Ivan Puni

Ivan Puni, 1914, Portrait of Artist's Wife (Портрет жены художника), oil on canvas, 89 x 62.5 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Ivan Albertovich Puni (; also known as Jean Pougny; – 28 December 1956) was a Russian avant-garde (Suprematist, Cubo-Futurist) and French artist, who intensively changed his style until it went into lyric Primitivism in the direction of Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard.

Biography Early life Ivan Puni was born in Kuokkala (then Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, now Repino, a part of St. Petersburg in Russia). It was long believed that Ivan Puni was born in 1892 or 1894 until his birth certificate was found in 2019 in a St. Petersburg archive, showing his birth date as 22 March 1890 (old style). He was the grandson of an eminent Italian composer of ballet music, Cesare Pugni. His father, a cellist, proposed him a military career, but Ivan instead decided to become a painter.

Career Puni continued his formal training in Paris in 1910–11 at the Académie Julian and other schools, where he painted in a derivative fauviste style. Upon his return to Russia in 1912, he married fellow artist Xenia Boguslavskaya, and met, and exhibited with, members of the St Petersburg avant-garde, including Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin. 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.

Years of exile Puni and his wife, Xenia Boguslavskaya, emigrated from Russia in 1920 (end of January), first to Finland, then to Berlin, where his solo exhibition was held at the Galerie der Sturm (February 1920). While in Berlin, Puni also designed costumes and sets for theatrical productions, and published a theoretical book Modern Painting.

Puni and Boguslavskaya relocated to Paris in 1923, where he carried on with development of his style, which experienced several metamorphoses until it stabilized at approximately 1943 to a variant of Post-Impressionism or lyric Primitivism in the direction of Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. In France he became "Jean Pougny" and in 1947 obtained French citizenship. He died in Paris in 1956.

Literature Herman Berninger: Pougny. Jean Pougny (Iwan Puni) 1892–1956. Catalogue de l’Œuvre. Tome 1: Les Années d`avant-garde, Russie — Berlin, 1910—1923. E. Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen 1972, Herman Berninger: Pougny. Jean Pougny (Iwan Puni) 1892—1956. Catalogue de l` oeuvre. Tome 2: Paris-Cote d’Azur, 1924—1956, Peintures. E. Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen, 1992. Iwan Puni. 1892—1956. Katalog zur Ausstellung des Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris und der Berlinischen Galerie. Bearb. v. Jean-Louis Andral, Jean-Claude Marcadé und Marie-Anne Chambost. Hatje, Stuttgart, 1993. Magdalena Nieslony: Bedingtheit der Malerei. Ivan Puni und die moderne Bildkritik. Berlin 2016, 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, 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

Exhibitions

St. Petersburg, Union of Youth, 1912 and 1913 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