Pavel Filonov (1883-1941)

Untitled (Head), c. 1925 Watercolor & mixed media on paper 10.1 x 7.5 in (25.7 x 19 cm)

Pavel Filonov was born in Moscow in 1883. While studying in St. Petersburg he experimented with Symbolist, Neo-primitive, and Expressionist styles before working in the angular and optically intriguing Cubo-Futurist style of his contemporaries Iosif Shkolnik and Kazimir Malevich. In 1912 Filonov shifted towards a highly theoretical approach and produced arguably his greatest body of work. Grounded in his extensive knowledge of art history, Filonov produced his "Ideology of Analytical Art" which sought to understand the forces that comprise the human existence and manifest those internal and external factors into visuals.

Influenced by such vast sources as Russian folk and primitive art, medieval Russian wall painting, Dürer, Bosch, and Bruegel, Filonov produced about 350 works of remarkable skill and originality of which only 40 remain in private hands. Using the finest points and smallest brushes available Filonov produced meticulously ornate images which seem constructed from the atomic level. These neo-pointillist stippling required tremendous skill and focus and create a stunning visual effect.

In Filonov's enigmatic and mystical images, man-made objects, animals and human figures intermingle and flow into each other exchanging appearance and meaning and synthesizing the individual elements of the visible world into complex wholes. Following a brief patronage of the budding Soviet government Filonov devoted himself to research and the development of his "analytical painting." His first personal exhibition occurred only in 1988, almost a half-century after his death and was followed by his first international retrospective in 1990. Though his name is still gaining recognition in the West, Filonov's highly theoretical and technically demanding work extended the possibilities of representational art and remains a powerful force in the development 20th century modern art.