Nina Kogan (c. 1887–1942) was a Russian painter known for her Suprematist works.
Nina Osipovna (Iosifovna) Kogan was born in 1887 or 1889 in Vitebsk, Saint Petersburg,[1] or Moscow,[2] and studied at the St.Ekaterina School in St. Petersburg in 1911–1913.[1] In 1919 she helped to organize City Museum in Petrograd.[1] She went on to study at the People's Art School in Vitebsk, Belarus, and soon became a teacher there, together with Marc Chagall, El Lissitzky, and Kazimir Malevich.[1]
Kogan became a member of Malevich's UNOVIS art collective.[1] While a member of the group, she created the work Suprematist Ballet in an attempt to animate Suprematist forms and ideas in dance.[3] [4] She also took part designing new version of futuristic opera Victory over the Sun.[1] Kogan participated in on several exhibitions of early 1920s, such as "Erste Russische Kunstausstellung" in Berlin, 1922; "Exhibition of Works by Women Artists" in Leningrad, 1936; the "Sixth Exhibition of Works by Leningrad Artists", Leningrad, 1940; and the "Seventh Exhibition of Works by Leningrad Artists", Leningrad, 1941.[1]
In 1922 Kogan married artist Anatoly Borisov. In 1922-23 she was a consultant in one of the Moscow's museums. Since 1928 she worked as children's books illustrator; she did not work in Suprematism after Vitebsk.[2]
Kogan died in 1942 in Leningrad, during the Siege of Leningrad.[5] [2]
In the 1980s a large number of works attributed to her appeared on the European art market.[5] [6]
Her works are in collections of the Seattle Art Museum and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.[7]
Australian poet Clive James wrote a poem about Kogan, titled "Nina Kogan's Geometrical Heaven":[8]