Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné (1888-1944) was born in Kherson, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire at the time (later part of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991).

In 1902 he studied at the School of the Society for the Furthering of the Arts in St. Petersburg. From 1903 to 1907 he attended the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.

In 1908 he exhibited with the group Zveno (“The Link”) in Kiev organized by the artist David Burliuk and his brother Wladimir Burliuk.

In 1910 he moved to Paris, where until 1914 he was a resident in the artist’s colony La Ruche together with Alexander Archipenko, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Nathan Altman and others. He exhibited regularly in Paris after 1911.

He returned to Russia in 1914. In 1916 he had a solo exhibition in Oslo. In 1918 he had exhibitions with the union of artists Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”) in Petrograd (St.Petersburg). In the same year he had an exhibition with the group Jewish Society for the Furthering of the Arts in Moscow, together with Nathan Altman, El Lissitzky and David Shterenberg. He participated at the First State Free Art Exhibition in Petrograd in 1919.

In 1922 Baranoff-Rossiné was the teacher at the Higher Artistic-Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) in Moscow.

In 1924 he had the first presentation of his Optophonic Piano during a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow – a synaesthetic instrument that was capable of creating coloured lights, patterns and textures simultaneously.

In 1925 he emigrated to France.

Continuously experimenting, Baranoff-Rossiné is credited as an author of the Russian Avant-Garde Cubo-Futurism and Pointillist movements.

Baranoff-Rossiné applied the art of colour to military art with the technique of camouflage or the Chameleon process alongside Robert Delaunay which was patented in 1939.

Baranoff-Rossiné also invented a “photochromometer” that allowed the determination of the qualities of precious stones. Baranoff-Rossiné also perfected a machine that made, sterlized and distributed fizzy drinks, the “MULTIPERCO”, which received several technical awards at the time.

During the German occupation of France in World War II, Baranoff-Rossiné was deported to Auschwitz, a German concentration camp, and died there.

Notable achievements

• Author of the Russian Avant-Garde Cubo-Futurism and Pointillist movements.

   

• ‘Adam and Eve’ painted in 1910, is the 23rd most expensive painting ever sold at auction by a Russian painter. The painting was sold for $5.37m at Christie’s, London, in 2008.

   

• ‘Symphony Number 1’ sculpted in 1913, is a permanent exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art – MoMA, New York and was featured in their promotional video, ‘I See’.

   

• In 1939, Baranoff-Rossine patented modern day camouflage (spot-by-dynamic camouflage or chameleon method) alongside French artist Robert Delaunay.

   

• Inventor of the Optophonic Piano that projected revolving patterns onto a wall or ceiling. Concerts took place all over Europe including at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, 1924.

   

• Inventor of the Photo Chronometer – a device that determines the quality of precious gems – as well as a machine for production, sterilization and bottling of Multiperco fuzzy drinks for which he received several international awards.

   

• Over 100 exhibitions worldwide including 10 permanent exhibitions in New York, Washington, Paris, Moscow, St Petersburg, Saratov Oblast, Nürnberg, Duisburg, Otterlo and Bakı.

   

• Featured in over 60 books and publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Telegraph and Le Monde.