Landscape with two figures

Aleksandr Davidovich Drevin (Venden - now Tsesis, Latvia, July 15th, 1889 - February 26th, 1938), son of a worker, graduated from the Maritime School in Riga, in 1908. From 1908 to 1913 he attended the School of Fine Arts in Riga, under Wilhelm Purvit and from 1912 onwards he participated in various exhibitions. He moved to Moscow in late 1914. He participated in the Fifth State Exhibition: From Impressionism to Non-objective Art (Moscow, 1919). He worked in both figurative and abstract styles and wrote poetry (1918-1922). From 1920 to 1921 he was a member of the Institute of Artistic Culture (INKHUK); he left, together with Kandinsky, Udaltsova and Kliun in disagreement over the rejection of pure “easel art” by the Constructivists-Productivists. He was a member of the State Academy of Artistic Sciences (GAKhN). From 1920 to 1930 he taught painting at the Higher State Art-Technical Studios (VKHUTEMAS) and at the Higher State Art-Technical Institute (VKHUTEIN); there, he collaborated with Udaltsova and later they got married. He participated in the World of art exhibition in Moscow (1921-1922). In 1923 he took part in the exhibition of paintings together with ex-members of the “Jack of Diamonds” group. In the late 1920s he returned to landscape painting. During the years 1926-1927 he moved to the Urals, together with his wife. In 1928 he exhibited with Udaltsova at the Russian Museum, in Leningrad. He traveled to Altai in 1929-1931 and to Armenia in 1933. A second exhibition with Udaltsova was realized at the State Cultural and Historical Museum in Erevan, in 1934. He was arrested and shot in 1938.