Alexander Konstantinovich Bogomazov () or Oleksandr Kostiantynovych Bohomazov (; March 26, 1880 – June 3, 1930) was a Ukrainian painter, cubo-futurist, modern art theoretician and is recognised as one of the key figures of the Ukrainian avant-garde scene. In 1914, Oleksandr wrote his treatise The Art of Painting and the Elements. In it he analyzed the interaction between Object, Artist, Picture, and Spectator and sets the theoretical foundation of modern art. During his artistic life Oleksandr Bohomazov mastered several art styles. The most known are Cubo-Futurism (1913–1917) and Spectralism (1920–1930).
Early life Oleksandr Bohomazov was born in Yampil, Kharkiv Region (now Sumy Oblast, Ukraine) as a second child to Kostiantyn & Anisia Bohomazov. His father was an accountant, who worked at the local sugar factory and later rose to the status of a merchant. As a boy he hardly knew his mother, as she left the family and remarried a visiting military officer.
Oleksandr started to show early interest in painting while studying at the gymnasium. However, his father did not approve of his style, considering it too raw, and insisted that the boy graduate from the Kherson Agricultural School, where he majored in agronomy from 1896 to 1902. But the passion for art prevailed, and with the support of his uncle, Oleksandr, convinces his father to allow him to move to Kyiv and enter the Kyiv Academy of Arts in 1902.
In Kyiv Art School, Bohomazov was taught by Oleksandr Murashko and Ivan Seleznev, while Oleksandra Ekster and Oleksandr Arkhypenko, future stars of the avant-garde, studied with him. In 1905, he was expelled from the school due to his participation in political demonstrations and strikes. As of 1906, he studied in the Kyiv studio of Serhiy Sviatoslavskyi and spent the summer of 1907 in Crimea with Oleksa Hryshchenko and Vladimir Denisov, fellow-students in the Sviatoslavskyi studio. They rented a wooden house in Vorontsovsky Park just outside Alupka, 8 miles south-west of Yalta, and sketched from dawn till dusk.
Bohomazov thereupon left for Moscow, studying under Konstantin Yuon and Fyodor Rerberg (alongside Malevych), before returning to Kyiv in 1908 to participate in the city's first Modernist exhibition, Zveno (‘The Link’) together with David Burliuk, Wladimir Burliuk, Oleksandra Ekster and others.
Artistic Periods
The Finnish Cycle, 1911
In June 1911, while working part-time in the newspaper Kyivska Dumka (Kyivan Thought), Bohomazov was sent on a business trip to Karelia (back then, Russian Empire, now Finland & Russia), to create paintings and prints of Finnish landscapes for an illustrated supplement to the newspaper.
For one and a half months Bohomazov was travelling along the touristic route along Imatra, Lappeenranta, Vyborg, Punkaharju, Savonlinna. This trip resulted in dozens of paintings, watercolours, and inks. The exact number is unknown, and nowadays, the Finnish Cycle is spread out among private collectors and museums.
While visiting Imatra, he painted The Tower’ (NAMU) and ‘A Castle in Finland’ (collection of K.Grygoryshyn), both depicting the famous architectural marvel of Grand Hotel de Cascade (now Valtionhotelli). The hotel was built in the form of a castle in Art Nouveau style and is reminiscent of Olavinlinna fortress situated on the other side of Lake Saimaa. Another object of painter's attention were the famous rapids Imatrankoski and Vallinkoski. Bohomazov became very fond of them and was enjoying the peaceful Finnish landscapes, which were in tune with artist's inner world. ‘I was painting Little Imatra in oil, a few days ago (Another name for Vallinkoski. – Author). Painting easily, freely, with joy. I have completed a canvas. I was happy!’, – he reported to his wife-to-be Wanda in a letter home. Here he talks about painting ‘The Sea Waves’ (NAMU), as well as series of watercolours picturing the rapids were created here – ‘Stream and Rocks. Istra River-1’ (NAMU), ‘Wave. Istra River-2’ (NAMU), ‘Waves and Rocks. (Istra River-ІІІ)’ (NAMU), ‘Istra River (Finnish waters)’ (private collection), ‘Stormy River’ (collection of K.Grigorishin). At Lappeenranta, he painted two watercolours: Finland (NAMU) and Finnish Landscape (NAMU).
The trip yielded a number of romantic, White Night drawings and watercolours of scenic highlights near Vyborg – including Monrepos Park, the three-towered Olavinlinna Castle in Savonlinna, and the island-dotted Lake Saimaa, whose ‘fairy-tale beauty’ had been extolled by numerous artists and poets. The lake likewise influenced the romantically inclined artist to dedicate the drawing, to his future wife.
Cubo-Futurism Period, 1913–1915
Years of 1913–14 became a time of the artist's intense search for ways to develop "new art". In September 1914, Bohomazov finished the theoretical work "Painting and Its Elements", which summarised his reflections on the nature of creativity and its components. The works belonging to the year 1913 were created by Bohomazov, when the main provisions included in his theoretical work had not yet been thought out and formulated, but the style and form-creating elements of these works testify that the master was already familiar with various artistic directions of avant-garde art, in particular and with the futuristic concept of displaying the state of the environment through the demonstration of the movement of the objects that made it.
