Xenia Ender

Xenia Ender was a leading Russian artist, whose ZOR-VED artistic theory about “expanded vision” changed the course of art in the early Soviet republic. Ender examined color not just for its aesthetic principles, but also how color affected the eye as a visual experience. After the 1917 Revolution, opportunities for women in further education became more abundant, so she joined the Petrograd Free State Workshops in 1918. Upon entering, Ender became particularly interested in Mikhail Matyushin's workshop on spatial realism, and together with him she developed the theory of ZOR-VED (lit.: "See-Know"): an experiment in expanded vision. After graduating in 1922, she secured employment as a member of staff at the Organic Culture department at GINKhUK (State Institute of Artistic Culture), heading the laboratory for research into the relationship between tactile, acoustic and visual perceptions, to create more eye-catching poster designs. Alongside her research, Ender began to build a reputation as an artist in her own right, showing her work not just at exhibitions hosted by INKhUK but also at the 14th Venice Biennale in 1924. After a short hiatus around 1930, Ender began working as a draftswoman at the Lenproekt Institute, planning Leningrad's infrastructure. Her rational thinking, clear-cut ideas and preference for clear construction form gained her a high reputation and ensured employment as an influential industrial designer, the field in which she worked in Leningrad during the 1940s and 1950s. Some of the public collections which include her work include the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.