Pyotr Miturich

Graphic artist, painter, designer, inventor, teacher. Husband of Vera Khlebnikova, father of May Miturich-Khlebnikov. Born in the family of an artillery officer called Vasily Miturich in St Petersburg (1887). Studied at Pskov Military Academy (1899–1905, expelled for possessing illegal literature), under Ivan Seleznyov at the Kiev School of Art (1906–09) and under Nikolai Samokish at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1909–15). Fought in the First World War (1915–17) and Civil War (1918). Helped to design the RSFSR coat of arms and to decorate the streets of Petrograd on the first anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution (1918). Served as Narkompros Emissary for the Northern Communes (1918). Worked on volumetric constructions, spatial painting and spatial graphic art (1918–20). Met Velimir Khlebnikov (1921), who died at his house in the village of Santalovo in Novgorod Province (1922). Fell in love with his sister, Vera Khlebnikova, who married him after moving to Moscow from Astrakhan using money given to her by Nina Kogan (1924). Member of Four Arts (1925–29). Taught drawing at the VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN in Moscow (1923–30) and the Institute for Raising Artists’ Qualifications in Moscow (1930s). Died in Moscow and buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (1956). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1915). Contributed to the exhibitions of the World of Art (from 1915), La musica del colore, ritmo e spazio: Kandinsky e i suoi contemporanei 1900–1920 in Aosta (1998), Unknown Treasures of the Russian Museum: The Russian Museum of St Petersburg at the Monastero di Santa Chiara in San Marino (1999), Schönberg, Kandinsky, Der blaue Reiter und die russische Avantgarde at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna (2000), Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Portraiture in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), St Petersburg: A Portrait of the City and its Citizens at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2003), I Love Petersburg... The Russian Museum in Moscow at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (2003) and Collage in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2005–06).