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Home , Art history, Dada, Fauvism, Figurative art, Futurism (literature), Jean Metzinger

Pioneers The start of the twentieth century ushered in an unprecedented cultural in the . Artistic life became filled with program- Women matic exhibitions and impassioned manifestos combining the influence of of the Russian foreign avant-garde trends with genuine features of Russian . Avant-Garde This exceptional occurrence differed from the other movements that emerged around the time in Europe in one aspect: the participation of Marta Ruiz del Árbol women in the so-called Russian avant-garde was striking in that not only were a very large number involved, but they played an extremely active and significant role.

Goncharova, Exter, Delaunay, Popova, Rozanova, Udaltsova and Stepanova were raised and trained in a regime that clung to the values of the pre- industrial era. They nevertheless became pioneers in creating, disseminat- ing and defending the new artistic languages that both fascinated and scandalised Russian (and European) turn-of-the-century society.

Young, intelligent, free and rebellious, they did not form a group, though many of them knew and influenced each other. Their names are associated with the successive movements of the last years of tsarism in (Neo-, Cubo-, and ) and their careers were already established by the time of the successful in 1917. With their drive and determination, they not only succeeded in becoming part of the avant-garde on a fully equal footing but in many ways led it, marking an important milestone in art . THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. of the Russian Avant-Garde 2

A pioneer of pioneers can be considered the first female Russian avant-garde art- ist and one of the most prominent figures on the pre-First World War art scene in her country. Her solo exhibitions, perfor- mances and unconventional lifestyle made her the target of much criticism and fuelled the legend of a wild, indom- itable . In her first works of the late , Goncharova combined an interest in European avant-garde movements with inspiration from Russian folklore and popular . Following this initial [1] Neo-Primitivist phase, in which her ad- miration for Gauguin and Matisse was apparent, she began to explore [2] and Futurism and later developed Rayon- ism together with . This NATALIA GONCHAROVA movement, based on scientific theories Negayevo, 1881 – , 1962 of light, aimed to capture the action and refraction of light rays on objects. room P The artist travelled to Paris in 1914 to attend the première of the ballet Coq d’or. Fishing (Fishers), 1909 [1] Her design for the set was the first of Oil on canvas, 112 x 99.7 cm many she produced in conjunction with carmen thyssen-bornemisza collection Larionov for Serge Diaghilev. Although on loan at the museo nacional the outbreak of the Great War forced her thyssen-bornemisza, madrid, to go back to Russia, in 1915 a call from inv. ctb.1977.34 the Russian impresario led her and Lari- [3] room 43 onov to join in Switzerland. She would never return to her country again. The Forest, 1913 [2] The three pictures in the Thyssen- Oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm Bornemisza collections allow visitors to inv. 562 (1981.71) trace Natalia Goncharova’s artistic ca- reer from her early Neo-Primitivism to room 43 her final works of the , when her reflected the influence of Art Composition with Blue Informel. Rectangle, about 1950–59 [3] In Fishing, executed in 1909, the artist Gouache on paper, 47.7 x 26.7 cm depicted the peasants of the rural area of inv. 561 (1976.93) Polotnianyi Zavod, near , where she spent long periods during her youth in the house the family owned there. She expressed her fascination with rural life – traditionally the mainstay of the Russian population – in canvases where she converted these everyday scenes into a sort of popular epic. Stylistically they display the influence of foreign art trends, chiefly Post- and . THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. Women Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 3

However, unlike the French artists, who by Goncharova in 1913, the year she and Composition with Blue Rectangle, dat- had turned their attention to non-west- Larionov signed the Rayonist Manifesto. ing from around 1950–59, is a late work ern in search of a pure artistic The work, which was shown in the Mish- produced by Goncharova when she had expression, Goncharova was interested in en (Target) exhibition during that year been living in for nearly four dec- her own cultural roots, which became her and marked the new movement’s pres- ades. The artist, who seldom explored true source of inspiration. In 1912, she entation in society, represents the light the purely non-objective aesthetic and stated in a lecture that ‘Cubism is a posi- rays that strike the interior of a forest and preferred to always include a reference tive phenomenon, but it is not altogether enable us to perceive the scene. Although to visible reality, might be making an a new one. The Scythian stone images, it retains references to the real world and allusion in this small study to the famous the painted wooden dolls sold at fairs are the tree trunks and tops are recognisable, launch of the first Sputnik in 1957 and those same Cubist works.’ the interweaving pattern of coloured rays to the series of cosmic pictures she paint- The Forest, also entitled Rayonist Land- stretching in different directions gives the ed on the subject. scape or Rayonist Perception, was painted picture an abstract appearance.

