Goncharova - The Art And Design Of Natalia Goncharova

Product Description

A contemporary of Picasso, Matisse & Kandinsky, Goncharova is now recognised as one of the leading Russian artists of the Twentieth Century. This book traces the development of her art from its impressionist origins, through a provocative phase of `primitive` style paintings on peasant themes to highly innovative abstract works that rivalled the most daring experiments of the Cubists & Futurists. As a woman artist she was galvanized by gender issues & addressed these directly in her work. In both her paintings & her behaviour she questioned accepted conventions & scandalised Russian society. Arrested in 1909 on the grounds of the `pornographic` content of her paintings, accused of heresy against the Orthodox Church in 1914 because of her religious work & branded a Futurist because she walked about in public with a painted face, her large-scale retrospective in Moscow in 1913, in which she exhibited over 700 works, demonstrated to public & critics alike that she was, unquestionably, one of the greatest painterly talents that Russia had ever produced. In 1914 Diaghilev, the director of the famous ` Ballets Russes` invited Goncharova to make designs for ” The Golden Cockerel” which was staged at the Paris Opera. The staggering success of this production opened up new creative horizons for her & she remained in Paris to become one of Diaghilev`s `resident` designers. Her work of this period reveals her gifts not only as a superb stage designer but also as a designer of women`s fashions for the haute-couture industry of Art Deco Paris. Her work is now in the collections of museums & galleries across the world & is so highly sought that she has achieved the highest sale price ever recorded at auction for a woman artist.