Kliun, like many of his modernist contemporaries, started out as a realist painter and then moved quickly through Impressionist, Fauvist, and early Cubist phases, ultimately arriving at Suprematism. The Clockmaker, in its study of color and form harnessed to a sense of movement, is a powerful manifestation of his brief experiments combining the influences of French Cubism and Italian Futurism. Born in Bolshiye Gorki, Kliun began drawing at an early age and sought formal training during relocations to the Ukraine, Kiev, Warsaw and finally, Moscow, where he began the study of painting. Not being from a family of means, Kliun worked as bookkeeper in order to support his growing family. Consequently, The Clockmaker, may actually be a self portrait wherein Kliun reflects on his dilemma: never having enough hours to spend with his true vocation but, instead, being relegated by economic necessity to tallying columns of figures during the precious daylight hours.