ALEXANDRA EXTER The first traveller When the Great War broke out, Exter Bialystok, 1882 – Fontenay-aux-Roses, 1949 Alexandra Exter was a key figure in the returned to her country. She was attracted connections between the Russian avant- to the work of and pro- room 43 garde and art trends then emerging in duced her first non-figurative western Europe. Beginning in 1907, her under his influence. During these years , 1913 early interest in the Parisian scene led she began collaborating on produc- and oil on canvas, 68 x 53 cm her to spend long periods in the French tions and in 1921 she became a inv. 540 (1973.26) capital, where she met and designer. In 1924 she emigrated to Paris, George Braque, among others. Fascinated where she lived for the rest of her life. by the possibilities of the new Cubist Exter probably painted Still Life in language, she immediately adopted it Paris, where she lived from 1912 and became one of its leading advocates to 1914. Her close relationship with the in Russia. founders of the Cubist movement is clear- Unli ke her western counterparts, ly visible in this canvas in the fragmenta- however, she decided not to shun col- tion of the space, the use of collage and our, which she regarded as the be all even the choice of component objects. and end all of painting. This concern was However, as stated earlier, the Ukraini- also linked to the importance the Rus- an-born painter origin did not espouse sian avant-garde artists attached to their Analytical Cubism’s reduced palette, and own cultural traditions – in Exter’s case the vivid colours of this still life attest Ukrainian. Her contact with the Delau- to the importance of the traditions of her nays and the Italian Futurists spurred her native country in her conception of art. to develop an interest in the introduction of movement and further strengthened her commitment to colour. THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. Women Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 4

OLGA RÓZANOVA The -painter In 1915 she embraced Kazimir Ma- Melenki, 1886 – Moscow, 1918 is held to be one of the levich’s and contributed to most original women artists of the Rus- the magazine , though no issues room 43 sian avant-garde. Despite dying very were published. However, she very soon young, she was a prominent figure on the created her own version of Suprematism Man on the scene on account of her firm commit- and coined the concept of tsvetopis, which (Analysis of Volumes), 1913 ment to non- and her con- advocated the absolute power of colour. The Oil on canvas, 83 x 61.5 cm stant pursuit of new forms of expression. works she produced before her unexpected inv. 730 (1976.89) Rozanova’s beginnings were linked to death are the most radically abstract and Futurism, to which she was introduced by seem to anticipate American Colour Field the poet Aleksei Kruchenykh, the inven- painting of the 1950s and 1960s. tor of the experimental language . Man on the Street (Analysis of Volumes) She not only collaborated on the design was one of the pieces Marinetti chose for of many Futurist publications but began the Futurist Exhibition in Rome in 1914. writing her own transrational poems. In In fact, the Italian poet kept it until he parallel with these activities, Rozanova died. In it Rozanova, who never left Russia, also painted her first Cubo-Futurist works gives a brilliant interpretation of the new in which colour was her chief concern. art trends that were arriving from Italy They were so innovative that Filippo and France. It combines the fragmentation Marinetti decided to include them in the of Cubist space with an interest – in tune First International Futurist Exhibition with Futurist concerns – in depicting the held in Rome in 1914. modern city and technological progress.

NADESHDA UDALTSOVA The Russian Cubist Orel, 1886 – Moscow, 1961 ’s links to Cubism date back to November 1912, when she room 43 travelled to Paris with her friend Liubov Popova. Together they attended classes Cubism, 1914 taught by and Henri Le Oil on canvas, 72 x 60 cm Fauconnier at the Académie de La Palette inv. 776 (1984.19) and from this point onwards the Cubist language became the basis for construct- ing her works. Even years later, when she joined the Supremus group and advocated non-objective art as the culmination of the path to new painting, her works continued to be more closely connected to Cubist art than to Suprematism strictly speaking. Following the October 1917 Revolution, Udaltsova played an active role in various cultural initiatives and taught classes. She was also a member of the State Institute of Artistic Culture (Inkhuk), though she left THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. Women Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 5

it in 1921 over a disagreement with the scriptive art in which she reflected her grammatic title, it is an experiment in the Constructivist artists, who were calling trips to the Urals and Armenia. Cubist fragmented approach. The planes for abandoning painting as an artistic Cubism displays the main features of and lines of force create a space from practice. After returning to figuration in Udaltsova’s mature art. Executed in 1914, which references to visible reality have dis- the early 1920s, with a that em- two years after her stint in Paris, it is a appeared and which coexists alongside braced to her Cubist origins, Udaltsova magnificent example of the mark her time signs borrowed from the Analytical Cub- gradually progressed towards a more de- at the Académie left on her. With its pro- ism of Picasso and Braque.