In the works of this time, he intuitively, rather than consciously, uses a number of techniques that enhance the feeling of movement and convey the dynamism of the depicted object. So, for example, he actively uses a bundle of straight lines that converge and, in turn, form certain ray- and fan-like forms that create a powerful effect of movement. At the same time, the artist often uses such a technique as extending straight lines along their entire length and turning them into needle-like guides, as, for example, in the work "Train".
The alternation of saturated sharp spots with unfilled empty spaces became for him another means of enriching the artistic language of the works. In a number of works, the artist arranges the forms he uses diagonally and at an angle to the borders of the picture plane. This technique is clearly visible in his painting "Train. Boyarka". This method of constructing the picture plane makes it possible to create the impression of intense dynamic tension and convey the feeling of movement, regardless of whether it is connected to a specific object or insinuates itself. In the works of 1913, the artist pays a lot of attention to a straight line or a group of straight lines, which together create irregular dynamic impulses.
1914 can be considered a turning point in the artist's work. And not only because the artist finally formulated his ideas about the art of the "New Age" in a theoretical treatise, but also because this year he established himself as an original artist. In 1914, Bohomazov began to consciously use all techniques in the reproduction of nature and its state, which had intuitively matured in previous works. He actively implements the new principles declared in 'Painting and Its Elements'.
In the works of this year, we observe the artist's interest in combining simple flat forms into more complex spatial objects. Bohomazov begins to understand: the planes and straight lines that form them limit the possibility of conveying the dynamism of the object – and he introduces new elements into his artistic lexicon, including various arc-shaped lines.
He also resorts to another new technique – mosaic toning of individual components, that is, fragmentary strengthening of forms, and this gives them a stronger sense of dynamism. At the same time, the structure of the picture alternates with forms with a mass of different saturation. Here we can note that this technique reflects the concept of interval formulated by the artist.
In 1914, he organized the exhibition Kiltse ("The Ring") in Kyiv, where the works of 21 artists were exposed, among others Oleksandra Ekster, Eugène Konopatzky among others. For Bohomazov, this was the first significant exhibition, 88 of his works, mostly graphics, were presented there. Like Kandinsky during the second "Salon", Bohomazov presented his theoretical work "The Essence of Four Elements", in which he explained the principle of the new Cubo-Futurist art: the combination of line, color, form and plane of the picture.Kiltse was supposed to be the first in a series of exhibitions, but this did not go according to plan. Reviews in the press were positive (indicating the general acceptance of the "new art" in critical circles), but few. In fact, the exhibition was hardly noticed. After the failure of the "Ring", significant avant-garde exhibitions were no longer held in Kyiv until the 20s.
Life in Caucasus, 1915-1917 From 1915 until the end of 1917, Bohomazov lived in the Caucasus. He worked as a teacher of painting and drawing in the village of Geryusy (now the city of Goris, Armenia). ‘The air is clear, you can see for miles, and everything seems in blossom,’ he wrote to his wife. Works from his productive stay include a bright 1915 painting The Caucasus and a 1916 charcoal View of the Caucasus as seen from his balcony. The picturesque nature of the Caucasus region had inspired Bohomazov to create numerous other cubo-futuristic canvases, which were later on collated under the cycle Memories of Caucasus'. For some time, his wife Wanda stayed with him in Geryusy.
After returning to Kyiv in the end of 1917, Bohomazov started teaching across numerous high schools and art academies, to be able to support his family financially.
Introducing Spectralism, 'The Sawmill', late 1910s–1920s In 1917, the anti-Establishment artist welcomed the ideas of October Revolution, joining Olexandra Exter in Agitprop decoration of trains and boats. Yet, contrary to the later development and interpretation of Bolshevik Revolution, he saw the fall of Russian Empire and the ideas of revolution as contributing to the release of Ukrainian national artistic potential, and in tune with the proclamation of Ukrainian Independence of 1917-18. His speech to the first All-Ukrainian Artists’ Congress in June 1918 was that of a fiercely patriotic artist, slamming art schools for sticking to ‘guidelines from the North’ (i.e. Russia) where ‘the spirit of Academism destroys the mind’ and young Ukrainian artists had been ‘deprived of their individuality, while their souls poisoned’.
While teaching, Bohomazov continues with his analysis of art theory throughout the 1920s, creating his own colour charts, exploring the effect of contrast in variation of colour tonalities. Whilst Bohomazov's theories remain to be further thoroughly studied, his innovative ideas were formalised in 1927 as part of the set course at the Kyiv Art Institute. Same year, he became the founding member of the Association of the Revolutionary Masters of Ukraine (ARMU), together with David Burliuk, Vadym Meller, Viktor Palmov, Vasyl Yermylov and others.
In 1927, Oleksandr Bohomazov began the last and one of the most ambitious projects of his career – triptych 'The Sawmill. This work became the culmination of his creative life and took his style to new level, with the artist himself calling it Spectralism.