Goncharova Natalia

Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) – Russian avant-garde artist, graphic artist, set designer. Representative of Luchism.

Since 1906 Goncharova has been painting more and more intensively. In Paris, she attends a retrospective of Paul Gauguin and admires Fauvism, moving away from Impressionism. Soon she tried herself in many other areas of painting: fascinated by cubism and primitivism. At the same time, Goncharova actively exhibits her works, participating in all major exhibitions of contemporary art in Russia, as well as in some European exhibitions.

Still life in the work of N. Goncharova occupies a special place. The artist turned to this genre throughout her career. In her youth, she loved and studied botany, and kept this love throughout her life. Experimenting with neo-primitivism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, she borrows and mixes their styles, creating compositions rich in geometric patterns, various shapes in combination with realistically painted colors. The work “Still Life with a Blue Vase” belongs to the late period of the artist’s work.

The acquired tone of still life painting emphasizes the expressiveness and excellent technique of execution. This still life is a clear proof of mastery, in which the artist combines the classical painting traditions of the XIX century with modernism. Like many members of her generation.

N. Goncharova shared the idea that the artist acts as a seer, depicting the invisible reality – more correct and deeper than the physical world around us.

Goncharova’s largest solo exhibitions took place in Moscow, on Bolshaya Dmitrovka (autumn 1913), and in St. Petersburg (spring 1914), and presented more than 700 works created from 1900 to 1913. The Moscow exhibition ends with the release of the first catalog-monograph, dedicated to Goncharova and Larionov, edited by IM Zdanevich. The foreword to the catalog contains the oft-quoted statement attributed to Goncharova:

“I have gone through everything that the West has been able to give so far – as well as everything that my homeland has created by leaving the West. to the source of all art – to the East. The art of my country is incomparably deeper and more significant than anything I know in the West. ”

There is controversy among art historians about the present authorship of these words. There is an assumption that the author was I. Zdanevich himself. However, the expression of similar theses in the earlier texts of Goncharova and Larionov allows other researchers to argue that the quotation corresponded to the ideas of Goncharova and her close circle. Later, when she was forced to emigrate to Paris, Goncharova said: “I wanted to go to the East, but I got to the West.”

Still life in the work of N. Goncharova occupies a special place. The artist turned to this genre throughout her career. In her youth, she loved and studied botany, and kept this love throughout her life. Experimenting with neo-primitivism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, she borrows and mixes their styles, creating compositions rich in geometric patterns, various shapes in combination with realistically painted colors.

With the outbreak of World War I, Larionov and Goncharova returned to Russia. In 1914, Goncharova published a lithographic series “Mystical Images of War” – large lithographs on a patriotic theme. In April 1915, Goncharova’s last exhibition in Russia took place (“Painting Exhibition 1915”). In June 1915 Diaghilev invited Goncharova and Larionov for permanent work in his “Russian Seasons”, they left Russia.