Kseniya Boguslavskaya

Kseniya (or Ksenia or Xenia) Boguslavskaya (also Xana Puni; Russian: Ксения Богуславская, born 5 February [O.S. 24 January] 1892 in Odessa, died 3. Mai 1972 in Herblay-sur-Seine) was a Russian avant-garde artist (Futurist, Suprematist), illustrator and scenic designer. She was the wife of the painter Ivan Puni, whom he supported very much.

Kseniya Boguslavskaya attending the 0.10 Exhibition

Ivan Puni Velemir Khlebnikov reads poetry to Kseniya Boguslavskaya, 1915

Biography

Xana was born in Odessa as Xenia Bogoslovskaya. Her father Leonid Ivanovich Bogoslovsky (01.01.1854 — 22.07.1902) was Lieutenant colonel of the Russian Army and served in 1898-1902 in Guangdong, China, where he died of dysentery. Her mother, Vera Fedorovna Bogoslovskaya (born Alabugina, daughter of lieutenant; 26.04.1858 - 16.08.1921), who followed him, went after her husband's death with Xana and her elder brother to Saint Petersburg and lived from the military pension. Xana studied in 1903-1908 at the Therese von Oldenburg Female School. For the drawing lessons she took hours at the Imperial Academy of Arts. With Ivan Puni, her future partner, she got acquainted in 1908. In 1909-1910 she participated in some political activities. Fearing persecution, she married a certain Kolosov and left Russia with him, first to Galicia (Lviv, Carpathians), then to Vienna and from there to Naples. In Naples she entered the Academy of Fine Arts. In Naples she met Ivan Puni and moved to him to Paris (March 1912). Soon Ivan left for Russia, and Xana attended Parisian public schools (l'Académie russe and Académie de la Grande Chaumière) until May 1913. Then she returned to Saint Petersburg under the surname Boguslavskaya.

In St.-Petersburg she joined Puni (they married officially only in February 1920) and their flat became for 6 months a meeting point for the Russian Futurists. Velimir Khlebnikov was deeply impressed by herself and her stories from Galicia. Xana supported Ivan in all his activities, e. g. preparation of the collection "Roaring Parnassus" (1913), organization of exhibitions Tramway V (March 1915) und 0,10 (December 1915) and the decoration of Petrograd for the revolutionary holydays (May und November 1918). In 1919 they went (January–April) to Witebsk in order to teach at the Art School founded by Marc Chagall.

Berlin Period

In 1920 (February) she and Puni escaped from the Soviet Union across the ice of the Gulf of Finland. They lived in Berlin from 1920 to 1923, she worked as a scene designer for the Russian-German cabaret called Der Blaue Vogel and for the Russian Romantic Theatre. In Berlin, they established ties with the International Futurists, including poet Ruggero Vasari and Kārlis Zāle.

Paris Period

At the end of 1923 they moved to Paris. Boguslavskaya again took care of the finances as a costume designer and fabric designer until Puni gradually achieved fame as a painter. She was also active as art dealer, but above all she was committed to Puni's work. After his death (December 28, 1956), she organized around 20 retrospective exhibitions of Puni and prepared material for his catalog of works, which was published in 1972 (1st volume) and 1992 (2nd volume). In 1959/1960 and in 1966 she donated a total of 62 works by Puni (paintings and graphic works) to the French state.

Xenia Boguslavskaya died on May 3, 1972 in Herblay-sur-Seine near Paris.

Personal web seite of Xenia Boguslavskaya und Ivan Puni

IVAN PUNI, research project