Natalia Goncharova is an abstraction artist who represents a rather rare female avant-garde art. Her life and work are a clear reflection of the development trends of society and culture of the 20th century. Her paintings today cost a lot of money, and at one time she was persecuted and criticized for her special view of the world.
Childhood and origin
Natalia Goncharova was born on June 4, 1881 in the village of Ladyzhino, Tula Region, in the estate of her grandmother, who was not far from Yasnaya Polyana. According to her father, Natalia goes back to the Goncharov family, where the wife of Pushkin, the namesake of the artist Natalia Goncharova, came from. Their family comes from the merchant Afanasy Abramovich, the founder of the linen factory in the Kaluga region. Natalia's grandmother came from the family of the famous mathematician P. Chebyshev.
The artist’s father, Sergei Mikhailovich, was an architect and a representative of Moscow Art Nouveau. Mom Ekaterina Ilyinichna is the daughter of a Moscow professor at the Theological Academy. The girl spent her childhood in an estate in the province, and this forever instilled in her a love of rural life. Contact with folk art left a mark in her worldview, and this is precisely what art historians explain to her so decorative. When the girl was 10 years old, the family moved to Moscow.
Study
Upon arriving in Moscow, Natalia Goncharova, an artist in the future, enters a girls' gymnasium, which she graduates in 1898 with a silver medal. Despite the fact that the girl had undoubted penchant for drawing, she did not seriously consider the possibility of becoming an artist in her youth. At the end of the gymnasium, she looked for herself, tried to work in medicine, tried to study at the university, but all this did not interest her. In 1900, she became very interested in art and a year later entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the sculpture class of S. Volnukhin and P. Trubetskoy.
Studying was good for her, in 1904 she even received a small silver medal for her work, but soon left school. In 1903, she went on a creative business trip to the Crimea and Tiraspol, where she earned by drawing posters for an agricultural exhibition, and also wrote sketches and watercolors in an impressionistic manner.
The artist Mikhail Larionov advised her not to waste time on sculpture and do painting: “Open your eyes to your eyes. You have a talent for color, and you are engaged in form, ”he said. The meeting with Larionov changed her life and intentions, she begins to write a lot and look for her style.
In 1904, Goncharova returned to study, but transferred to the painting studio to K. Korovin. The girl did not abandon the sculpture and in 1907 received another medal. In 1909, Natalia finally decided to stop her studies, considering other horizons in front of her.
Luchism
Together with Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose biography is now forever connected with new art, in the early 1910s became the founder of the avant-garde movement in painting - lucism. This trend called for a return to the original sources of ancient Russian art. Particular importance was attached to the rhythm of folklore, music opened access to the historical memory of man and awakened artistic imagination.
A person, according to Goncharova and Larionov, perceives the world as a set of intersecting rays, and the artist’s task is to convey this vision using colored lines. Goncharova's early work was very vibrant and expressive. She not only imbued with the idea of luchism, but also sought to embody all the new ideas that culture then abounded in.
Creative biography
Since 1906, Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose photos of her works today can be seen in the catalogs of the most prestigious museums in the world, begins to write very intensively. A trip to Paris, where she was inspired by the work of the Fauvists and P. Gauguin, makes her move away from Impressionism and turn her eyes to new trends. A keen artist tries herself in primitivism ("Washing the Canvas" 1910), cubism ("Portrait of M. Larionov", 1913), abstraction.
Much later, art critics will say that such throwings did not allow her to develop the full power of her talent. Moreover, she is very productive and active. From 1908 to 1911 she gave private lessons in the art studio of the painter I. Mashkov. Natalia also returns to arts and crafts: writes drawings for wallpapers, draws up friezes of houses. The artist participates in the activities of the society of futurists, collaborating with V. Khlebnikov and A. Kruchenykh.
In 1913, Goncharova was shot in the experimental film "The Lady in the Cabaret of Futurists No. 13", the tape was not preserved. The only surviving frame captures the naked Goncharova in the arms of M. Larionov. In 1914, she again visited Paris at the invitation of S. Diaghilev. In 1915, the artist faced serious censorship difficulties. In 1916 he received a proposal to paint the church in Bessarabia, but the war prevented these plans.
