Natalia Goncharova

A gift from the artist to Christoph Czwiklitzer, 8 May 1962
Sotheby & Co., Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, 2 July 1969, lot 92

Cologne, Wallraf Richartz Museum, Europaische Kunst 1912, 12 September - 9 December 1962, no.57
Basel, Kunsthaus, Vom Impressionismus zum Tachismus, 1964

Europaische Kunst 1912 exhibition catalogue Wallraf Richartz Museum, Cologne, 1962, cat. no. 57, illustrated pl. 157
Vom Impressionismus zum Tachismus exhibition catalogue, Kunsthaus, Basel, 1964, p.222, illustrated pl.2
M.Chamot, Goncharova, Paris: Bibliothe'que des arts, 1972, p.143, illustrated  
M.Chamot, Goncharova Stage Designs and Paintings, London: Oresko Books Ltd, 1979, p.70, no.53, illustrated
Nathalie Gontcharova Michael Larionov, Paris: Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1995, p.214, illustrated

Structural condition The canvas has been lined but there are still some areas of slightly raised and brittle craquelure, particularly in the pale pigments in the centre of the composition. Ideally the present lining canvas should be removed and the original canvas relined. I would be confident that this would ensure an even and secure support and long-term structural stability. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and inspection under ultra-violet light shows scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) an area in the pale yellow and blue pigments on the right of the composition (18 cm in from the right vertical framing edge and 45 cm above the lower horizontal framing edge) which measures approximately 7 x 3cm. 2) Scattered retouchings in the pale yellow pigments. 3) Scattered retouchings in the dark blue pigments in the upper left of the composition including a diagonal line of small retouching which total approximately 9 cm in length. 4) Retouchings around the framing edges and particularly on the left vertical framing edge and other small, scattered retouchings. Summary The painting is therefore is reasonably good condition and should respond well to structural treatment which would ensure the painting would then be in good and stable condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Having settled permanently in Paris in 1919, Goncharova continued to remain receptive to the most avant-garde artistic trends, gleaned from her wide circle of associates. Only the year before Amédée Ozenfant, together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later Le Corbusier, fig.2), had published Après le Cubisme that encouraged the flattened, mechanical aesthetic of Purism. The present lot stands out from Goncharova’s oeuvre for the two dimensional, non-representational forms and earthier palette which demonstrate a move from Matisse and the Fauves towards Ozenfant and the Purists.

In the preface to the catalogue of a solo exhibition of her work in August 1913, Goncharova dismissed Western art in favour of Neo-Primitivism. While in Paris she avidly studied non-Western, ‘primitive’ art and the tight geometric forms of the present figure betray that study. Goncharova's vision was at the forefront of artistic innovation along with Fernand Léger, for example, who in 1924 made costume designs for Darius Milhaud’s so-called ballet nègre, ‘La Création du Monde’. These flat, geometric but figurative designs were heavily influenced by sculptures from the Côte d’Ivoire and the Belgian Congo. Around this time Léger began to amalgamate figurative painting with his earlier innovations regarding form and space in a similar manner to the present work (fig.3). 

Continually receptive to innovative ideas, Goncharova always maintained a strong sense of individuality in her work. During a visit to Spain with Mikhail Larionov in 1916, she was profoundly inspired by the mantilla veils. Works from the subsequent espagnole series combined the visual elements of this tradition with that of Russian full length icon painting to produce figures of which Marina Tsvetayeva said: 'These are not women, these are cathedrals'. The offered lot develops on both this and previous series, such as the peacock works executed in Moscow soon after the foundation of the Donkey’s Tail group, in which she established a mature handling of colour composition and rhythm of line. In addition, for the costume designs of the religious play Liturgie that she executed in Switzerland in 1915, Goncharova made use of a stencil, the hard edged forms of which appear to have influenced the outlines of this work.

This image can also be compared to a print Goncharova produced in 1923 for publication in the fourth folio of the Bauhaus’ five part portfolio Neue Europäische Grafik and a painting in the Tate collection, Three Young Women (1920, fig.4). The figures in these works from the early 1920s are similar stylistically, with the same clearly delineated curved forms, three quarter length compositions and loose areas of white paint.