutionary Masters of Ukraine together with David Burliuk ( co-founder), Alexander Bogomazov (co-founder), Vasiliy Yermilov, Victor Palmov and Khvostenko-Khvostov.
Meller worked as an acting director of the Monumental Painting and Sculpture Institute of the Academy of Architecture of the Ukrainian SSR (1946–1948), a chief artist of the Kiev Music Comedy Theater (1948 - 1953) and a chief artist of the Iv. Franko Kiev Academic Theater (1953–1959). He was married to Nina Genke-Meller.
Vadym Meller died in Kiev.
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[edit] References and external links
- Vadym Meller's Expressive Constructivism, Olga Petrova, pp.5-32, Catalog, an Exhibition Avant-Garde Adventures , National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), 2004, Kiev, Ukraine.
- Encyclopedia of Ukraine on Vadym Meller
