Lyubov Popova

Infobox Artist
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name = Liubov Sergeyevna Popova


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birthdate = Birth date|1889|4|24
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deathdate = Death date and age|1924|5|25|1889|4|24
deathplace = Moscow
nationality = Russian
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Liubov Sergeyevna Popova (Любовь Сергеевна Попова) (April 24, 1889 - May 25, 1924) was a Russian avant-garde artist (Cubist, Suprematist and Constructivist), painter and designer.

Early life

Popova was born in Ivanovskoe, near Moscow, to the wealthy family of Sergei Maximovich Popov, a successful textile merchant and vigorous patron of the arts. [ Dabrowski, M., "Liubov Popova", Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1991, p.122.] She grew up with a strong interest in art, especially Italian Renaissance painting. At eleven years old she began formal art lessons at home; by the age of 18 she was studying with Stanislav Zhukovsky, and in 1908 entered the private studios of Konstantin Yuon and Ivan O. Dudin.

Travels

Popova traveled widely to investigate and learn from diverse styles of painting, but it was the ancient Russian Icons and 15th and 16th century Italian painters, Giotto and others which at first interested her the most.

In 1909 she traveled to Kiev, then in 1910 to Pskov and Novgorod. The following year she visited other ancient Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, to study icons. In 1912 she worked in a Moscow studio known as "The Tower" with Ivan Aksenov and Vladimir Tatlin, and also visited Sergei Shchukin's collection of modern French paintings.

In 1912-1913 she studied art with Nadezhda Udaltsova in Paris, where she met Alexander Archipenko and Ossip Zadkine in 1913. After returning to Russia that same year, she worked with Tatlin, Udaltsova and the Vesnin brothers.In 1914 she traveled in France and Italy at the development of cubism and futurism.

Development of style from Cubo-Futurism to Constructivism

Through a synthesis of styles Popova worked towards what she termed "painterly architectonics". Exploring firstly Impressionism, by 1913, in "Composition with Figures", she was experimenting with the particularly Russian development of

From 1914-1915 her Moscow home became the meeting-place for artists and writers. In 1914-1916 Popova together with other avant-garde artists (Aleksandra Ekster, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Olga Rozanova) contributed to the two "Jack of Diamonds" exhibitions, then in Petrograd " Tramway V" and the "0.10", "The Store" in Moscow.

In 1916 she joined the "Supremus" group with Kazimir Malevich, the founder of Suprematism, Aleksandra Ekster, Ivan Kliun, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Olga Rozanova, Ivan Puni, Nina Genke, Ksenia Boguslavskaya and others who at this time worked in Verbovka Village Folk Centre. 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. Popova embraced both of these ideals but eventually identified herself entirely with the early aims of the Revolution working in poster, book design, fabric and theatre design, as well as teaching.

Her painting "The Violin" of 1914 reveals the development from cubism towards the "painterly architectonics" of 1917- 1918. Before joining the Supremus group her paintings, the "architectonic series" defined her artistic trajectory, quite distinct from that of Malevich, Rozanova, Tatlin and Mondrian, in abstract form. The canvas surface is an energy field of overlapping and intersecting angular planes in a constant state of potential release. 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. By 1918 colour is used as the iconic focus; the strong primary colour at the centre drawing the outer shapes together.

In 1918 Popova married von Eding, and gave birth to a son, but von Eding died the following year of typhoid fever. She worked on "Agitprop" designs, and in 1919 she contributed to Tenth State Exhibition: Non Objective Creativity and Suprematism. She painted more advanced abstract works in 1919-21. In 1921 she exhibited in the 5 x 5 Exhibition.

From 1921-24 Popova became active in Constructivist projects, sometimes in collaboration with the architect Alexander Vesnin. She was active in stage designs: Vsevolod Meyerhold's production of Fernand Crommeldynck's "The Magnanamous Cuckold", 1922; and in teaching: "Spatial Force Constructions" were used as the basis of an art teaching theory. She designed typography of books, production art and textiles, and contributed designs for dresses to LEF.

Popova died in Moscow. A large exhibition of her work opened in Moscow on 21 December, 1924.

References

* Bowlt, John, and Drutt, Matthew, "Amazons of the Avant-Garde", Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1999
* Dabrowski, Magdalena, "Liubov Popova", Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1991
* Gooding, Mel, "Abstract Art", Tate Publishing, 2001
* Gray, Camilla, "The Russian Experiment in Art", Thames and Hudson, 1965
* Sarabianov, Dmitri, and Adaskina, Natalia, "Popova", Harry N Abrams Inc. New York, 1990

External links

* [http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/popova.html Liubov Popova at rollins.edu]
* [http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_131.html Biography at Guggenheim museum]