Nina Genke-Meller

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Nina Genke or Nina Genke-Meller, or Nina Henke-Meller, (, 1893 - 1954) was a Ukrainian-Russian avant-garde artist, (Suprematist), designer, graphic artist and scenographer.

Biography

Nina Genke was born in Moscow. Her father Genrikh Genke was Dutch, and her mother Nadezhda Tikhanova was Russian.

In 1912 she graduated from Levandovskaya Private Gymnasium in Kiev. She received a title to teach Russian language and history.

In 1913 she started to teach history, geography and drawing in the Higher Primary College for Women in Skoptsi. It was Skoptsi where her inspiration to art sprang to life. There Nina Genke met an artist Yevgenia Pribylska who was a head of the Art Studio in a Folk Center.

In 1914 she began attending Aleksandra Ekster’s studio in Kiev for her art education.

From 1915 to 1917 she was an assistant in Ekster's studio. At the same time Nina Genke worked as an artist in Skoptsi (Skoptsy) Village Folk Centre with supervisor Yevgeniya Pribilskaya and in the Verbovka Village Folk Centre, founded by N. Davidova.

She was closely connected with the Supremus group that was led by Kazimir Malevich, the founder of Suprematism.

After 1915, Nina Genke worked as a head and a chief artist of the Verbovka Village Folk Centre (province in Kiev). She attracted famous avant-garde artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Aleksandra Ekster, Ivan Kliun, Ivan Puni, Lyubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Ksenia Boguslavskaya and others to...
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