Exhibition Activities
In the 1910s, Goncharova exhibited a lot, participates in the activities of art societies. In 1911, she together with M. Larionov organized the exhibition “Jack of Diamonds”, in 1912 - “Donkey's Tail”, “Golden Fleece Salon”, “World of Art”, “Targets”, “No. 4”. The artist was part of the Blue Horseman society in Munich. Goncharova actively supported numerous actions and undertakings of that time. Together with the futurists, she walked around St. Petersburg with a painted face, starred in their films. Almost all of these events, including exhibitions, ended in scandals and police calls.
In 1914, a large personal exhibition of works by Goncharova took place, 762 paintings were exhibited here. But there was also a scandal: part of the work was withdrawn on charges of immorality and an insult to public taste.
The reason for such excesses at avant-garde events was often Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose exhibition of works was last held in Russia in 1915. After that, Russia never again saw personal exhibitions of this original artist.
Censorship and restrictions
In 1910, at the exhibition of the Society of Free Aesthetics, Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose works have been repeatedly recognized as immoral, shows several paintings with naked women in the spirit of the Paleolithic Venus. The works were arrested on charges of pornography, which was not typical for tsarist Russia of the period when works of art did not fall under censorship. After another scandal, Natalia’s father writes an open letter to the newspaper, in which he criticized the critics for not seeing the living spirit of creativity in his daughter’s works.
In 1912, at the famous Donkey Tail exhibition, Natalia Goncharova, an artist with an established avant-garde reputation, exhibited a cycle of 4 paintings called “Evangelists”. This work provoked fury among the censors with its non-trivial depiction of saints. In 1914, 22 works were removed from the artist’s personal exhibition, after which the censors even went to court, accusing Goncharova of blasphemy over the shrines. Many artists of that time stood up for her: I. Tolstoy, M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Wrangel. Thanks to lawyer M. Khodasevich, the case was won, the censorship ban was lifted. Goncharova complained to friends that they did not understand her, that she was driven by true faith in God.
Goncharova - illustrator
Natalia Goncharova is an artist who tried himself in different forms of manifestation. Her friendship with the futurists led her to book graphics. In 1912, she draws up the books of A. Kruchenykh and V. Khlebnikov, Mirskontsa, and The Game of Hell. In 1913 - the work of A. Kruchenykh “Blast”, “Hermits. Deserts "and the collection" Zadok judges No. 2 "book K. Bolshakova. Goncharova was one of the first book schedules in Europe to use collage technique. In some of her works, she appears on an equal footing with writers.
For example, the book of A. Kruchenykh “Two Poems” has seven drawings on seven pages, which form the idea of the work to the same extent as the words. Later, abroad, N. Goncharova created illustrations for “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” for the German publishing house and for “Tales of Tsar Saltan”.
Emigration
In 1915, Natalia Sergeyevna Goncharova (avant-garde artist), together with her life partner M. Larionov, left for Paris to work with the Sergey Diaghilev Theater. The revolution prevented them from returning to Russia. They settled in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where they visited the whole color of Russian emigration.
In France, the couple organically joined the circle of local bohemians. Young people arranged charity balls for aspiring painters. Goncharova-Larionov’s house was often visited by Nikolai Gumilev, later Marina Tsvetaeva, who became very friendly with Natalya Sergeevna.
Goncharova worked a lot during the years of forced emigration, but she did not survive such a creative explosion as in the 10s in Russia. Although her cycles “Peacocks”, “Magnolias”, “Spiky Flowers” speak of her as a mature and developing painter.
Theatrical work
Natalia Goncharova is an artist whose theater has become a true vocation. She worked with A. Tairov at the Chamber Theater on the production of “The Fan”. This work was highly appreciated by V. Meyerhold. Also in the 10s, she begins to collaborate with S. Diaghilev, arranging productions in his "Russian Seasons". In Paris, she works with the ballets "Firebird", "Spain", "Wedding". Goncharova continues to collaborate with this theater even after the death of the impresario.
Best work
There are not many women artists in the world, all the more successful. One of such unique ladies was Natalia Goncharova. The artist, whose Spaniard was sold for more than £ 6 million, left a rich legacy. Her works are in many of the largest museum and private collections in the world. The best works include: “Canvas washing”, “Apple picking”, “Spanish women”, “Bird-Phoenix”, “Forest”, “Airplane over the train” series. Natalia Goncharova is a woman artist with the highest cost of paintings. Her work, Apple Harvest (1909), was auctioned off for nearly £ 5 million.
