Aleksandr Vasilievich Shevchenko studied at the Stroganov Art and Industry College from 1898 to 1907.
In 1905 he stopped his college studies and left for Paris, where he worked in the art studio of Eugene Carriere till 1906 and then for Alphonse-Étienne Dinet and Jean-Paul Laurens in the Academie Julian. Before returning from Paris to Russia the artist traveled across England, Spain, Egypt and Turkey.
Upon his return to Moscow Aleksandr Shevchenko completed his studies in the Stroganov Art College in 1907. From 1908 to 1909 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where Abram Arkhipov and Konstantin Korovin were his teachers.
Aleksandr Shevchenko participated in exhibitions of the associations World of Art, Union of Youth and Donkey Tail in the 1910s. The artist authored a number of literary articles on his theoretical concepts of art.
He was drafted into the field army in 1914 and was wounded in 1916. He was demobilized in 1917.
Aleksandr Shevchenko headed the Literary and Art Section of the Art Board in People's Commissariat for Education (1918 — 1921). Besides, the artist taught at the Higher Art and Technical Studios (1918 — 1929). He was a member of the Makovets art group and the Moscow Artists Society.
In the late 1920s – early 1930s he visited Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia and created a series of works on the oriental themes.
From 1941 Aleksandr Shevchenko headed the Department of Painting at the Moscow Textile Institute.