Ivan Puni was born inKuokkala (thenGrand Duchy of Finland in theRussian Empire, nowRepino, a part ofSt. Petersburg inRussia). It was long believed that Ivan Puni was born in 1892 or 1894 until his birth certificate was found in 2019 in a St. Petersburg archive, showing his birth date as 22 March 1890 (old style).[5] He was the grandson of an eminentItaliancomposer of ballet music,Cesare Pugni. His father, a cellist, proposed him a military career, but Ivan instead decided to become a painter.
Puni continued his formal training in Paris in 1910–11 at theAcadémie Julien and other schools, where he painted in a derivativefauviste style. Upon his return to Russia in 1912, he married fellow artistXenia Boguslavskaya, and met, and exhibited with, members of the St Petersburg avant-garde, includingKazimir Malevich andVladimir Tatlin.[1] He made a second trip to Paris in 1914, returning to St. Petersburg with the outbreak ofWWI. At this point, he began painting in a Cubist style reminiscent ofJuan Gris. In 1915, Puni organized the exhibitionsTramway V and0.10, both held in St Petersburg, in which Malevich, Tatlin,Aleksandra Ekster,Liubov Popova,Ivan Kliun,Olga Rozanova,Nadezhda Udaltsova, Boguslavskaya and others participated, and to which Puni contributed constructions,readymades, and paintings.[1][6] In 1915–1916 Puni, together with other Suprematist artists, worked atVerbovka Village Folk Centre. In 1919, he taught at theVitebsk Art School underMarc Chagall.[1]
Puni and his wife,Xenia Boguslavskaya, emigrated from Russia in 1920 (end of January), first to Finland, then to Berlin,[1] where his solo exhibition was held at the Galerie der Sturm (February 1920). While in Berlin, Puni also designed costumes and sets for theatrical productions, and published a theoretical bookModern Painting.[1]
Puni and Boguslavskaya relocated to Paris in 1923, where he carried on with development of his style, which experienced several metamorphoses until it stabilized at approximately 1943 to a variant ofPost-Impressionism or lyricPrimitivism in the direction ofPierre Bonnard andEdouard Vuillard. In France he became "Jean Pougny" and in 1947 obtained French citizenship. He died in Paris in 1956.
Herman Berninger: Pougny. Jean Pougny (Iwan Puni) 1892–1956. Catalogue de l’Œuvre. Tome 1: Les Années d`avant-garde, Russie — Berlin, 1910—1923. E. Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen 1972,ISBN3-8030-3000-5
Herman Berninger: Pougny. Jean Pougny (Iwan Puni) 1892—1956. Catalogue de l` oeuvre. Tome 2: Paris-Cote d’Azur, 1924—1956, Peintures. E. Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen, 1992,ISBN3-8030-3045-5.
Iwan Puni. 1892—1956. Katalog zur Ausstellung des Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris und der Berlinischen Galerie. Bearb. v. Jean-Louis Andral, Jean-Claude Marcadé und Marie-Anne Chambost. Hatje, Stuttgart, 1993,ISBN3-927873-32-2.
Magdalena Nieslony: Bedingtheit der Malerei. Ivan Puni und die moderne Bildkritik. Berlin 2016,ISBN978-3-7861-2764-2
Herman Berninger, 0,10 Iwan Puni. Werke Aus Der Sammlung Herman Berninger, Zuerich, Und Fotografien Der Russischen Revolution Aus Der Sammlung Ruth Und Peter Herzog, Basel, 2003,ISBN3-7165-1308-3
W.E. Gröger, Galerie der Sturm, Iwan Puni, Petersburg, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Berlin, Februar 1921
André Salmon, Galerie Barbazanges, Œuvres de J. Pougni et Aquarelles de Xana Bougouslavska, Paris, 18.–30. April 1925
Galerie Jaques Bernheim, 30 Œuvres, Paris, 16.–30. April 1928
Galerie Jeanne Castel, Iwan Puni, Vorwort von Paul Guillaume, Paris, Juni 1933
Galerie Louis Carré, Iwan Puni, Paris, 5. Oktober – 20. Oktober 1943
Galerie de France, Iwan Puni, Vorwort zum Katalog von Charles Estienne, Paris, 3.–31. Mai 1947
Galerie Knoedler, Iwan Puni, New York, 26. März – 16. April, 1949
Adams Gallery, Jean Pougny, Vorwort zum Katalog von Alexander Watts, London, 13. April – 12. Mai 1950
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Rétrospective Pougny, Paris, 24. Januar – 23. Februar 1958
Musée Toulouse – Lautrec, Rétrospective Pougny, Vorwort zum Katalog von Édouard Julien und R.V. Gindertael, Albi, 29. März – 30. April 1958
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