The artist-constructor Liubov Popova was one of the most prom- inent Russian avant-garde figures. Re- ferred to as the ‘artist-constructor’ in the exhibition organised after her unexpected death in 1924, she was always notable for her interest in the constructional and structural elements of painting. From a very young age Popova com- bined an interest in early Russian art with the influence of what she saw [2] during her many family trips around Europe. Classical , especially the compositional foundations of the Re- LIUBOV POPOVA naissance style, left an indelible mark on Ivanovskoye, 1889 – Moscow, 1924 her. She was also attracted to contem- porary art trends and in 1912 she and room 43 her friend Udaltsova travelled to Paris, where she came into contact with Cub- Painterly Architectonic ism. A subsequent stay in Italy allowed [1] (Still Life: Instruments), 1915 [1] � her to gain first-hand knowledge of Fu- Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 69.2 cm turism, and she combined both languag- inv. 715 (1976.88) es in her works. Around 1916, she produced her first room 43 fully abstract works and went on to take part in debates on the validity of the Painterly Architectonic, 1918 [2] non-objective language and the concepts Oil on canvas, 45 x 53 cm of construction and composition. During inv. 714 (1976.17) those years her style fluctuated between Suprematism and , though room 43 she always retained her artistic independ- ence. In 1921, along with other artists of Painterly Architectonic, 1918 [3] the State Institute of Artistic Culture Oil on linen burlap, 70.5 x 70.5 cm (Inkhuk), she gave up easel painting and inv. 716 (1977.52) embarked on an important career as a [3] graphic, textile and theatre set designer. The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Borne- misza Collection features three examples of Liubov Popova’s Pictorial Architecton- ics, a series executed between 1915 and 1918 in which the artist explored the possibilities of non-objective language. THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. Women Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 6

Pictorial Architectonic (Still Life: In- The other two Pictorial Architectonics, various colour planes, Popova imbued struments) is one of the earliest examples dated 1918 and smaller in size, are fully her paintings with a dynamism more in from this group of paintings and retains abstract. These constructions provided keeping with Tatlin’s proto-Constructiv- certain recognisable references to the the artist with an ideal compositional ism, resulting in works that were highly Cubist world of objects, such as the out- structure for her paintings that was in personal and original. line of the guitar, though geometrisation tune with Malevich’s Suprematist ideas. and overlapping planes are predominant. However, through the interaction of the

became the basis for manuscript books in which, following Rozanova’s example, she combined text and abstract forms. Her enthusiasm for the triumph of the October Revolution led her to fill her works with figures representing the new humans of the socialist era (robotic, effi- cient and dynamic). Later on, in Septem- ber 1921, she joined of artists who decided to abandon easel painting. Stepanova, the only artist of her day who had trained in the applied arts, brought her ideas to clothing and textile design and the decoration of public spaces and , and became one of the leading practitioners of Constructivism. The frenzied artist Billiard Players belongs to a series Kaunas, 1894 – Moscow, 1958 The poet Vladimir Mayakovski defined called ‘Figures’ in which the artist made Varvara Stepanova as the ‘frenzied artist’ the human figure the centrepiece of her room P on account of her tireless pursuit of new explorations from the late to the artistic ideas. She relentlessly explored all early 1920s. Unlike many of her Russian Billiard Players, 1920 the trends that emerged in Russia, from contemporaries, she was not particularly Oil on canvas, 66 x 129 cm , Neo-Primitivism and Cubo- drawn to non-objective painting and por- carmen thyssen-bornemisza collection on loan Futurism to Constructivism and Socialist trayed citizens born in the Soviet era as at the museo nacional thyssen-bornemisza, madrid, . mechanised automats, though emotional inv. ctb.1986.18 As the youngest of all the women pi- states such as agitation or calm are oc- oneers, she admired the Futurist casionally found in her . This at the start of her career and wrote her work stands out from her paintings of this first transrational poems in 1917. They period on account of its large format. THEMATIC TOURS Pioneers. Women Artists of the Russian Avant-Garde 7

