Natalia Goncharova - artist: biography and photo

Natalia Goncharova - an artist-abstractionist, which represents a fairly rare female avant-garde art. Her life and work are a vivid reflection of the trends in the development 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, which was located near Yasnaya Polyana. According to his father Natalia goes back to the Goncharov family, where Pushkin's wife came from, the artist's namesake Natalia Goncharova. Their family comes from the merchant Afanasii Abramovich - the founder of the linen factory in the Kaluga region. Natalya's grandmother came from the family of the famous mathematician P. Chebyshev.

The artist's father Sergei Mikhailovich was an architect, a representative of Moscow's modern. Mother Ekaterina Ilinichna 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 the love of rural life. Contact with folk art left a trace in her worldview, and this is why art critics explain such decorativeness of her art. When the girl was 10 years old, the family moved to Moscow.

Study

Upon arrival in Moscow, Natalia Goncharova, an artist in the future, enters the women's gymnasium, which ends in 1898 with a silver medal. Despite the fact that the girl had undoubted tendencies for drawing, she did not seriously consider 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 none of this fascinated 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. Trubetskoi.

She was given a good education, in 1904 she even received a small silver medal for her work, but soon left her studies. In 1903, she went on a creative trip to the Crimea and Tiraspol, where she earned drawing posters for an exhibition of agriculture, and also wrote etudes and watercolors in an impressionistic manner.

Artist Mikhail Larionov advised her not to waste time on sculpture and paint: "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 moved to the painting studio for K. Korovin. Sculpture girl did not abandon and in 1907 receives another medal. In 1909, Natalia finally decides to stop studying, looking at other horizons.

Rayonism

Together with Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose biography is now forever associated with the new art, in the early 1910s became the founder of the avant-garde trend in painting - luchizma. This current called for a return to the ancient sources of ancient Russian art. Special importance was attached to the rhythm of folklore, music opened access to the historical memory of man and awakened artistic fantasy.

Man, according to Goncharova and Larionov, perceives the world as a collection of intersecting rays, and the artist's task is to convey this vision through color lines. The early work of Goncharova was very vivid and expressive. Not only did she imbue with the idea of radiant energy, she also strove to embody all the new ideas that culture then abounded in.

Biography

Since 1906, Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose photo works can be seen today in the catalogs of the most prestigious museums in the world, begins to write very intensely. A trip to Paris, where she was inspired by the works of the Fauvists and P. Gauguin, forces her to move away from impressionism and turn her eyes to new trends. The artist is trying in primitivism ("Wash the canvas" in 1910), cubism ("Portrait of M. Larionov", 1913), abstraction.

Much later art critics will say that such throwing did not allow her to develop all the power of her talent. At the same time, it is very productive and active. From 1908 to 1911 she gives private lessons in the art studio of the painter I. Mashkov. Also, Natalia returns to the decorative and applied arts: she writes drawings for wallpapers, prepares friezes for houses. The artist participates in the activity of the futurist society, cooperating with V. Khlebnikov and A. Kruchenykh.

In 1913 Goncharova was shot in the experimental film "Lady in the cabaret of futurists number 13", the tape was not preserved. On the only surviving frame, a nude Goncharova is depicted in the hands of M. Larionov. In 1914, she again visited Paris at the invitation of S. Diaghilev. In 1915, the artist faces serious difficulties in censorship. In 1916 he received a proposal to make a painting of the church in Bessarabia, but these plans prevented the war.

Exhibition activity

In the 1910s, Goncharova exhibited a lot, participated in the activities of art societies. In 1911 she together with M. Larionov organized the exhibition "The Knave of Diamonds", in 1912 - "Donkey's Tail", "Salon of the Golden Fleece", "World of Art", "Target", "No. 4". The artist was a member of the Munich Society "Blue Horseman." Goncharova actively supported the numerous actions and undertakings of that time. Together with the futurists, she went around Petersburg with a painted face, appeared in their films. Almost all these events, including exhibitions, ended in scandals and a call to the police.

In 1914, a large personal exhibition of Goncharova's works was held, 762 canvases were exhibited here. But also there was a scandal: part of the work was seized on charges of immorality and insult to public taste.

