Nina Henrichovna Genke-Meller (; ; ; – 25 July 1954) was a Ukrainian-Russian and Soviet artist, designer, graphic designer and scenographer. A member of the Russian avant-garde, Genke-Meller was a representative of the Suprematist and Futurist art movements.
Early life and education Nina Henrichovna Genke was born on in Moscow, Russian Empire (now Russia) to a Dutch father, August-Henry Henke, and a Russian mother, Nadiya Lvivna Tykhanova. Genke-Meller had one older half-brother, and was the younger sister of the illustrator Margarita Genke-Shifrina.
In 1912, Genke-Meller graduated from Levandovskaya Private Gymnasium in Kyiv, and later received a title to teach Russian language and history.
Career In 1913, Genke-Meller began teaching history, geography and drawing at the Higher Primary College for Women in . In Skoptsi, she met the artist Yevgenia Pribylska who headed the Art Studio in a Folk Center and became more inspired to become an artist herself. In 1914, Genke-Meller began attending Aleksandra Ekster’s studio in Kyiv for her art education, becoming an assistant in Ekster's studio from 1915 to 1917. At the same time, Genke-Meller worked as an artist in Skoptsi (Skoptsy) Village Folk Centre, supervised by Yevgeniya Pribilskaya and in Verbovka or the Verbovka Village Folk Centre, founded by N. Davidova.
Genke-Meller was closely connected with the Supremus group that was led by Kazimir Malevich, the founder of Suprematism. From 1915, Genke-Meller worked as a head and a chief artist of the Verbovka Village Folk Centre (province in Kyiv). 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 the creative peasant artisans co-operative. During 1915 to 1916 Genke-Meller participated in the creating settings for the play "Kamira Kifared" (I.F. Annenskiy) for Kamerny Theater in Moscow, was teaching drawing at Kruger's Private Gymnasium, was working jointly on a large panel with artist Katria Vasilieva, as a member of the Kyiv Folk Centre, was one of the heads of the Kyiv Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union: together with the group of artists-suprematists was creating a network of artistic and industrial studios aiming at support of folk art in Ternopil, Kolomiya, Chortkiv and Chernivtsi regions.
Shortly after the October Revolution of 1917, Genke-Meller participated in decorating the streets of Kyiv and Odesa for Revolution Festivities together with Aleksandra Ekster and Kliment Red'ko, and began to design grandiose shows and a book on graphic design. Genke-Meller was the chief artist of panfuturist publishing house Golfshtorm (; ). At the same time she worked as a graphic artist. In 1923, she "illustrated the Panfuturists' October Collection, established a symbiosis between poster and poetry".Breaking the Rules. The printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937.p.104. Edited by Stephen Bury, published by British Library on the occasion of the exhibition Breaking the Rules at the British Library. London. 2007. From 1920 to 1924 she taught art in the All-Ukrainian State Center Studio. In 1924 moved to Moscow, working as a stage designer, designer for china (mostly plates) and wallpaper manufacture. Genke also held a position of the Deputy Head of the Board on Fine Arts in Vserabis.
In 1938, Genke-Meller became a member of the Union of Soviet Artists of Ukraine. In later life, Genke worked as an interior designer, a scenographer, and supervisor of decorative and applied arts institutions.
Personal life Genke-Meller married the artist Vadym Meller (1884-1962).
On 25 July 1954 Genke-Meller died in Kyiv aged 61. Her daughter Brigitta Vetrova (1930-2020) was the prominent Ukrainian journalist, art critic, best known for her work during the 1970s and 1980s. She played a vital role in preserving the historical legacy of her parents Vadym Meller and Nina Henke-Meller.
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Further reading
Sergei Papeta, Nina Henke: From Folk Suprematism to Avant-gardism of Shows and Plays, pp. 48–66, Exhibition Catalogue, Avant-Garde Adventures, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2004. Nina Genke: Avantgarde and Ukraine, p. 193, Exhibition Catalogue, Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany, 1993. Nina Genke: Ukrainian Avant-garde of 1910-1930s, Zagreb, Croatia, 1991. Nina Henke-Meller and Ukrainian Futurism , Ilnytzkyj, Oleh S., Pages 292-296, International Yearbook of Futurism Studies. Multi-volumed work. Volume 5. International Yearbook of Futurism Studies. Ed. by Berghaus, Günter, 2015. Dmytro Horbachov, ed., Ukrainian Avant-garde Art 1910-1930s, "Mystetstvo," Kyiv, Ukraine, 1996. John E. Bowlt, ed., Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, Exhibition Catalogue, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, and The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 2006-2007. Breaking the Rules. The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937, edited by Stephen Bury, published by British Library on the occasion of the exhibition at the British Library: Breaking the Rules, London, 2007.