Natalia Goncharova


Stunning exhibition at Tate Modern on the life and work of the Russian artist Natalia Goncharova.

The show was wonderfully colourful and included paintings, textile designs, book illustrations and theatrical designs. It chartered her work from rural Imperial Russia to her life in Paris after the 1920s.

I loved the early work and it was a nice touch to show it with a peasants outfit of the time to show you where the colours and vibrancy came from. She showed an interest in textiles throughout her life and in fact the name of her family estate meant “cloth factory” and a number of the pictures in this section looked at the process of cloth making.

The show looked at how Moscow, where Goncharova moved when she was eleven, was one of the best places in the world to see modern part as two industrialists, Ivan Morozov and Sergie Shchukin, had huge collections which they opened to the public and there was a room of pictures Goncharova would have seen there plus works they purchases from her.

This was followed by a room recreated her 1913 exhibition bringing together 33 works which would have been seen there. It showed a range of styles that she was trying including the seven remaining pieces of the nine piece work “Harvest”. The whole room had a real sense of joy and exuberance.

It was nice to have a room of her religious works including “The Evangelists” which was shown in London in the 1912 Post-Impressionist exhibition. Also a corridor of book illustrations and archive material.

I loved the cyclist shown here which was in the room on Modernism. I loved the sense of movement in it and the use of words and lettering. From 1912-13 Goncharova started looking at more urban subjects and she started to look at abstract forms. From 1919 she lived in Paris, having been exiled by the Revolution, although I must admit I thought the art lost some of its vibrancy at this time.

The best thing about this show was the inclusion of her fashion and theatre designs. In the early section there was a lovely room on her fashion design and I so wanted the clothes. The last room was stunning looking at her designs for the Ballets Russes including costumes as well as sketches, photographs, videos and music for the ballets she designed playing in the space. A wonderfully evocative room and a good ending place for a vibrant show.

Closes on 8 September 2019

Reviews
Times
Guardian
Telegraph


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Courtauld summer school day 1

Image
Today has been my first day of this year’s week at the Courtauld Institute’s summer schools. This year I am doing “Painting in Renaissance Venice” which is being led by Michael Douglas-Scott. It was nice to see some familiar faces and there are at least five of us who did Michael’s course last year. Today has been two lectures. Firstly setting out the background of Venice in this period looking at how the city had set up a myth of itself, the role of the Doge. the nature of the Republic and the role of citizens. The second lecture looked at why the nature of Renaissance was different in Venice. There was still a sense of the coming of antiquity and humanism but in Venice it fused with the Gothic and Byzantine rather than replacing it. The day ended with a choice of gallery talks. I went to one on the second floor of the Courtauld on the coming of Modernism. In essence it looked at the Impressionists and discussed what they were reacting against and what themes they portrayed. All in a
Read more