ARCHIPENKO, ALEXANDER

born May 30, 1887, Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire died Feb. 25, 1964, New York, N.Y., U.S. Ukrainian-American sculptor and painter who originated a new style in which the representation of the human figure was subordinated to the formal composition of voids and solids. After studying in Kiev, Archipenko attended the cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1908), where he was active in the Cubist movement. He taught art briefly in Berlin (192123) and for the rest of his life in New York City (192364), except for a short time (193739) when he was connected with the New Bauhaus in Chicago. Archipenko's abstract shapes had a primitive vitality and rhythmic movement. In his Walking Woman (1912), holes were punched in the face and torso, and concavities substituted for the convexities of the lower legs. This opening up of the form revolutionized modern sculpture. Boxing Match (1913) attempted to convey the brutal energy of the sport in nonrepresentational, machinelike cubic and ovoid forms. In 1912 he executed the first collage in sculpture in his famous Medranos, circus figures in multicoloured glass, wood, and metal, defying traditional use of materials.