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Lot Essay
Executed in 1915, Study of a Cubist Head is a rare drawing by Liubov Popova that elaborates on French contemporary avant-garde developments. Between 1912 and 1915 Popova rigorously explored Cubist techniques, following the influence of Metzinger and Le Fauconnier, with whom she had worked in Paris. During the year of 1915, Popova primarily concentrated on portraits, including Portrait (Costakis collection), Lady with a Guitar (Smolensk Regional Museum of Art; fig. 1) and Portrait of a Philosopher (The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg). Study of a Cubist Head is most probably a study for one of these paintings and is very similar in style and execution to a series of drawings from the same year, which are held in the George Costakis collection. Most of the Costakis studies are bound in a sketchbook (Costakis Sketchbook no. 2), and a few others are, like the present present, on a single leaf but were certainly removed from a sketchbook as the edges of the sheet suggest.
Born in Ivanoskoie, near Moscow in 1889, Popova studied painting in 1907-08 under Zhukovskii and Iuon in Moscow. In 1910 she visited Italy, where she discovered Renaissance art and during the winter of 1912-1913, she worked in Paris under painting in the Cubist tradition. Upon her return to Russia, having assimilated French Cubism and Italian Futurism, she became a leading figure of the Russian Cubo-Futurist movement. In Russia, she worked closely with Tatlin and Alekander Vesnin. She participated to the avant-garde exhibition, Jack of Diamonds in 1914 and to the Tramway V and 0.10 exhibitions in St. Petersburg in 1915, in which Malevich exhibited his first abstract paintings. Popova was politically committed and was commissioned to decorate the offices of the Moscow Soviet and to design posters glorifying the revolution of 1917. Although initially allied to the Suprematists through her involvement in the Supremus group (composed of Malevich's students), Popova subsequently collaborated with the Constructivists, entering work into the historical 5 x 5 = 25 exhibition held in Moscow in 1921. From this time onwards she took a position alongside the Constructivists who, under the influence of Rodchenko and Vesnin, proclaimed the end of all contemplative art and the arrival of an active art in the service of industry. Popova eventually abandoned easel painting in favour of designing furniture, porcelain and utilitarian objects, and played and extremely productive role in the Institute of Artistic Culture. In 1922 she worked for the theatre, designing scenery and costumes for Meyerhold's production The Magnificent Cuckold in Moscow. In 1923 and 1924 Popova designed clothing and fabric for mass production. She contracted scarlet fever and died prematurely in 1924.
(fig. 1) Liubov Sergeevna Popova, Lady with a Guitar, 1915, Smolensk Regional Museum of Art.
Born in Ivanoskoie, near Moscow in 1889, Popova studied painting in 1907-08 under Zhukovskii and Iuon in Moscow. In 1910 she visited Italy, where she discovered Renaissance art and during the winter of 1912-1913, she worked in Paris under painting in the Cubist tradition. Upon her return to Russia, having assimilated French Cubism and Italian Futurism, she became a leading figure of the Russian Cubo-Futurist movement. In Russia, she worked closely with Tatlin and Alekander Vesnin. She participated to the avant-garde exhibition, Jack of Diamonds in 1914 and to the Tramway V and 0.10 exhibitions in St. Petersburg in 1915, in which Malevich exhibited his first abstract paintings. Popova was politically committed and was commissioned to decorate the offices of the Moscow Soviet and to design posters glorifying the revolution of 1917. Although initially allied to the Suprematists through her involvement in the Supremus group (composed of Malevich's students), Popova subsequently collaborated with the Constructivists, entering work into the historical 5 x 5 = 25 exhibition held in Moscow in 1921. From this time onwards she took a position alongside the Constructivists who, under the influence of Rodchenko and Vesnin, proclaimed the end of all contemplative art and the arrival of an active art in the service of industry. Popova eventually abandoned easel painting in favour of designing furniture, porcelain and utilitarian objects, and played and extremely productive role in the Institute of Artistic Culture. In 1922 she worked for the theatre, designing scenery and costumes for Meyerhold's production The Magnificent Cuckold in Moscow. In 1923 and 1924 Popova designed clothing and fabric for mass production. She contracted scarlet fever and died prematurely in 1924.
(fig. 1) Liubov Sergeevna Popova, Lady with a Guitar, 1915, Smolensk Regional Museum of Art.