SONIA DELAUNAY key figure on the avant-garde scene thanks Odesa, 1885 – Paris, 1979 to Simultanism – an adventure she em- barked on with , who be- room 42 came her husband in 1910. Together they explored colour contrasts and the dissolu- Simultaneous Contrasts, 1913 tion of form through light, which led them Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm to . inv. 518 (1976.81) During the Great War she sought ref- uge in Spain and . In 1917 the room 42 October Revolution cut off her income from property in Russia and she began to Simultaneous Dresses (Three sell her textile creations in Madrid, fulfill- Women, Forms, Colours), 1925 ing a lifelong aim. She continued to ex- Oil on canvas, 146 x 114 cm periment in this field in the early 1920s inv. 519 (1981.30) after returning to Paris, where she became an acclaimed fashion and fabric designer. Simultaneous Contrasts belongs to a suite of works with the same title in which , starting from an analysis of how light is reflected off objects, A Russian woman in Paris achieves an abstract purity in which colour Although Sonia Delaunay spent most of is both form and content. The contrasts of her time in Paris, everything about her complementary and clashing colours cre- life and work seems to be connected with ate a ‘movement’ that becomes the gener- her Russian origins. Her uncompromising ator of the new space in modern painting. defence of colour, commitment to abstrac- Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, tion and interest in applying her artistic Forms, Colours) was painted twelve years ideas to all kinds of everyday objects were later, the same year her fashion designs very much in line with the aesthetic prin- caused a stir at the International Exhibi- ciples upheld by many of her fellow tion of Modern and Industrial Decorative avant-garde artists in Russia, with whom Arts. Here the artist, who often defended she was in contact. her dedication to the applied arts as ‘a free Originally from Ukraine, the young expansion, a conquest of new space; […] Sonia Stern (later Terk) was adopted by another application of the same research’, her maternal aunt and uncle of St Peters- transfers to canvas the results of her ex- burg when she was a child. In 1904 she perimentation with fashion design. The left her country forever to study first in pattern reproduced in the central figure Karlsruhe and two years later in Paris. is very similar to her design for a coat for In the French capital she soon became a the film actress Gloria Swanson. 2 MUSEUM PLAN room Level 2 1 Italian Primitives Level 2 2 German and Spanish Painting, 15th Century 3 Early Netherlandish Painting 4 Italian Painting, 15th Century

D E F G H 5 Renaissance Portraiture 6 Villahermosa Gallery C B 7 Italian Painting, 16th Century

Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza 8 9 German Painting, 15th and 16th Centuries Permanent Collection Collection 10 Netherlandish Painting, 16th Century A 11 TTitian, Tintoretto, Bassano, El Greco 21 20 19 18 12 Caravaggio and the 1 13 14 15 Italian, French and Spanish, Painting, 17th Century 17 16

2 16 17 18 Italian Painting, 18th Century 15 19 Flemish Painting, 17th Century 3 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 20 Flemish and Dutch Painting, 17th Century Italianate Trends 4 5 6 13 21 Dutch Painting, 17th Century Portraits A Italian Painting, 17th Century 1 B Flemish and Dutch Painting, 17th Century I C Gallery of Vedute and Level 1 18th and 19th Centuries N M L K J D Painting, 17th Century E F North American Painting, 19th Century O G European Painting, 19th Century Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Naturalism Permanent Collection Collection P H European Painting, 19th Century

40 39 38 Impressionism 22 37 23 Level 1 Contexts Room 24 36 22 23 24 25 26 Dutch Painting, 17th Century 25 35 Scenes of Daily Life, Interiors and Landscapes 28 29 30 31 27 Still Life, 17th Century 26 27 32 33 34 28 French and English Painting, 18th Century 29 30 North American Painting, 19th Century 31 European Painting, 19th Century , Naturalism and Realism 0 32 33 European Painting, 19th Century Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Level 0 34 35 36 37 38 European Painting, First Half of the Forms of Temporary Exhibition Rooms 39 40 Realism between the Wars Access to café and terrace I Rest area Permanent Collection J North American Painting, 19th Century Impressionism

d terrace K L M European Painting, 19th Century Impressionism and Post-Impressionism 41 Garden Access to the collections N O European Painting, First Half of the 20th Century Entrance Forms of Expressionism 42 P Early Avant-garde 43 45 46 47 48

44 Level 0 C/ Zorrilla Access to café an Paseo del Prado 41 42 European Painting, First Half of the 20th Century Cubism and its wake 43 Pioneers of Abstract Art Café-Restaurant Cloakroom 44 and Toilets/Baby change Audio guides 45 Surrealism and the New Order Lift Shop-bookstore 46 North American Painting, 20th Century Stairs Adapted lift and its context Information Mother and baby room 47 European Post-war, Abstract and Figurative Art Ticket office Friends of the Museum 48 Neo-Dada and

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