Part 4 The Women Artists in Marianne Werefkin’s Larger Cultural Circle ⸪ Olga Furman - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 12:27:30PM via free access <UN> Olga Furman - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 12:27:30PM via free access chapter 14 Natalia Goncharova: Artistic Innovator and Inspiring Muse Olga Furman Abstract Placing Russian artist Natalia Goncharova at the crossroads of inspiring muse and artistic innovator, this essay highlights the exceptional role of Natalia Goncharova in Russian avant-garde art. Goncharova connected Russian modernism to its native sources in folk art and icon painting, thus promoting a new aesthetic positioned between East and West. The uniqueness of Goncharova’s work lies in its ability to remain faithful to the visual world and to nature and, at the same time, be modern and up-to-date. Particular focus is on the artist’s understanding of Russia’s national self- determination in the East-West coordinate system and her reflection of the principles of beauty, unity, and diversity in art. It is difficult to find another female artist in Russian art of the twentieth century who received the sort of impassioned, florid reviews that Natalia Goncharova did: A “strong and fine artist,” “battle-woman of Russian Futur- ism,” “Scythian priestess,” and “anti-artist”1—these are just some of the labels attached to her. Sergei Diaghilev called Goncharova a leading figure among the male-dominated circle of artists, saying that “all the youth of Moscow and St. Petersburg bow down to Goncharova.”2 The strong public sentiments and lofty clichés were in part an effort to permanently fix the artist’s changing im- age, but Goncharova always managed to sidestep such categorical expressions of admiration and to metamorphose into something else as her art continued to grow and change. 1 See Jane A. Sharp, Russian Modernism between East and West. Natal’ia Goncharova and the Moscow Avant-garde (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 221–238. 2 “Гoнчapoвoй нынчe клaняeтcя вcя мocкoвcкaя и пeтepбуpгcкaя мoлoдeжь.” Marina Tsvetaeva, “Natalia Goncharova. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo” (Natalia Goncharova. Life and Work), in Natalia Goncharova. Mikhail Larionov. Vosponinaniya sovremennikov (Natalia Goncharova. MiMemories of Contemporaries), ed. Georgy F. Kovalenko (Moscow: Galart, 1995), 64. © Olga Furman, ���7 | doi �0.��63/9789004333�47_0�6 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC License. Olga Furman - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 12:27:30PM via free access <UN> 194 Furman Goncharova’s artistic career in Russia reached its highpoint in 1913, the year when the first monograph on her and Mikhail Larionov was published, writ- ten by their artist friend Ilya Zdanevich (under the pseudonym Eli Eganburi).3 This same year, Goncharova took part in public debates, wore Futurist make- up, appeared in a film, illustrated Futurist books, worked on décor, drew wall- paper and clothes sketches, was awarded a contract for church murals and stained glass, and more; however, the most important event of the year for Goncharova was her solo exhibition of more than 750 works of art from the pe- riod 1900−13.4 At such a time, when the opportunities for women artists gradu- ating from art school were much more limited than those of their fellow male students, the case of Goncharova’s retrospective exhibition is remarkable. Technically, this was not Goncharova’s first exhibit, but this was the exhibition that established her reputation for many years to come. This article addresses several aspects of Gonacharova’s innovative work from the 1913 exhibition that saw a wide public resonance and opened new perspectives for Russian art of the period. In Front of the World: Self-Portrait At the beginning of her career, Goncharova made the following admission to Larionov: “I know very well that I am your creation and that without you nothing would have been.”5 There was some basis in these words. Larionov met Goncharova while still a student in the Sculpture Department of the Mos- cow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Moskovskoye uchilishche zhivopisi, vayaniya i zodchestva) in 1901–04. Larionov saw in his future part- ner the gift of a painter and convinced her to take up the medium: “You have eyes for color, but you are bothering with form. Realize what your eyes are actually capable of.”6 Goncharova switched to the Department of Painting and 3 Eli Eganburi [Ilya Zdanevich], Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov (Moscow: Munster, 1913). 4 Natalia Goncharova, Vistavka kartin Natalii Sergeevni Goncharovoy 1900–1913 (Natalia Ser- geevna Goncharova’s Picture Exhibition) (Moscow: Khudozhestvenny salon, 1913). 5 “…я oчeнь xopoшo знaю, чтo я твoe пpoизвeдeниe и чтo бeз тeбя ничeгo бы нe былo,” Natalia Goncharova, letter to Mikhail Larionov, May 17, 1946, in Mikhail Larionov—Natalia Goncharova: Shedevry iz parizhskogo nasledia. Zhivopis’. catalog vistavki (Mikhail Larionov— Natalia Goncharova: Masterpieces from Parisian Heritage. Paintings. Exhibition Catalogue) (Moscow: ra, 1999), 182. 