Pevsner, Antoine

Pevsner, Antoine
orig. Natan Borisovich Pevzner

born Jan. 18, 1886, Oryol, Russia
died April 12, 1962, Paris, France

Russian-born French sculptor and painter.

After travels to Paris and Oslo, he returned to become a professor at Moscow's school of fine arts. He helped form the Suprematist group, and in 1920 he and his brother, Naum Gabo, issued the Realist Manifesto of Constructivism. He settled in Paris in 1923. He used zinc, brass, copper, and celluloid for his early sculptures; later he relied mainly on parallel arrays of bronze wire soldered together to form plates, which he joined to form intricate shapes.

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▪ French artist
original name  Natan Borisovich Pevzner 
born January 18, 1886, Oryol, Russia
died April 12, 1962, Paris, France

      Russian-born French sculptor and painter who—like his brother, Naum Gabo (Gabo, Naum)—advanced the Constructivist (Constructivism) style.

      Pevsner studied art in Russia at Kiev and St. Petersburg. In 1911 and 1913 he visited Paris, where he was influenced by Cubism; he subsequently introduced Cubist techniques of geometric simplification into his own paintings. To avoid serving in the Russian imperial army, in 1915 he joined his brother Naum Gabo in Oslo, Norway. There they experimented with art that was “capable of utilizing emptiness and liberating us from the compact mass.” Gabo created his first abstract constructions, while Pevsner continued to work with Cubist approaches to representational painting.

      The brothers returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and Pevsner became a professor at Moscow's school of fine arts. During this period, his paintings became more geometric and abstract. In 1920 the brothers issued the Realistic Manifesto (written by Gabo, and co-signed by Pevsner), in which they rejected Cubism and Futurism and argued that artists should embrace elements of space and time by employing constructed (as opposed to sculpted) mass and kinetic rhythms. Gabo outlined a style similar to the Russian Constructivism of Vladimir Tatlin (Tatlin, Vladimir Yevgrafovich), but without that movement's insistence that art be functional. The brothers posted the manifesto around Moscow, and it served as an invitation to a joint exhibition of their work. Despite their assertions that art should be constructed and abstract, Pevsner continued to retain elements of representation in his paintings.

      In 1923 Pevsner left Russia and settled in Paris, where he began to produce abstract sculpture in the Constructivist mode that Gabo had outlined in his manifesto of 1920. In his early sculptures, like Gabo, he used zinc, brass, copper, celluloid, and wood, but in the 1930s Pevsner developed a unique approach that relied on parallel arrays of bronze wire soldered together to form plates. He then joined these plates to create intricate and convoluted shapes using both straight and curved lines. Pevsner became a French citizen in 1930, and he was cofounder in 1946 of Réalités Nouvelles, a Paris-based group of exhibiting artists who favoured geometric abstraction.

      Pevsner succeeded in infusing the somewhat impersonal style of Constructivism with his own feeling for form. In 1956–57 he was honoured with a retrospective exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and in 1961 he was awarded the Legion of Honour.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Pevsner,Antoine — Pevs·ner (pĕvzʹnər, pyĕfʹsnĭr), Antoine. 1886 1962. Russian artist. With his brother Naum Gabo he set forth the principles of constructivism in the Realist Manifesto (1920). * * * …   Universalium

  • Pevsner — (izg. pevsnȇr), Antoine (1886 1962) DEFINICIJA francuski kipar ruskog podrijetla, istaknuti predstavnik i teoretičar konstruktivizma (Realistički manifest s bratom Naumom Gaboom) …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • Pevsner — /pevz neuhr/; Russ. /pyef snyirdd/, n. Antoine Fr. /ahonn twannn /, 1886 1962, French sculptor and painter, born in Russia (brother of Naum Gabo). * * * (as used in expressions) Naum Pevsner Pevsner Antoine Pevsner Sir Nikolaus * * * …   Universalium

  • Antoine — /an twahn/; Fr. /ahonn twannn /, n. 1. André /ahonn drdday /, 1858 1943, French theatrical director, manager, and critic. 2. Père /perdd/ (Francisco Ildefonso Mareno), 1748 1829, Roman Catholic priest in Louisiana: tried to establish an… …   Universalium

  • PEVSNER (LES) — Naum Gabo et son frère aîné Antoine Pevsner sont étroitement liés au constructivisme, auquel ils imprimèrent une orientation originale; ce mouvement artistique de la Russie révolutionnaire fut de courte durée, mais eut une influence considérable; …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • PEVSNER, ANTON (Antoine; 1886–1962) and NAUM NEHEMIA (Gabo; 1890–1977) — PEVSNER, ANTON (Antoine; 1886–1962) and NAUM NEHEMIA (Gabo; 1890–1977), Russian sculptors. The two brothers were born in a village near Orel, south of Moscow. Anton Pevsner studied at the academies of art in Kiev and St. Petersburg, while Gabo… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Antoine Pevsner — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Antoine Pevsner (18 de enero de 1888 12 de abril de 1962) fue un escultor nacido en Orel, Rusia, hijo de un ingeniero. Junto con su hermano Naum Gabo, recibe una primera formación científica que le aporta el espíritu …   Wikipedia Español

  • Antoine Pevsner — (18 January 1886 12 April 1962) was a Russian sculptor and the older brother of Alexii Pevsner and Naum Gabo. Both Antoine and Naum are considered pioneers of twentieth century sculpture. Among the originators of and having coined the term,… …   Wikipedia

  • Pevsner — Pevsner,   1) [pɛvs nɛːr], Antoine, eigentlich Nathan Borisowitsch Pevsner, französischer Maler und Bildhauer russischer Herkunft, * Orel 18. 1. 1886, ✝ Paris 12. 4. 1962, Bruder von N. Gabo; Kunststudium in Kiew und Sankt Petersburg. In Paris… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Pevsner — is a surname, and may refer to:* Antoine Pevsner (1886 1962), a Russian sculptor * Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902 – 1983), a German born British scholar of the history of architecture. * Stella Pevsner, author of children s books …   Wikipedia

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