PAVEL TCHELITCHEW

♥︎ My favorite paranoid gay russian artist of the early 20th century ♥︎


Untitled (Seated Man), 1927


Portrait of Charles Henri Ford
with the River Seine, 1934


Anatomical Painting, 1946

A Breakdown of his Styles


He was definitely a phase guy- one of my favorite things about him is the variety within his works. His early stuff is very theater design 1920s modern looking. Large shapes and flat looking.

He then moved on to somewhat amorphous figures. He started to put in strange materials- like sand and coffee grounds- into his paints for texture. He also started using esoteric motifs like constellations and dual images. Lots of clowns and nets and horses too.

My favorite period of his is probably his portrait era. He did beautiful portraits of his partner Charles Henri Ford. He also has a great one of Ford's sister Ruth and his friend/patron Lincoln Kirstein.

He got really eccentric after that. His two 'masterpieces' came from that. Hide and Seek (at the MOMA now) and Metamorphosis (at the Tretyakov in Moscow). Lots of image within an image stuff going on. Kind of scary and humbling honestly. I am desperate to see these in person but neither are currently on show.

After that he moved to anatomical art. He wanted to paint the inside of someone but someone who was living. He felt all anatomical art depicted someone who was dead. I think he executed this amazingly. He did a ton of anatomical research which scared the hell out of him (something him and I share) but he soldiered past it and made some crazy beautiful stuff.

His next vibe was going from perfect anatomy to concentric circles. A progression from his anatomical drawings- still trying to capture the internal anatomy of a living person but this time more vibes.

His final phase really is a culmination of his efforts. A return to the constellations but in a new and more intimidating form. Intricate large paintings that encourage complex divine interpretation. All done delicately in oil by a man who was dying (heart problems + anxiety + worms). These ones fill me with a sense of mortality that scares me. I think if I saw one in real life I would feel faint.

Now I also need to take a moment to shout out his fantastic ink wash works.

And also the crazy gay erotic art he made. He made a lot of it. I am too much of a coward to attach it so here is some of the more tame gay stuff.

Also the foot self portrait makes me laugh.

The Divine Comedy of Pavel Tchelitchew

by Parker Tyler

I cannot reccomend this book enough. It is insane. The first biography I have ever read that was written by the friend of the subject. Makes it so personal and so much more painful. Tyler writes like nothing I have ever read before. He is a poet and an art/literary critic and it shows. The way he describes the art is often incomprehensible. He makes such strange leaps and bounds and assumptions about Tchelitchew's works but he has earned his right to make things up by being Tchelitchew's friend and having his approval to interpret it however he feels. His word is not law and it is so fun to listen to him. He tells Tchelitchew's story nonlinearly which drives me crazy but also gives it so much personality. The way he describes things simply captivates me. When he describes Tchelitchew's tapeworm he says "Indeed did a woman abide in him and go through transformations" refering to it reproducing in his digestive tract. Haunting. I am begging you to read this book.


Sleep in a Nest of Flames


Sooooo soooo awesome. All about Charles Henri Ford. Has a ton of footage of him only available in this movie. Also the only footage I have seen of Tchelitchew (like 20 seconds of it). I really enjoyed it and highly recommend buying the DVD from the filmmaker. Check out his website bellow.
Also linking my LetterBoxd review.


SYMBIOSIS FILMS

Odd-Winged Angel


Entirely in Russian and untranslated. There is supposed to be an English subtitled version and you can send an email to attempt to get a DVD but they never emailed me back. All about Tchelitchew and spearheaded by his nephew Konstantin Kedrov. Awesome. Has at least one photo of him I have found nowhere else. Full movie on youtube.


WATCH MOVIE