Ivan Puni

Ivan Puni or Puny (Jean Pougny, _ru. Иван Пуни; 1894 - 1956) was a Russian avant-garde artist (Suprematist, Cubo-Futurist).

Biography

Ivan Puni was born in Kuokkala (then Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, now Repino in Russia) to a family of Italian origins [ [http://www.geocities.com/s_petropol/Kuok_A.html Kuokkala ] ] . He is the grandson of the famous Italian-Russian composer of ballet music Cesare Pugni.

In 1909-1910 he studied in various workshops, including the Académie Julian in Paris.In 1915 Puni together with the group of avant-garde artists (Aleksandra Ekster, Liubov Popova, Ivan Kliun, Ksenia Boguslavskaya, Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Nina Genke and others) joined "Supremus" a group led by the founder of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich.

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.

He was married to Ksenia Boguslavskaya.

In 1920 Ivan Puni and Ksenia Boguslavskaya emigrated first for Germany, and then (in 1923) for France. Since then Ivan Puni adopted the name "Jean Pougny". He has become French citizen since 1946.

Ivan Puni (Jean Pougny) died in Paris in 1956.

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