Archipenko, Alexander

(born May 30, 1887, Kiev, Ukr.—died Feb. 25, 1964, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Ukrainian-U.S. sculptor. In 1908 he moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, and he soon became active in radical circles such as the Cubist movement. He began to explore the interplay between interlocking voids and solids and between convex and concave surfaces, forming a sculptural equivalent to Cubist paintings' overlapping planes and, in the process, revolutionizing modern sculpture. About 1912 he introduced the concept of collage in sculpture, and he went on to further defy tradition in his “sculpto-paintings,” works in which he introduced painted colour to the intersecting planes of his sculpture. In 1923 he moved to New York City, where he worked and taught for most of his life.

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