Ivan Kudryashov (Kudryashev)

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer, interior designer, teacher. Born in Kaluga in the family of Alexei Kudryashov, a constructor who made models of rockets for Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1896). Studied at the Stroganov School of Art and Industry (1912), under Pavel Kuznetsov at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1913–17) and under Kazimir Malevich at the State Free Art Studios in Moscow (1918–19). Married Nadezhda Timofeyeva, a fellow student of Kazimir Malevich who collaborated with Alexandra Exter on costume designs. Passed through a period of interest in Cubo-Futurism (1910s) and took up abstraction (1917). Decorated agitprop automobiles on the first anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution (1918). Moved to Orenburg (1919), where he founded the Orenburg Provincial Free Art Studios and headed the local branch of UNOVIS opened by Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky (1920). Redecorated the interior of the Free Theatre in Orenburg (1920). Evacuated starving children to Smolensk (1921), where he met Wladyslaw Strzemi?ski and Katarzyna Kobro (1921). Returned to Moscow (1921). Painted cosmic abstractions (first half of 1920s), before he was forced to give a written promise to abandon non-objective art (1926). Member of the Society of Easel Artists (1925) and the Art Brigade (1931). Attended Kazimir Malevich’s funeral in Moscow (1935). Taught at the Institute for Raising the Qualifications of Artists (1937–39). Returned to painting cosmic abstractions (late 1950s–early 1960s). Died in Moscow (1972). Contributed to the First State Exhibition of Pictures in Orenburg (1921), Die erste russische Kunstausstellung at the Galerie van Diemen in Berlin (1922), First State Travelling Exhibition in Moscow, Saratov, Stalingrad, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod (1925), Society of Easel Artists in Moscow (1925, 1926, 1928) and a posthumous one-man show at the Galerie Jean Chauvelin in Paris (1970).