Ilya Chashnik (1902-1929) - Architecton

A rare work by the Russian artist Ilya Chashnik (1902-1929). The work is a design for a so-called Architecton, a name that his mentor Kazimir Malevich gave to three-dimensional non-figurative forms. The dimensions of this work are 23.5 x 19 cm. The work is signed lower right.

Provenance

Costakis Collection, Moscow
Galerie Victor Sfez, Paris
Tajan Auction House, Paris, lot number 46, auction March 8, 2016

Authentication
Tajan had this work assessed by Alexander Arsamastev dated December 10, 2015.

Biography
Ilya Grigorevich Chashnik (26 June 1902 – 4 March 1929) was a Suprematist artist, a pupil of Kazimir Malevich and one of the founders of the UNOVIS school.

Chashnik was born in 1902 into a Jewish family in Lucyn, Russian Empire, now Ludza, Latvia. He began studying at Yehuda Pen’s art academy in Vitebsk at the age of eleven. He became a pupil of Marc Chagall. In 1918 he moved to Moscow to work in a studio led by Kazimir Malevich. He returned after Malevich accepted a high teaching post at the Vitebsk School of Drawing and Painting.

Chashnik was remarkably skilled in various media. Aleksandra Semenovna Shatskikh describes him as "famous for his inexhaustible inventiveness and his ability to apply suprematist principles to virtually all art forms, including painting." He painted, was adept at metalwork, and designed ceramics produced at the Imperial Porcelain Factory (then known as the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory). Chashnik was, together with Nikolai Suetin, recruited by the factory during his time as a member of UNOVIS.

He died in 1929 in Leningrad, aged 27.

The Architectons

From 1923 to 1928, Malevich created a series of plaster sculptures which he called Architectons. These sculptures are compositions of white ceramic blocks and depict imaginary buildings. The Architectons always consist of a large rectangular block to which other smaller blocks or surfaces are attached. In a sense, these works can be seen as a three-dimensional application of Suprematism. His students Nikolai Suetin and Ilya Chashnik produced many designs for these Architectons in the same periods.