Yakov Chernikhov

Yakov Chernikhov
Tower of the 'Krasny Gvozdilshchik' ('Red Carnation') Factory in St. Petersburg, February 2006

Yakov Georgievich Chernikhov (Яков Георгиевич Чернихов) (5 (17) December 1889, Pavlohrad, Ukraine - 9 May 1951, Moscow) was a constructivist architect and graphic designer. His books on architectural design published in Leningrad between 1927 and 1933 are amongst the most innovatory texts (and illustrations) of their time.

Chernikov was born to a poor family, one of 11 children. After studying at the college of art in Odessa, he moved in 1914 to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and joined the Architecture faculty of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1916, where he later studied under Leon Benois. Greatly interested in futurist movements, including constructivism, and the suprematism of Malevich (with whom he was acquainted), he set out his ideas in a series of books in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including:

  • The Art of Graphic Representation (1927)
  • Fundamentals of Contemporary Architecture (1930)
  • The Construction of Architectural and Machine Forms (1931)
  • 101 Architectural Fantasies (1933)

The latter, a very fine example of colour printing, was perhaps the last avant-garde art book to be published in Russia during the Stalinist era. Its remarkable designs uncannily predict the architecture of the later 20th century. However his unusual ideas meant that Chernikhov was distrusted by the regime. Although he continued work as a teacher and held a number of one-man shows, few of his designs were built and very few appear to have survived. Amongst the latter is the tower of the 'Red Nailer' factory in St. Petersburg.

Chernikhov also produced a number of richly designed architectural fantasies of historic architecture, which were never exhibited in his lifetime. A book on 'The Construction of Letter Forms' containing some of his typographical designs, was published after his death, in 1959.

Chernikhov produced some 17,000 drawings and projects and was dubbed the Soviet Piranesi.[1] On August 8, 2006, it was announced that some hundreds of Chernikhov's drawings, with an estimated value of $1,300,000, had gone missing from the Russian State Archives. Some 274 have been recovered, in Russia and abroad. [2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mercatorfonds, Antwerp and Eaton, Ruth. 2001. Ideal Cities: Utopianism and the (Un)Built Environment. Page193-194. ISBN 9061534755.
  2. ^ BBC News. 8 August 2006. Valuable Russian drawings stolen. Accessed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5255860.stm on 10 September 2009.
  • Russian Constructivism and Iakov Chernikhov. Architectural Design magazine vol. 59 no. 7-8, London, 1989
  • Documenti e Riproduzioni dall'Archivio di Aleksej e Dimitri Cernihov (Illustrated) ed. Carlo Olmo and Alessandro de Magistris, publisher Umberto Allemandi, 1995, ISBN 88-422-0474-9, in Italian
  • Graphic Masterpieces of Yakov Georgievich Chernikhov: The Collection of Dmitry Chernikhov by Dmitry Y. Chernikhov DOM Publishers 2008 in English
  • Chernikov Fantasy and Construction: Iakov Chernikov's Approach to Architectural Design (Architectural Design Profile) by Catherine Cooke, Iakov Chernikhov. St Martins Press, London 1985

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Iakov Tchernikhov — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Tchernikov. Iakov Tchernikhov Présentation Naissance 5 décembre 1889 Pavlograd, Ukraine Décès …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Constructivist architecture — Narkomtiazhprom, Vesnin brothers, 1934 Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist… …   Wikipedia

  • Russian avant-garde — The Russian avant garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia from approximately 1890 to 1930 although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960. The… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Russian architects — NOTOC A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A *Aloisio da Milano (16th century) *Aloisio the New (16th century) B *Gavriil Baranovsky (1860 1920) Eclecticism (Beaux Arts), Art Nouveau, industrial architecture *Petr Baranovsky (1892… …   Wikipedia

  • Gratte-ciel (Villeurbanne) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gratte ciel (homonymie). Les Gratte ciel Tour Ouest Administration …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Constructivismo (arte) — El constructivismo fue un movimiento artístico y arquitectónico que surgió en Rusia en 1914 y se hizo especialmente presente después de la Revolución de Octubre. El término construction art ( arte para construcción ) fue utilizado por primera vez …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”