Natalia Gontcharova

Press, 13 April 1988, Page 30

Natalia Gontcharova

review

“Natalia Gontcharova,” at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, March 11 to May 1. Reviewed by Julie King. Seven paintings from the National Gallery by [ the modern Russian artist, Natalia Gontcharova, are - the focus of the exhibition; works drawn from collections in Australia and from the McDougall represent broader aspects of her activity, including designs early) This century for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

After years of obscurity in the West, interest in Gontcharova was revived in the 1960 s when gradual recognition was given to the Soviet Union's participation in early twentieth century modernism. Artists’ reputations rise and fall on waves of social change; the women’s movement since the 1970 s led to the revelation and revaluation of the work of women artists, including that of Gontcharova.

She and • Larionov, her life-long companion, were leading artists in the emergent avant-garde? who developed “neo-primitiv-ism.” ' . i I

It was !a movement’ prompted by responsiveness to modern French art but which drew its strength arid vigour; from Soviet national culture. One of the | finest collections of French painting from Impressionism to Cubism is lat the Hermitage,; Leningrad, and was based on the private col-

lections of two Moscow merchants. Morozov and Shchukin were avid collectors of modern French art and Shchukin,- as a historian put it, was buying Fauvist paintings -before “the paint was dry." Modern French art was widely exhibited in the Soviet Union at this time.

The vigour of the Russian neo-primitivists was energised, however, by ■the national traditions of art found in icons or popular prints known as lubki. By these means, Gontcharova said they were able to “shake off the dust of the West?’ These prints presented simplified forms and used stylised conventions which emphasised the surface of the work disregarding traditional Western perspective. “Sunflowers and Portrait,” 1908, is a striking example of the new spirit of early twentieth century modern art. Simplified leaves in strong green vibrate against a sensitively worked red background. The tilted table and sharply angled jug show conventions found in both popular prints and the painting of the ) French

avant-garde. It is a ) vibrant early twentieth century work related to developments in [the West but also, as the useful i catalogue essay's explain, equally related to Russian experience and; based on Gontcharova’s recollections of the sunflowers which grew in the fields of southern! Russia.

Gontcharova's art has been seen as contemplative; this* Impression is based on ithe way. her simplified forms lie on the surface, conventions common to icons and to much modern art. Preferred themes were subjects from her native landscape and from the lives of’ the Russian peasants. “Woman Carrying Fruit on her Head” and the less resolved "Scene in an Orchard” carry these perceptions. The move towards simplifiedform and choice of rural themes; might well have been related in the Soviet Union as it was in the West to reactions against confident nineteenth century notions of progress? However, national traditions were vital sources for Gontcharova as seen in her' series of (prints, “Mystical Images of War,” and in)her theatrical designs. Included in the exhibition is a costume design for a peasant woman for Diaghilev’s “Le Coq d’Or” performed in Paris in 1914 and a series bf designs by her and Larionov, recent gifts to the

McDougall gallery. |

The National Ar] Gallery’s touring show of Gontcharova? j was prompted by pride in possession ) of some fine examples of her work] given by Alexandra Larionov in 1973 and in 1983 bv Mary Chamot, their art ajdviser in London whose geperous intention was to add to New Zealand’s small collection of international modern art. Seen in this context the show raise interesting issues. Not surprisingly modern European) art came late to New Zealand public collections. Close links with British culture determined that our art societies were buying works by Victorian academic painters i] when early twentieth century modernism took Paris and Moscow. ;| It was not until 1940 that a modern painting by Frances Hodgkins entered the National Art Gaillery’s collection; a small;} painting by the Fauvist,ilOthon Friesz, came to' the McDougall gallery in 1938; and in 1947 Dunedin added a landscape by Derain to its collection. Exhibitions drawn from national collections! summon up ruminations' about cultural heritage; this exhibition highlights! long years of public; incomprehension of European modern art and pinpoints consequences | of our inheritance of British traditions. I i i .’