Lyubov Popova | |
|---|---|
 Lyubov Popova, before 1920 | |
| Born | (1889-04-24)April 24, 1889 |
| Died | May 25, 1924(1924-05-25) (aged 35) |
| Known for | Painting,stage design,textile design,book design |
| Movement | Russian avant-garde,Cubo-Futurism,Suprematism,Constructivism |
Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova (Russian:Любо́вь Серге́евна Попо́ва; April 24, 1889 – May 25, 1924)[1] was a Russian-Sovietavant-garde artist,painter anddesigner.
Popova was born inIvanovskoe, nearMoscow, to the wealthy family of Sergei Maximovich Popov, a very successful textile merchant and vigorous patron of the arts, and Lyubov Vasilievna Zubova, who came from a highly cultured family. Lyubov Sergeyevna had two brothers and a sister: Sergei was the eldest, then Lyubov, Pavel and Olga. Pavel became a philosopher and the guardian of his sister's artistic legacy.[2]
Popova grew up with a strong interest in art, especiallyItalian Renaissance painting. At eleven years old she began formal art lessons at home. She was first enrolled in Yaltinskaia's Women's Gymnasium, then in Arseneva's Gymnasium in Moscow.[3] By the age of 18 she was studying withStanislav Zhukovsky, and in 1908 entered the private studios ofKonstantin Yuon andIvan Dudin. Between 1912 to 1913, she began attending the studios of the Cubist paintersHenri Le Fauconnier andJean Metzinger atAcadémie de La Palette in Paris.[3]
Popova traveled widely to investigate and learn from diverse styles of painting, but it was the ancient Russianicons, the paintings ofGiotto, and the works of the 15th- and 16th-century Italian painters which interested her the most.[citation needed]
In 1909 she traveled toKiev, then in 1910 toPskov andNovgorod. The following year she visited other ancient Russian cities, includingSt. Petersburg, to study icons. In 1912 she worked in a Moscow studio known as "The Tower" withIvan Aksenov andVladimir Tatlin, and also visitedSergei Shchukin's collection of modern French paintings.
In 1912–1913 she studied art withNadezhda Udaltsova inParis, where she metAlexander Archipenko, andOssip Zadkine in 1913. After returning to Russia that same year, she worked with Tatlin, Udaltsova, and theVesnin brothers.
In 1914 she traveled in France and Italy during the development of Cubism andFuturism.[4]
Popova was one of the first female pioneers inCubo-Futurism.[5] Through a synthesis of styles she worked towards what she termedpainterly architectonics. After first exploringImpressionism, by 1913, inComposition with Figures, she was experimenting with the particularly Russian development of Cubo-Futurism: a fusion of two equal influences from France and Italy.
From 1914 to 1915 her Moscow home became the meeting-place for artists and writers. In 1914–1916 Popova together with otheravant-garde artists (Aleksandra Ekster, Nadezhda Udaltsova,Olga Rozanova) contributed to the twoKnave of Diamonds exhibitions, in Petrograd Tramway V and the0.10,The Store in Moscow. An analysis of Popova's cubo-futurist work also suggests an affinity with the work ofFernand Leger, whose geometry of tubular and conical forms in his series of paintings from 1913 to 1914 is similar to that in Popova's paintings.[2]
Her paintingThe Violin of 1914 suggests the development from Cubism towards the "painterly architectonics" series of 1916–1918. This series defined her distinct artistic trajectory inabstract form. The canvas surface is an energy field of overlapping and intersecting angular planes in a constant state of potential release of energy. At the same time the elements are held in a balanced and proportioned whole as if linking the compositions of the classical past to the future. Color is used as the iconic focus; the strong primary color at the center drawing the outer shapes together.
In 1916 she joined theSupremus group withKazimir Malevich, the founder ofSuprematism,Aleksandra Ekster,Ivan Kliun,Nadezhda Udaltsova,Olga Rozanova,Ivan Puni,Nina Genke,Ksenia Boguslavskaya and others who at this time worked inVerbovka Village Folk Centre. The creation of a new kind of painting was part of therevolutionary urge of theRussian avant-garde to remake the world. The term 'supreme' refers to a 'non-objective' or abstract world beyond that of everyday reality.However, there was a tension between those who, like Malevich, saw art as a spiritual quest, and others who responded to the need for the artist to create a new physical world.[6] Popova embraced both of these ideals but eventually identified herself entirely with the aims of theRevolution working inposter,book design, fabric andtheatre design, as well as teaching. At0.10 she had exhibited a number of figurative painted cardboard reliefs in a cubist derived style. In 1916 she began to paint completely abstractSuprematist compositions, but the title "Painterly Architectonics" (which she gave to many of her paintings) suggests that, even as a Suprematist, Popova was more interested in painting as a projection of material reality than as the personal expression of a metaphysical reality. Popova's superimposed planes and strong color have the objective presence of actual space and materials.[7][8]
In 1918 Popova married the art historianBoris von Eding, and gave birth to a son. Von Eding died the following year oftyphoid fever. Popova was also seriously ill but recovered.
As early as 1917, in parallel with her Suprematist work, the artist had made fabric designs and worked onAgitprop books and posters, In theTenth State Exhibition: Non Objective Creativity and Suprematism, 1918, she contributed the architectonic series of paintings. She continued painting advanced abstract works until 1921. In the5x5=25 Exhibition of 1921,[9] Popova and her four fellowConstructivists declared that easel painting was to be abandoned and all creative work was to be for the people and the making of the new society. Popova worked in a broad range of mediums and disciplines, including painting, relief, works on paper, and designs for the theater, textiles, and typography. Popova did not join theWorking Group of Constructivists when it was set up in Moscow in March 1921, but joined by the end of 1921. In 1923 she began creating designs for fabric to be manufactured by the First State Textile Printing Works in Moscow.[10]
From 1921 to 1924 Popova became entirely involved in Constructivist projects, sometimes in collaboration withVarvara Stepanova, the architectAlexander Vesnin andAlexander Rodchenko. She produced stage designs:Vsevolod Meyerhold's production ofFernand Crommelynck'sThe Magnanimous Cuckold, 1922; herSpatial Force Constructions were used as the basis of her art teaching theory atVkhutemas. She designed typography of books, production art and textiles, and contributed designs for dresses toLEF.
She worked briefly in the Cotton Printing Factory in Moscow with Varvara Stepanova.
Popova died at the peak of her artistic powers two days after the death of her son, from whom she had contractedscarlet fever in 1924 in Moscow. A large exhibition of her work opened in Moscow from December 21, 1924, to January 1925, atStroganov Institute, Moscow. The exhibition included Popova's works such as seventy-seven paintings, as well as books, posters, textile designs, and line engravings. "Artist-Constructor" was the term applied to Popova by her contemporaries in the catalogue of the artist's posthumous exhibition.[11]
Rodchenko/Popova: Defining Constructivism, an exhibition of the work of Popova, Rodchenko, and other Constructivists was shown atTate Modern, London, in 2009,[12] and subsequently atMuseo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
Popova's work was included in the 2021 exhibitionWomen in Abstraction at theCentre Pompidou.[13]
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