WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Pavel Tchelitchew

Pavel Tchelitchew

Pavel Tchelitchew

Russian-American, 1898

WA-00029721

Kaluga, Russia

PrintmakingFuturismCubismSurrealism

Representation

None documented

59

Institutional Exhibitions

198

Works in Collection

365

Assets Indexed

4

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ2361741 ULAN500004010

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Painters for the Theater

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1989

No image

Collage: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988–1989

No image

Recent Acquisitions: Drawings

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1981

No image

Art of the Twenties

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979–1980

No image

Gifts of Drawing

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979

No image

Revolution: Russian Avant-Garde, 1912�1930

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1978–1979

No image

Artists and Writers

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1978

No image

The Graphic Revolution: 1915�1935

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977

No image

Extraordinary Men

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977

No image

Between World Wars: Drawing in Europe and America

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1976

No image

Cubism and Its Affinities

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1976

No image

A Museum Menagerie

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1975–1976

Field Verification (4 fields)

4 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearMoMA· 93%✓
LocationMoMA· 93%✓
NationalityMoMA· 93%✓

Source Registry (2)

Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/pavel-tchelitchew
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/5821
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Pavel Tchelitchew was an American painter and stage designer born in Russia who worked across figurative painting, theatrical design, and set decoration. His canvases combined surrealist and expressionist vocabularies with classical figuration, often depicting elongated human forms and dreamlike interiors. Active in New York and Europe through the mid-twentieth century, he created both easel works and large-scale designs for ballet and opera productions. His practice bridged fine art and performance, with particular attention to formal distortion and psychological intensity.

Source: Sothebys · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Futurism

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Victoria and Albert Museum Tate

Canonical record

Artworks (198)

Untitled

1953 · Colored pencil on colored paper

18 7/8 x 13" (47.9 x 33.0 cm

Museum of Modern Art

Head

1951 · Colored wax pencils on black wove paper

48.4 × 35.4 cm (19 1/16 × 13 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Head, VI

1950 · Colored pencil on black paper

19 7/8 x 13 3/4" (50.4 x 34.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1950 · Colored pencil on black paper

18 7/8 x 12 1/2" (47.9 x 31.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1950 · pink and white chalk

Image: 43.8 x 34.9 cm (17 1/4 x 13 3/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1949 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Interior Landscape

Interior Landscape

1949 · Crayon with stumping on blue wove paper

50 × 32.3 cm (19 11/16 × 12 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Head

1949 · Flesh colored crayon, with stumping, on black paper

50 × 33 cm (19 11/16 × 13 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Paul J. Sachs

1949 · Watercolor on paper

14 x 10" (35.5 x 25.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Paul J. Sachs

1949 · Watercolor on paper

14 x 10" (35.5 x 25.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1948 · Pen and black ink, with brush and gray wash, incising, and rubbing, on ivory wove paper.

35.5 × 25.4 cm (14 × 10 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Interior Landscape

Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.6 × 38.9 cm (19 15/16 × 15 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Plate from Interior Landscape

Plate from Interior Landscape

1948 · Hand-colored screenprint on paper

Sheet: 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Monroe Wheeler

1945 · Pencil on paper

18 3/8 x 12 1/4" (46.9 x 31.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Itinerary for an Aerial Journey (Anatomical Head)

1945 · Opaque watercolor and watercolor on paper

14 1/16 × 11 1/8 in. (35.7 × 28.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mrs. James Fosburgh

1943 · Pencil on paper on brown paper

15 1/2 x 10 7/8" (39.3 x 27.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Study for The Crystal Grotto

1943 · Ink on paper

14 x 11" (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Portrait of Monroe Wheeler

Portrait of Monroe Wheeler

1942 · Pen and black ink and brush and gray wash on cream wove paper

33.1 × 25.2 cm (13 1/16 × 9 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Design for backdrop for the ballet Apollon Musagète

Design for backdrop for the ballet Apollon Musagète

1942 · Gouache, ink, and pencil on paper

20 x 28 1/2" (50.8 x 72.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Set design for the ballet Apollon Musagète

Set design for the ballet Apollon Musagète

1942 · Gouache on paper

18 1/8 x 28 1/2" (46 x 72.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 198 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

198 published of 358 catalogued · 250 with image

MoMA
160 publishedof 320 catalogued220 img
Art Institute Chicago
28 published28 img
The Met
7 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
1 published
Tate
1 published1 img
Victoria & Albert
1 published1 img

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 2)

2 entries · 1 sources

Head IV
1950 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Mrs R.A. Gorer
1930 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Untitled (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

12

Movements6

Futurism Cubism Surrealism Expressionism Performance Art Figuration

Collections6

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Victoria and Albert Museum Tate

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Victoria and Albert Museum

In collection

Tate