The reason for such excesses in the avant-garde events was often Natalia Goncharova, an artist whose exhibition of works was last held in Russia in 1915. After that, Russia never saw the 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 had been recognized as immoral many times before, shows several paintings with naked women in the spirit of Paleolithic Venus. The work was arrested on charges of pornography, which was not typical for tsarist Russia at the time when works of art were not subject to censorship. After another scandal, Natalia's father writes an open letter to a newspaper in which he criticized critics that they did not see the living spirit of creativity in the works of their daughter.

In 1912, at the famous exhibition "Donkey's Tail" Natalia Goncharova, the artist, with the established reputation of the avant-garde artist, exhibits a cycle of 4 pictures "Evangelists". This work aroused the wrath of the censors with its non-trivial portrayal of the saints. In 1914, 22 works were taken from the personal exhibition of the artist, after which the censors even went to court, accusing Goncharov of blasphemy over the shrines. Many artists of the time stood up for it: I. Tolstoy, M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Wrangel. Thanks to the lawyer M. Khodasevich, the case was won, the censorship ban was abolished. Goncharova complained to friends that she did not understand that she was driven by true faith in God.

Goncharova - illustrator

Natalia Goncharova - an artist who tried himself in different forms of manifestation. Her friendship with the futurists led her to the book schedule. In 1912, she makes out the books of A. Kruchenykh and V. Khlebnikov "Mirskonets", "Playing in Hell". In 1913 - the work of A. Kruchenykh "Vzorval", "The Hermits. Pustynnitsy "and the collection" Sadok of judges number 2 "of K. Bolshakov's book. Goncharova was one of the first book graphics in Europe to use the collage technique. In some of her works she appears on equal terms with writers.

For example, the book A. Kruchenykh "Two poems" on seven pages are placed 14 drawings, which to the same extent form the idea of the work, like words. Later, abroad, N. Goncharova creates illustrations for the "Lay of Igor's Campaign" for the German publisher and for "Tales of Tsar Saltan."

Emigration

In 1915 Natalia Goncharova (avant-garde artist) together with her companion of life M. Larionov left for Paris to work with the theater of Sergei Diaghilev. The revolution prevented them from returning to Russia. They settled in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where the whole color of Russian emigration was visited.

In France, the pair organically merged into the circle of local bohemia. Young people arranged charity balls for beginners painters. In the house of Goncharova-Larionov, there was often Nikolai Gumilev, later Marina Tsvetaeva, who became very friendly with Natalia Sergeyevna.

Goncharova worked very hard during the years of forced emigration, but she did not survive such a creative explosion as in the 10th years in Russia. Although her cycles "Peacocks", "Magnolias", "Thorny flowers" speak of her as a mature and developing painter.

Theatrical works

Natalia Goncharova is an artist whose theater became a real vocation. She worked with A. Tairov in the Chamber Theater on the production of "Fan". This work was highly appreciated by V. Meyerhold. Also in the 10-ies she began to cooperate with S. Diaghilev, making out the productions in his "Russian Seasons". In Paris, she works with the ballets "Firebird", "Spain", "Wedding Party". Goncharova continues to cooperate with this theater even after the death of the impresario.

The best works

In the world there are not so many women artists, the more successful. One of these unique ladies was Natalia Goncharova. The artist, whose "Spaniard" was sold for more than 6 million pounds, left a rich heritage. Her works are in many of the largest museum and private collections in the world. The best works include: "Washing the canvas", "Picking apples", the series "Spaniards", "Bird Phoenix", "Forest", "Airplane over the train." Natalia Goncharova is a woman artist with the highest cost of paintings. Her work "Picking apples" (1909) was auctioned off for almost 5 million pounds.

Personal life

Natalia Goncharova - an artist whose personal life is very closely intertwined with the creative. While still in school, she met Mikhail Larionov, and with him, and bound fate for life. They were like-minded people, friends, very close people. Even when in Paris Larionov is fond of Alexandra Tomilina, the couple stays together. In 1955, they registered a marriage, although the relationship with Tomilina Larionov continued. All lived in the same house, but on different floors. And once, when she collided on the stairs with her aging, weak wife of her lover, Tomilina pushed Natalia Sergeyevna. This fall accelerated Goncharova's death. October 17, 1962 the world left an outstanding Russian artist. She was buried in the Ivry cemetery in Paris.