Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster and designer of international stature who divided her life between Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, and Paris.
She was born Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Grigorovich in Białystok, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Poland) to a wealthy Belarusian family. Her father, Aleksandr Grigorovich, was a wealthy Belarusian businessman. Her mother was Greek. Young Aleksandra received an excellent private education, studying languages, music, art, and taking private drawing lessons. Soon her parents moved to Kyiv (Kiev), and Asya, as called by her friends, attended Kiev gymnasium St. Olga and Kiev Art School, where she studied with Alexander Bogomazov and Alexander Archipenko. Her teachers included Mykola Pymonenko. Aleksandra graduated in painting from Kiev Art School in 1906.
In 1908, Aleksandra Grigorovich married a successful Kiev lawyer, Nikolai Evgenyevich Ekster. The Eksters belonged to cultural and intellectual elite of Kiev. She spent several months with her husband in Paris, and there she attended Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse. From 1908 to 1924 she intermittently lived in Kiev, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Paris, Rome and Moscow.
Her painting studio in the attic at 27 Funduklievskaya Street, now Khmelnytsky Street, was a rallying stage for Kiev's intellectual elite.In the attic in her studio there worked future luminaries of world decorative art Vadim Meller, Anatole Petrytsky and P.Tchelitchew . There she was visited by poets and writers, such as Anna Akhmatova, Ilia Ehrenburg, and Osip Mandelstam, dancers Bronislava Nijinska and Elsa Kruger, as well as many artists Alexander Bogomazov, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, and students, such as Grigori Kozintsev, Sergei Yutkevich, and Aleksei Kapler among many others. In 1908 she participated in an exhibition together with members of the group Zveno (Link) organized by David Burliuk, Wladimir Burliuk and others in Kiev.
In Paris, Aleksandra Ekster was a personal friend of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who introduced her to Gertrude Stein.
She exhibited six works at the Salon de la Section d'Or, Galerie La Boétie, Paris, October 1912, with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp and others.
In 1914, Ekster participated in the Salon des Indépendants exhibitions in Paris, together with Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vadym Meller, Sonia Delaunay-Terk and other French and Russian artists. In that same year she participated with the “Russians” Archipenko, Koulbine and Rozanova in the International Futurist Exhibition in Rome. In 1915 she joined the group of avant-garde artists Supremus. Her friend introduced her to the poet Apollinaire, who took her to Picasso's workshop. According to Moscow Chamber Theatre actress Alice Coonen, "In Parisian household there was a conspicuous peculiar combination of European culture with Ukrainian life. On the walls between Picasso and Braque paintings there was Ukrainian embroidery; on the floor was a Ukrainian carpet, at the table they served clay pots, colorful majolica plates of dumplings."
Under the avant-guard umbrella, Ekster has been noted to be a suprematist and constructivist painter as well as a major influencer of the Art Deco movement.
While not confined within a particular movement, Ekster was one of the most experimental women of the avant-garde. Ekster absorbed from many sources and cultures in order to develop her own original style. In 1915–1916 she worked in the peasant craft cooperatives in the villages Skoptsi and Verbovka along with Kazimir Malevich, Yevgenia Pribylskaya, Natalia Davidova, Nina Genke, Liubov Popova, Ivan Puni, Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova and others. Ekster later founded a teaching and production workshop (MDI) in Kiev (1918–1920). Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, Kliment Red'ko, Tchelitchew, Shifrin, Nikritin worked there. Also during this period she was one of the leading stage designers of Alexander Tairov's Chamber Theatre.
In 1919 together with other avant-garde artists Kliment Red'ko and Nina Genke-Meller she decorated the streets and squares of Kiev and Odessa in abstract style for Revolution Festivities. She worked with Vadym Meller as a costume designer in a ballet studio of the dancer Bronislava Nijinska.
In 1921 she became a director of the elementary course Color at the Higher Artistic-Technical Workshop (VKhUTEMAS) in Moscow, a position she held until 1924. Her work was displayed alongside that of other Constructivist artists at the 5x5=25 exhibition held in Moscow in 1921.
In line with her eclectic avant-guard-like style, Ekster’s early paintings strongly influenced her costume design as well as her book illustrations, which are scarcely noted. All of Ekster’s works, no matter the medium, stick to her distinct style. Her works are vibrant, playful, dramatic, and theatrical in composition, subject matter, and color. Ekster constantly stayed true to her composition aesthetic across all mediums. Furthermore, each medium only enhanced and influenced her work in other mediums.