6 “У Bac глaзa нa цвeт, a Bы зaняты фopмoй. Pacкpoйтe глaзa нa coбcтвeнныe глaзa,” Mikhail Larionov about 1901, in Tsvetaeva, “Natalia Goncharova. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo,” 49. Olga Furman - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 12:27:30PM via free access <UN> Natalia Goncharova 195 immediately found herself immersed in the art life of the capital. From their earliest steps together, they firmly established themselves as inventors of a new art.7 The sources of Goncharova’s stylistic development were common to many of the future avant-garde artists. In the art school, it was the workshop of Konstantin Korovin; outside, the contemporary Western art collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. The great dream of the young artist was to take part in the exhibition of Zolotoe Runo [Golden Fleece], along with some of the modern French masters. “At the beginning of my work, I mostly learned from modern French artists,” Goncharova recalled.8 Her learning period lasted about five years, up to 1910; thereafter she and Larionov, among other artists, introduced the first Russian avant-garde movement: Neoprimitivism.9 Avtoportret s zholtymi liliyami (Self-portrait with Yellow Lilies, 1907–08, fig. 14.1) was shown in the 1913 exhibition and can be considered a manifest of Neoprimitivism. Instead of graceful proportions, her self-portrait depicts an unfeminine, heavy hand; instead of carefully shaped facial features, we see unadorned lines; instead of the noble oval form of the head, a stylized block. Goncharova has simplified the form in a Gauguin-like manner, giving herself the appearance of one of Gauguin’s Tahitian women. It is not immediately ap- parent that we are witnessing a deliberate act of destruction of the classical canons of beauty, enforced by the author’s presence. Portraiture in general is a particularly poignant genre of painting as it demonstrates the universal theme of cognitive activity: “the world and the individual,” and in the case of her so-called self-portrait: art and the artist. If we take the self-portrait in the classical tradition of an artist’s self-representation, then the appearance of the self-portrait in the artistic vocabulary of Goncharova may be more than surprising. She said: “I laugh at people who preach individuality and find value 7 Among these exhibitions were Stephanos (Moscow, 1907), Venok (Wreath, St. Petersburg, 1908), Zolotoe runo (Golden Fleece, Moscow, 1908, 1909, 1909–10), Salon Izdebskogo (Izdeb- sky’s Salon, Odessa, 1909, 1910–11), Natalia Goncharova’s personal exhibition (Moscow, 1910), Bubnovy Valet (Ace of Diamonds, Moscow, 1910–11), Osliny Khvost (Donkey’s Tail, Moscow, 1912), Mishen (Target, Moscow, 1913), etc. 8 “B нaчaлe мoeгo пути я бoлee вceгo училacь у coвpeмeнныx фpaнцузoв,” in Natalia Goncharova. Gody v Rossii (Natalia Goncharova. Years in Russia) (St. Petersburg: Palace Editions, 2002), 291. 9 The first exhibition paving the way for primitive art was Osliny khvost (Donkey’s Tail. Mos- cow, 1912). The term “neo-primitivism” appeared in the following brochure: Alexandr V. Shevchenko, Neoprimitivism: Ego teoria. Ego vozmozhnosti. Ego dostizhenia (Neoprimitivism: Its Theory. Its Possibilities. Its Achievements) (Moscow: Tipografia 1-y Moskovskoy Trudovoy Arteli 1913). Olga Furman - 9789004333147 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 12:27:30PM via free access <UN> 196 Furman Figure 14.1 Natalia Goncharova, Self-Portrait with Yellow Lilies, 1907–08, oil on canvas, 77.5 × 58.2 cm state tretyakov gallery, moscow, inv. 8965, © vg bild-kunst, bonn 2016 in one’s ‘self’.”10 Furthermore, Goncharova’s 1907–08 Self-Portrait with Yellow Lillies possessed an unprecedented occurrence. The famous self-portrait of Zinaida Serebryakova, Za tualetom (Making Her Toilet), was created a year later, in 1909, and in a totally different, classical “narcissistic” tradition. But the style of Goncharova’s self-portrait can be aligned with other future avant-garde male artists’ self-portraits: Kazimir Malevich (1908–09, fig. 14.2), Ivan Kliun (1909–10, fig. 14.3), etc.; in this we see an aspect of Goncharova’s sense of inno- vation at work, which changed and gave new meaning to the traditional genre of portrait-painting by adding to it a conceptual purpose. The genre of the self-portrait underwent substantial conceptual changes in the years leading up to the avant-garde era. Beginning with Symbolism, artists took new stances in relation to themselves and the world they were addressing. The space of the canvas became the space of the author’s declaration of artistic principles. Words and ideas began to force their way into the artists’ work, and although they were not visible in their paintings, one senses them boiling up from below and just beginning to surface visually in the 1910s. The individuality 10 “Mнe cмeшны люди, пpoпoвeдующиe индивидуaльнocть и пoлaгaющиe кaкую-тo цeннocть в cвoeм ‘я’,” in N.S.