A Collision of Narratives: Archives of Ivan Kliun in the Collections of Nikolai Khardzhiev and George Costakis

Abstract The article explores the remarkable fate of the personal archive of Ivan Kliun (1873–1943), an important representative of experimental modern art from early twentieth-century Russia. His case presents a rare scenario where the artist’s archive fell into the hands of the era’s two most prominent collectors, who held starkly contrasting views on his art. While George Costakis (1913–1990) highly appreciated Kliun’s talent and built a comprehensive collection that included both his artworks and archival materials, Nikolai Khardzhiev (1903–1996) considered Kliun a mere epigone of Kazimir Malevich. By examining the collectors’ choices through the lens proposed by Jacques Derrida in his book “Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression,” the present article delves into the collision of the narratives that molded the historiography of Kliun’s work.