Lyubov Popova
(b Ivanovskoye, nr Moscow, 24
April 1889; d Moscow, 25 May 1924).
Russian painter and designer. She was born into a wealthy family and
trained as a teacher before beginning her artistic studies with Stanislav
Zhukovsky (1873–1944) and Konstantin Yuon. Their influence, particularly
through their interest in luminous tonalities reminiscent of
Impressionism, can be seen in early works by Popova such as Still-life
with Basket of Fruit (1907–8; Athens, George Costakis Col.; see
Rudenstine, pl. 725). Popova travelled extensively: in Kiev (1909) she was
very impressed by the religious works of Mikhail Vrubel’; in Italy (1910)
she admired Renaissance art, especially the paintings of Giotto. Between
1910 and 1911 she toured many parts of Russia, including Suzdal’,
Novgorod, Yaroslavl’ and Pskov. Inspired by Russian architecture, frescoes
and icons, she developed a less naturalistic approach. A more crucial
influence was the first-hand knowledge of Cubism that she gained in Paris,
which she visited with Nadezhda Udal’tsova during the winter of 1912–13.
She studied at the Académie de la Palette, under the direction of Henri Le
Fauconnier and Jean Metzinger, and her paintings of this time clearly
display the influence of these artists (e.g. Two Figures, 1913–14;
Moscow, Tret’yakov Gal.). Numerous sketchbooks attest to the rigour with
which Popova applied Cubist analysis to the human figure (e.g. notebook
C313, 1913–14). This approach was extended to paintings, for example
Seated Figure (1914; Cologne, Mus. Ludwig), which has affinities with
work by Léger and the Italian Futurist Umberto Boccioni; here, Popova
shows a new confidence and fluency, and a more sophisticated integration
of form and space into the transparent structures of curved and
rectilinear planes. A more complex and dynamic fragmentation appears in
canvases such as Travelling Woman (1915; Los Angeles, CA, Norton
Simon A. Found.).
