Exter belonged to three cultural centres
Her biography moves through Kyiv, Moscow and Paris. That mobility made her an important link between French Cubism, Italian Futurism and the art of Eastern Europe.
8 FACTS · IN BRIEF
Avant-garde
in detail
Eight facts that frame Ukrainian avant-garde not as one school, but as a network of cities, artists, theatres, private collections and international connections.
01 / QUICK GUIDE
What to know
The Kyiv studio was more than a workplace
In 1917 Exter opened her own studio in Kyiv. The source material describes it as one of the centres of the city’s avant-garde culture.
Colour remained fundamental for Exter
Even after adopting the constructive system of Cubism, she did not abandon an intense palette. Colour remained one of the most distinctive features of her visual language.
The avant-garde transformed more than painting
Exter worked in scenography, turning stage décor into an architectural and plastic construction in which light, costume, movement and geometry formed a single system.
A private collection can become a historical document
The publication on Edik Natanov’s collection stresses that provenance, exhibition history, catalogues, archives and research matter alongside the works themselves.
Natanov’s collection builds context, not just a list of names
The publication associates the collection with Malevich, Kandinsky, Lissitzky, Popova, Exter, Suetin, Kliun and other figures of the avant-garde era.
Recent exhibitions restore a Ukrainian lens
The international “In the Eye of the Storm” project focused on modernism made in Ukraine and foregrounded Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as cultural centres.
Exhibitions also became a means of safeguarding heritage
In Brussels and London a substantial number of works were loaned by the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts of Ukraine for display and safekeeping during the war.
Sources: the site’s source publications; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza; Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; Royal Academy of Arts.