At the beginning of the 20s of the last century, the paintings of the artist Lyubov Sergeevna Popova were almost impossible to sell - the creative talent valued the master’s unique talent so low. Over time, the price of her work began to grow exponentially, accompanied by an increase in the publication of studies and analyzes of her work. Most of the leading critics in the field of art have authoritatively declared the genius of Popova’s works, that in her works she not only created many unique author’s methods of depicting reality, but also significantly outstripped her time.
Lyubov Popova
Lyubov Sergeevna Popova is one of the most famous representatives of female Russian and Soviet avant-garde. Throughout her long creative life, the artist actively developed such trends in the art of art as Suprematism, Cubism, Constructivism and Cubo-Futurism. Kazimir Malevich enthusiastically responded about her work, who invited her to his author's creative association “Supremus”.
Also, Lyubov Popova for a long time developed various directions of Soviet graphics, managed to become a pioneer of domestic design, devoting a lot of time to the development of theatrical scenery, costumes, as well as being in the search for free artistic solutions for halls, living rooms and other rooms that could become art objects.
At present, the works of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova are recognized by the world art community as unique examples of the early Russian underground, distinguished by their unique authorial style and pronounced innovation.
Many famous collectors of Russian and early Soviet art highly value the artist’s paintings, acquiring them for private collections. Also, the master’s works are stored in the State Museum of the Russian Federation.
Parents
Lyubov Popova was born on April 24, 1889 in the village of Ivanovskoye (Moscow province) in a wealthy merchant family. The father of the future artist, Sergei Maksimovich Popov, was a well-known entrepreneur and had his own business in the field of textile production, which passed to him from his father. Lyubov’s mother, Lyubov Vasilievna Zubova, was a rich heiress of a noble family - so rich that her father owned several unique violins by famous Italian masters such as Stradivari, Amati, Guarneri.
The girl from childhood was brought up in a calm favorable atmosphere. Parents early noticed the daughter's creative inclinations and tried in every possible way to develop them, taking an active part not only in raising her daughter, but also in becoming her as a person who gave his heart to art.
Love showed great learning abilities, from an early age engaging in self-learning with interest. Every day, a specially hired governess studied with the girl languages, literature, writing and reading, and a famous artist of that time, K. M. Orlov, was invited for drawing lessons.
early years
In 1902, the family of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova moved to Yalta for permanent residence. It was here that the girl entered the gymnasium, which she graduated ten years later with a gold medal. Admired by the girl’s abilities to learn and to do creative work, teachers recommended that parents send Love to Moscow to continue their studies.
Despite the pronounced creative character, Love decided to enroll in the pedagogical courses taught by A. S. Alferov at the Moscow gymnasium S. A. Arsentieva. The next two years, the girl studied the basics of philology, comparative linguistics and the general theory of language, receiving a diploma of a teacher who has the right to conduct Russian language courses in small schools.
Having received higher education, Popova finally decided to start developing her creative talents, in 1907 enrolling in a drawing studio, in which the famous master S. Yu. Zhukovsky taught courses.
Training
The following year, Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova officially became a student of theoretical and practical painting courses taught by S. Zhukovsky and truly legendary painter Konstantin Yuon. Here, in the workshop of these great masters, Love found new friends and creative like-minded people, who became Nadezhda Udaltsova and Lyudmila Prudkovskaya. In the future, all three glorified the Russian art underground with their talent, creating many wonderful works that were included in the treasury of masterpieces of world painting.
Love began her creative career by renting a workshop in Antipyevsky Lane and doing hard work almost all the time, studying the properties of various coloring materials, mastering unfamiliar working techniques and checking how paints, tempera or wax will interact with unusual types of coatings, such as like slate, concrete or hard gloss.
Biography of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova is saturated. In 1910, the artist visited Italy, where for a long time she studied the theory of painting and the author's styles of famous classical masters of the past. The next two years of work took place in France, where the artist managed to get acquainted with such recognized masters of the foreign avant-garde as J. Metzinger and Le Focognier.
Suprematism
Upon returning to her homeland, the artist joined the club of Kazimir Malevich "Supremus", for which she drew a logo and helped develop a charter. Inspired by the minimalism of the mentor, Popova actively explored the style of geometric minimalism, creating a series of compositions where only one figure was depicted on the canvas, the contrast of which with the surface of the canvas was emphasized by unusual color solutions and color combinations.
All the famous works of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova were made in the technique of “material selection”, which the artist developed from the teachings of Tatlin, offering not only her vision of the final color selection, but also creating an original version of the light counter-relief.
Despite her own authorial style, Popova often borrowed ideas, forms and ways of implementing ideas from Malevich. Often her works were original copies of Malevich’s creations, in which Popova only replaced one type of figures with another and offered her color solution to the creative situation.
The pictures of the teacher and the student were distinguished by their attitude to color - Casimir gravitated to a gloomy palette, while Love preferred color planes, consisting of many bright colors, giving light shades when mixed.
Confession
By the mid-20s of the last century, photos of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova began to flicker in publications devoted to new Soviet art. In 1920, the artist was invited to teach the theory of painting at All-Union art and technical workshops. Also, the master actively worked in various theaters in the capital, constantly decorating performances and making design for theater troupes traveling abroad. This was a very responsible occupation controlled by the government.
In 1923, the master was noticed by the legendary Vasily Kandinsky and invited to work at the Institute of Art Culture.
Innovation
The biography of the artist Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova also contains information about the unimaginable innovation that this creative person brought to Russian art.
The master was characterized by such working methods as holding potholes with iron objects directly on freshly applied paint, removing the relief with linen linings on the canvas, and also actively using collages that Love created by pressing photographs cut from magazines into photographs, various inscriptions or other relief and non-standard elements.
A deliberate image of surrounding objects in the style of primitive cubism gave Popova complete freedom to decorate these figures with decorative materials, which led to the creation of an incredibly original atmosphere in the works. Collected from almost nothing, the pictures amaze with the accuracy of the transmission of images.
Art style
Almost all the works of Lyubov Sergeevna Popova are made in the individual unique style of the artist. Only a fraction of her trial works is imitative.
The very concept of the style of the master lies in the absence of any framework or the presence of certain points of view. Popova believed that creative vision is an endless process that has no boundaries.
A family
Little is known about Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova’s personal life. In 1918, the young artist met Boris Nikolayevich von Eding, and the next year the couple officially registered their marriage. The husband of the master was a historian by education and was engaged in scientific work, preparing a long-term historical and cultural study of the city of Rostov and its environs. A few years later his book came out - "Rostov the Great, Uglich."
The couple had a son, who died of scarlet fever on May 23, 1924. During treatment, the artist inadvertently caught a disease from a child and died two days after his death. Lyubov Sergeevna Popova is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow.