Resurrection

Vasilii Nikolaevich Chekrygin (Zhisdra, Kaluga Province, January 18th, 1897; Pushkino, near Moscow, June 3rd, 1922) studied at the School of Icon-painting of the Kievo-Pechersk Monastery (1906-1910). He attended the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow (1910-1914). In 1913 he joined Larionov’s group and participated in Futurist events. The same year he illustrated the first book of Vladimir Maiakovskii I. In 1914 he traveled to Germany, France and England. He left for the front as a volunteer in 1915-1917. He lived in Kiev and worked as a city architect and as a stage designer within Alexandra Exter’s circle (1918-1920). From 1920 onwards he lived in Moscow. He rejected Cubist analysis in painting, turned to the romantic ideas of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorov and worked in the circle “Resurrection of the Dead”. In 1922 he was a co-founder of the “Makovets” group, supported by the philosopher Pavel Florensky. At the first “Makovets” exhibition in Moscow (1922), Chekrygin showed 201 works. In 1922 a posthumous exhibition of 151 works was held at the Tsvetkov Gallery in Moscow. In 1922 Chekrygin’s work was also sent to First Russian Art Exhibition, at the “Galerie van Diemen” in Berlin.