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Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster foi uma pintora e designer franco-russa dos movimentos cubo-futurista, suprematista e construtivista.
Aleksandra Ekster nasceu no dia 6 de janeiro de 1882 em Białystok, Império Russo (actualmente Polónia) numa família abastada bielorrussa. O seu pai, Aleksandr Grigorovich era um comerciante de sucesso. Em criança, Aleksandra recebeu uma educação privada de qualidade, tendo estudado línguas, música, arte e aulas privadas de desenho. Em 1903 casou com Nikolai Evgenyevich Ekster, um advogado de sucesso de Kiev. Os Eksters faziam parte da elite cultural e intelectual de Kiev. No mesmo período, estudava pintura na Escola Artística de Kiev. Em 1907 passa vários meses com o marido em Paris, onde frequentou a Académie de la Grande Chaumière em Montparnasse. De 1908 a 1924 alternou residência entre Kiev, São Petersburgo, Odessa, Paris, Roma e Moscovo.
O seu estúdio no sótão da Rua Funduklievskaya foi ponto de encontro para a elite intelectual de Kiev. Recebia visitas de poetas e escritores como Anna Akhmatova, Ilia Ehrenburg, e Osip Mandelstam, bailarinas como Bronislava Nijinska e Elsa Kruger, assim como outros artistas como Alexander Bogomazov, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, e outros ainda estudantes como Grigori Kozintsev, Sergei Yutkevich, e Aleksei Kapler. Em 1908 participou numa exposição conjuntamente com membros do grupo Zveno, organizada em Kiev por David Burliuk e Wladimir Burliuk, entre outros.
Em Paris tornou-se amiga pessoal de Pablo Picasso e Georges Braque, que a apresentariam a Gertrude Stein. Em 1914 Ekster participa nas exposições do Salon des Indépendants em conjunto com Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vadym Meller, Sonia Delaunay-Terk e outros artistas Russos e Franceses. Nesse mesmo ano participa com Archipenko, Koulbine e Rozanova na Exposição Futurista Internacional em Roma. Em 1915 junta-se ao grupo de vanguarda Supremus.
Ekster absorvia influências de várias fontes e culturas de forma a desenvolver o seu próprio estilo. Em 1915-16 trabalhou em cooperativas artesanais nas cidades de Skoptsi e Verbovka, juntamente com Kazimir Malevich, Yevgenia Pribylskaya, Natalia Davidova, Nina Genke, Liubov Popova, Ivan Puni, Olga Rozanova eNadezhda Udaltsova entre outros. Eskter mais tarde fundou uma oficina de ensino e produção em Kiev (1918-20), onde trabalhariam Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, Kliment Red'ko, Tchelitchew, Shifrin e Nikritin. Também durante este período foi um dos nomes notáveis do Teatro Kamerny.
Em 1919, juntamente com outros artistas de vanguarda como Kliment Red'ko and Nina Genke-Meller, decorou as ruas de Kiev com motivos abstratos para as comemorações da Revolução. Trabalhou também como figurinista com Vadym Meller no estúdio de ballet da bailarina Bronislava Nijinska. Em 1921 torna-se directora do curso básico de cor na escola artística VKhUTEMAS em Moscovo, cargo que ocuparia até 1924. O seu trabalho seria mostrado a par de outros artistas construtivistas na exposição 5x5=25 organizada em Moscovo em 1921.
Em 1924 Aleksandra Ekster emigram para França e estabelecem-se em Paris. No início, torna-se professora na Academia de Arte Moderna, e entre 1926 a 1930 lecciona na Academia de Arte Contemporânea de Fernand Léger. Em 1933 começou a criar iluminuras delicadas (gouache sobre papel) que, sem dúvida, são os mais notórios trabalhos da sua última fase de vida. O manuscrito "Callimaque" (c. 1939), contendo uma tradução francesa de um hino do poeta Grego Callimachus é amplamente reconhecido como a sua obra-prima. Em 1936 participa na exposição Cubismo e Arte Abstracta" em Nova Iorque e exposições individuais em Praga e Paris.
Durante as últimas décadas a sua reputação aumentou radicalmente, assim como o valor das suas obras, o que tem originado a aparição de inúmeras falsificações no mercado e pratcamente todas as monografias recentes de Ekster foram publicadas com o propósito único de dar autenticidade a estas falsificações.

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