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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Dr. Konstantin Akinsha, independent art historian, curator and journalist for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot and for providing this note.
In Ukraine, Vasyl Yermilov is celebrated as a principal representative of national Constructivism. At the beginning of his career, he was closely associated with the Kharkiv circle of Futurists. Yermilov's early works reveal the strong influence of French cubism. However, his style evolved after the Revolution. During 1917-1921, he fused stylized Ukrainian folk ornaments with modernist tropes, blending elements from Kazimir Malevich’s (1879-1935) Suprematism with the Byzantine art revivalism of Mykhailo Boychuk (1882-1937). In March 1921, Yermilov traveled to Moscow to visit the Higher Art and Technical Studios (VKhUTEMAS), the most progressive art school in the USSR. Just four days before his arrival in Moscow, the Working Group of Constructivists was formed. During his stay, Yermilov spent significant time in the studios of Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891-1956) and Liubov Popova (1889-1924). He returned to Kharkiv as a committed follower of the new movement. The principal examples of Yermilov’s Constructivist work are the reliefs he produced between 1921 and 1924. A versatile artist, Yermilov also worked in graphic design. In the second half of the 1920s, he designed newspaper kiosks, newspaper stands, and advertising installations. Some of these works were included in the Soviet pavilion at the exhibition Die Presse in Cologne in 1928. In 1934, Yermilov was given a unique opportunity to create his Gesamtkunstwerk. That year, the capital of Soviet Ukraine was moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv, and the massive neo-classical building previously occupied by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee had to be transformed into the Palace of Pioneers and Little Octobrists, two Soviet children’s organizations. Yermilov was appointed as the chief designer of the project, overseeing the redesign of the building halls to serve as playrooms, laboratories for public transport, art studios, and clubs for aviation modeling. The interior style combined Constructivist elements with colorful textiles featuring floral patterns reminiscent of European Art Deco. Yermilov’s designs for the palace closely aligned with his earlier Constructivist works. Ten of these designs are in a private collection in Moscow, and two are located in the UK. The only palace design housed in a museum collection is in The Museum of Modern Art, New York (described as Untitled (Composition in Primary Colors) and mistakenly dated 1927). One of the compositions presently offered for sale is the design for the Laboratory of the Tram Trust (lot 111). The name of the palace and the laboratory is composed of glued letters, and a cut-out date of ‘1926’ in blue font, not typical of Yermilov, has been pasted beneath it. This is undoubtedly a later addition, unrelated to the artist. While the laboratory design was created for a relatively small space, the other plan offered in this sale (lot 110), featuring the abbreviation of the palace name in the upper left margin, was likely prepared for one of the building’s entry halls. Both works offer insight into Yermilov’s rationalist approach to spatial organization, with the balance of colorful elements giving the designs the appearance of geometric abstract compositions, for which they were sometimes mistaken.
In Ukraine, Vasyl Yermilov is celebrated as a principal representative of national Constructivism. At the beginning of his career, he was closely associated with the Kharkiv circle of Futurists. Yermilov's early works reveal the strong influence of French cubism. However, his style evolved after the Revolution. During 1917-1921, he fused stylized Ukrainian folk ornaments with modernist tropes, blending elements from Kazimir Malevich’s (1879-1935) Suprematism with the Byzantine art revivalism of Mykhailo Boychuk (1882-1937). In March 1921, Yermilov traveled to Moscow to visit the Higher Art and Technical Studios (VKhUTEMAS), the most progressive art school in the USSR. Just four days before his arrival in Moscow, the Working Group of Constructivists was formed. During his stay, Yermilov spent significant time in the studios of Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891-1956) and Liubov Popova (1889-1924). He returned to Kharkiv as a committed follower of the new movement. The principal examples of Yermilov’s Constructivist work are the reliefs he produced between 1921 and 1924. A versatile artist, Yermilov also worked in graphic design. In the second half of the 1920s, he designed newspaper kiosks, newspaper stands, and advertising installations. Some of these works were included in the Soviet pavilion at the exhibition Die Presse in Cologne in 1928. In 1934, Yermilov was given a unique opportunity to create his Gesamtkunstwerk. That year, the capital of Soviet Ukraine was moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv, and the massive neo-classical building previously occupied by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee had to be transformed into the Palace of Pioneers and Little Octobrists, two Soviet children’s organizations. Yermilov was appointed as the chief designer of the project, overseeing the redesign of the building halls to serve as playrooms, laboratories for public transport, art studios, and clubs for aviation modeling. The interior style combined Constructivist elements with colorful textiles featuring floral patterns reminiscent of European Art Deco. Yermilov’s designs for the palace closely aligned with his earlier Constructivist works. Ten of these designs are in a private collection in Moscow, and two are located in the UK. The only palace design housed in a museum collection is in The Museum of Modern Art, New York (described as Untitled (Composition in Primary Colors) and mistakenly dated 1927). One of the compositions presently offered for sale is the design for the Laboratory of the Tram Trust (lot 111). The name of the palace and the laboratory is composed of glued letters, and a cut-out date of ‘1926’ in blue font, not typical of Yermilov, has been pasted beneath it. This is undoubtedly a later addition, unrelated to the artist. While the laboratory design was created for a relatively small space, the other plan offered in this sale (lot 110), featuring the abbreviation of the palace name in the upper left margin, was likely prepared for one of the building’s entry halls. Both works offer insight into Yermilov’s rationalist approach to spatial organization, with the balance of colorful elements giving the designs the appearance of geometric abstract compositions, for which they were sometimes mistaken.