LIUBOV SERGEEVNA POPOVA (Ivánovskoie, 1889 Moscú, 1924)

LIUBOV SERGEEVNA POPOVA (Ivánovskoie, 1889 Moscú, 1924)
Self-portrait The desire to formulate a new and absolute plastic language was a constant in the different avant-garde movements of the first decades of the 20th century, especially those that ended up being linked to political projects. The principles of universality and overcoming of mimetic art by which these avant-garde currents are governed involve the revision by experimental means of the very components of art. In the panorama of Russian art of the first quarter of the 20th century, Liubov Popova (Ivanovskoe, Russia, 1889 - Moscow, 1924) stands out for his dedication to the search for a plastic vocabulary that would respond to the principles of Constructivism from the pictorial field, since he understood that pictorial construction was the previous step to real three-dimensional construction. x000D_
Popova is considered to be an artist-painter and not an artist-engineer, a position and attitude adopted by most of her colleagues, following the new ideal of post-revolutionary Soviet society. Even so, and as Magdalena Davroski points out, "the components of her concept of "construction" are essentially the traditional means of every painter, even if she interprets them as if they were concrete materials".
Popova's brief artistic career can be summarized in two stages: the adoption of the cubist vocabulary and the development of the non-objective constructivist language. Art magazines and Sergei Shchukin's collection brought him up to date on Cubism, which encouraged him, like many other contemporary artists, to travel to Paris in 1913. There he enters the academy of Jean Metzinger and Henri le Fauconnier but also, at this time, changes his pictorial discourse, since his desire is to develop an expressive language "that would be the result of the manipulation of pictorial elements on the surface". At the same time, he adopts certain assumptions of Futurism, especially the decomposition of forms in space practised by Umberto Boccioni. In addition, he begins to experiment with textures (introducing marble dust and sand) with the aim of making the surface of the painting more dynamic and giving it density. Gradually, themes and figuration assume a secondary role in the work. x000D_
Once again in Russia, Popova theoretically confronts her painting with Vladimir Tatlin's counter-reliefs and the work of Kazimir Malevich, whose influence can be seen in her works (constructive assembly, colour planes in space), and she achieves plastic independence and artistic maturity with her series Architectures of Space (1916-1917), works that are now completely unobjective. Popova participates in the debates of the Russian avant-garde on the validity of nonobjective language and the concepts of construction and composition. From that moment on, the experimental nature of her work is accentuated; her interests turn towards the behaviour of the line in space and she develops her Linear Compositions. In 1921 he created his Construcciones espaciales or Construcciones dinámico-espaciales, which contributed innovations with respect to form, space and materials. Although she was not a supporter of productivist art, she was conditioned to put her work at the service of industry and began an important career as a textile and costume designer and as a stage designer.
Text: Exhibition "Liubov Popova. 1889-1924" Museum of Modern Art, New York, in collaboration with Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum Ludwig in Cologne and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía._x000D
Signed and dated 1917_x000D_
Framed, "museum glass" Oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.