Vadym Meller

Vadym Meller or Vadim Meller, (Russian: Вадим Георгиевич Меллер;Ukrainian: Вадим Георгійович Меллер, 1884–1962) was a Ukrainian-Russian Soviet painter, avant-garde Cubist, Constructivist and Expressionist artist, theatrical designer, book illustrator, and architect. In 1925, he was the first artist to be awarded a gold medal in the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (Art Deco) in Paris.

Biography

Vadim Meller was born in Saint-Petersburg. He was the second son of a top official in the Ministry of Justice in the Russian Empire. His father, George Meller, was a noble-born Swede; his mother, Helena Caruso, was half Italian and half Greek, and also from a noble family. He married Nina Genke. Vadim Meller died in Kiev.

Education

From 1903–1908, Meller studied at Kiev University. In 1905, he visited Geneva, Switzerland, where he took art lessons at the private school of Franz Roubaud. In 1908, with the recommendation of Roubaud, he continued his education at the private art school of drawing and painting of Heinrich Knirr in Munich, Germany. There, Meller met fellow student, Paul Klee, who introduced him to Der Blaue Reiter group.