A fantastic Exhibition is taking place in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence till 12 January 2020: Natalia Gončarova - a woman and the Russian avant-garde among Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso. The Exhibition is curated by Ludovica Sebregondi, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Matthew Gale and Natalia Sidlina, Tate Modern.
Florence is celebrating Natalia Gončarova, an outstanding artist of the 20th Century, born in Tula Province, Central Russia in 1881. Her father was a great nephew of the eponymous and very beautiful wife of poet Alexander Pushkin, who died from wounds received in a duel sparked by his wife’s alleged unfaithfulness.
Showcasing 130 works of art from such international collections as the Tate Modern in London, the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and video footage and photographs, the exhibition in Florence paints a picture of the gorgeous vibrancy of this original and innovating artist.
This artist had a highly unconventional life and her rich output can be compared with masterpieces of celebrated artists such as Paul Gauguin, Henry Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Umberto Boccioni and Fortunato Depero.
Challenging the morality of her times she was the first woman in Russia to show female nudes. She participated in street performances in the streets of Moscow. A Heroine of the Russian Avant-garde she lived the life of an exile in Paris so that she could continue working unhindered.
Natalia Gončarova created a powerful fusion of tradition and innovation experimenting with different styles from post-impressionist experiments to neo-primitivism, from modernism till cubo-futurism. Natalia often worked on rural themes, painting farm work but also moments of leisure as the dances depicted on popular engravings.
Familiarity with the work of Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Le Douanier Rousseau and Picasso influenced the work of young Russian artists including Natalia Gončarova who subscribed to the search for ways to transcending Naturalism and Symbolism.
Gončarova and her partner Mikhail Larionov formulated the Rayonist Theory in two manifestos entitled Rayonists and Futurists and Rayonism (published in 1913 but dated the year before).
When Gončarova and Larionov moved to Western Europe in 1915 it was for ever. It was a voyage of no return two years later because of the October Revolution, the ensuing civil war and in 1934 because of the end of all Avant-garde experimentation, the banishment of all such work from Russia’s most important collections to museums in the provinces and the triumph of Socialist Realism, which became the official style of Soviet Art.
This extraordinary artist died in 1962 and her ashes lie in a single grave in the Russian orthodox cemetery at Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris.#carlomarinoeuropeannewsagency
