Vadym Meller

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Vadym Heorhiiovych Meller (Ukrainian: Вадим Георгійович Меллер; 26 April 1884 – 4 May 1962) was a Ukrainian and Soviet painter, avant-garde Cubist, Constructivist and Expressionist artist, theatrical designer, book illustrator, and architect. In 1925 he was awarded a gold medal for the scenic design of the Berezil Theatre in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (Art Deco) in Paris.^[1][2]

He was born in Saint Petersburg.^[3] He was the second son of a top official in the Ministry of Justice in the Russian Empire. His father, Heorhiy Meller, was a noble-born Swede; his mother, Helena Caruso, was half Italian and half Greek, and also from a noble family ^[4] He married Nina Genke, a fellow avant-garde artist. He died in Kyiv in May 4, 1962.^[5]

From 1903–1908, Meller studied at Kyiv University. In 1905, he visited Geneva, Switzerland, where he took art lessons at the private school of Franz Roubaud. In 1908, with the recommendation of Roubaud, he continued his education at the private art school of drawing and painting of Heinrich Knirr in Munich, Germany.^[6] There, Meller met fellow student, Paul Klee, who introduced him to Der Blaue Reiter group.^[7]

After graduating from the Kyiv University with a degree in law, he acquired an artistic education in the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 1908–1912. V. Meller stayed in close contact with Der Blaue Reiter group. During this time, he also met Wassily Kandinsky, with whom he became friends.^[8]

He started to exhibit his works after moving to Paris, where he joined the Société des Artistes Indépendants.^[9] At the same time he was a student of Antoine Bourdelle.^[10] In 1912–1914, together with Kazimir Malevich, Sonia Delaunay, Alexander Archipenko, and Aleksandra Ekster, he participated in a number of exhibitions (Salon des Indépendants, Spring Salon, and Salon D' Automne) alongside Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and André Derain.^[11][12]

After returning to Kyiv in 1915, he worked at easel and monumental painting, graphic design, and costume design. His transition to scenography as his main field of artistic activity took place in the post-revolutionary years. From 1918–1921, he worked with scenographer and dancer Bronislava Nijinska (Vaslav Nijinsky's sister) in her ballet studio.^[13] In end of this period he became a professor in the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture.^[14][15]

In 1922, Les Kurbas invited V. Meller to the recently founded Berezil Theatre. ^[16]

In 1925, V. Meller, together with Sonia Terk, Alexandra Exter, and Nathan Altman, participated in Exposition Internationale des Modernes (Art Deco) in Paris.There, Meller was awarded a gold medal for his scenic design of the Berezil' theater.^[17][18] That same year, V.Meller participated in the International Theater Exposition in New York.^[19]

V. Meller became the leader of the Constructivism movement in Ukrainian theater design.^[20] He worked in the National theater as a chief artist until 1945. From 1925 onward, he also taught at the Kyiv Art Institute (KKHI) together with Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Bogomazov. Also in 1925, V. Meller became a member of the artists union Association of the Revolutionary Masters of Ukraine together with David Burliuk (co-founder), Alexander Bogomazov (co-founder), Vasyl Yermylov, Victor Palmov, and Alexander Khvostenko-Khvostov.

In 1928 he participated in the International Press Exhibition Pressa Cologne, together with El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Tyshler and Vasyl Yermylov.^[21]

V.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 Kyiv Music Comedy Theater (1948–1953), and a chief artist of the Iv. Franko Kyiv Academic Theater (1953–1959).^[22]

• Vadym Meller's Expressive Constructivism, Olga Petrova, pp. 5–32, Catalog, an Exhibition Avant-Garde Adventures, National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), Kyiv, Ukraine,2004.
• Vadym Meller:Missionary of Avant-Garde Scenic Design, Tetiana Rudenko, pp 46–68, book "Staging the Ukrainian Avant-Garde of the 1910s and 1920s", Ukrainian Museum, New York, US, 2015.
• Vadim Meller, Zoya Kucherenko, Mistetstvo, Kyiv, 1975.
• Kyiv to Paris: Ukrainian Art in the European Avant-Garde, 1905-1930, publication By Prof. Myroslav Shkandrij, Department of German and Slavic Studies University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, Zorya Fine Art, 2003.
• Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation, pp 3,5,11,219,229,257,264,299,415,426,430,492,497,501, etc. edited by Irena R. Makaryk., Virlana Tkacz., University of Toronto Press, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4426-4098-6.
• The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. Europe, pp. 872–4,883,885, volume 1, Editor Don Rubin, Routledge, Inc., New York, US, 1994.
• Avant-Garde Art in Ukraine, 1910-1930 , contested memory, Vadym Meller and Sources of Inspiration in Theater, Myroslav Shkandrij, Boston, Academic Studies Press, 2019 ISBN 978-1-61811-975-9.

• Encyclopedia of Ukraine on Vadym Meller
• Biography on artinvestment.ru
• Z.Kucherenko. Vadym Meller. Kyiv,1975
• Avant-garde Adventures. Vadym Meller, Nina Genke-Meller, Nina Vetrova-Robinson. Kyiv, 2004