MIKHAIL LARIÓNOV (1881 1964)

MIKHAIL LARIÓNOV (1881 1964)
Female Nude Outstanding representative of the Russian avant-garde before World War I, Mikhail Larionov was, along with Natalia Goncharova, the initiator of rayonism, a non-figurative style closely related to Italian futurism. He was trained at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he met Goncharova, to whom he would remain attached throughout his life._x000D
In 1908 he collaborated in the preparation of the Golden Fleece exhibition, where French postimpressionist and fauvist works aroused his interest. Larionov's style changed to give priority to intense colours and thick brushstrokes, something he would later use as a tool to create neo-primitivist art. In 1910 he was a founding member, together with Gonchanova, of the "Sota de Diamantes", which he abandoned to create "El Rabo de Burro" in 1912. Around this time, in which he began to relate to the literary vanguard of the country, he made his first rayonist compositions and wrote three manifestos in which he exposed his theories on this movement._x000D_
In 1914 he visited Paris to attend the premiere of the ballet Le Coq d'or, by Sergei Diághilev, for which Goncharova had staged the show. Together with her, he began to collaborate with Diághilev by travelling with his company. During the following years he was, as he had already been in Russia, Goncharova's representative. After the death of Diaghilev in 1929, Larionov returned to figurative oil painting in a more intense way._x000D_
His final years were marked by economic difficulties and poor health. At the same time, a series of exhibitions contributed to the recognition of the important role played by him and his eternal companion in the development of the 20th century avant-garde.
Signed and dated in Paris on the back, 1939 Oil on cardboard 40 x 29.5 cm Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.