Anna
Alexandrovna KAGAN
(Haya Nathanson)
Born 1902 - Died 1974, Leningrad.
Painter, graphic artist and ceramics artist.
Composition with a Black Half Moon. 1920s.
Oil on canvas, 60x91 cm. Private collection,
St.Petersburg.
Decorative Tray. 1920s.
Painted faience, large 30cm.
Private collection, Moscow.
Suprematism (Composition).
1928.
Oil on canvas, 86x66 cm. Ludwig Museum, Köln.
Composition. 1928.
Oil on canvas, 100x55 cm. Private collection, Moscow
.
Composition. 1932.
Oil on canvas, 60x91 cm. Private collection,
St.Petersburg.
Paintings Biography Top of Page
Anna
Kagan has studied at the School of Art in Vitebsk (1919-1922) under
K.Malevich.
She
was a member of the UNOVIS
group (Affirmers of New Art).
The
artist has participated in exhibitions of the group in Vitebsk (1920,
1921), in Moscow (1920, 1921, 1922), and in Petrograd (1923).
At
the exhibition in Petrograd, which was Malevich's attempt to implement an
idea by Larionov for an anonymous exhibition, Kagan's work White
Suprematism (1923) was presented with no label. Together with the
sculptor Pavlov, who has helped Malevich to create Architectons at
GINKhUK (State Institute of Artistic Culture), Leningrad
(1924-1925).
Unlike
many of Malevich’s students, Anna continued abstract painting rather
than being interested in the new Socialist Realism, and has
transformed the Suprematism abstraction into architectonic painting (1928-1930).
The artist has ceased exhibiting in the new artistic climate, where only subjects declared socially worthy and didactic were drawing positive response.
In the late 1920 and early 1930s Kagan was mostly decorated ceramics.