Sergei Chekhonin (1878-1936)

In 1934, Chekhonin began to devote himself to the invention of a polychromatic textile printing machine – one of the first of its kind. The machine allowed for a piece of fabric to be printed with multiple colours in one go through the machine and for many inks to be used at once. Chekhonin strove endlessly for the machine to see the light of day and succeeded in having it patented in numerous European countries, notably Switzerland, where a machine was known to have functioned until 1949. The textiles it produced demonstrate an incredible clarity of composition, with brilliant neon flowers dominating the darker backgrounds – outlining both the precision of the machine and Chekhonin’s outstanding eye for colour.