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Artist or Maker: Liubov Sergeevna Popova (1889-1924)

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Notes: Liubov Popova, a major figure in the transition from Russian Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism into Constructivist work, was a painter, theatre, clothing, and graphic designer. Her work in each of these fields revealed her as a painter of force and distinction, wresting from the innovations around her a style that was distinctly her own. The present painting depicts the town of Birsk, Bashkir province, near the Ural Mountains where Popova stayed in 1916 while visiting her childhood nanny Anna Dege. The visit resulted in a small but distinctive group of paintings and drawings. Several pencil drawings depicting similar views are known to exist. The present painting executed with brilliance and originality that distinguish Popova's style is a transitional work between the artist's earlier Cubo-Futuristic figurative pictures and her later architectonic, abstract work. Birsk Landscape is painted using a restricted palette with each of the four major colors assigned to a particular element in the landscape. Coral red buildings of Cubistic shapes, brown landscape split by deep ravines, green trees are stylized yet recognizable, and almost topographical in their reference to a specific geographic location. In comparison, a companion painting called Birsk (1916, Guggenheim Museum, New York) seems much more abstract. List of drawings and paintings related to the present lot: Birsk , 1916, oil on canvas, 105.2 x 69.6 cm (Guggenheim Museum, New York). Study for Birsk , 1916, gouache on paper (formerly in the George Costakis Collection) reproduced in N. Adaskina and D. Sarabianov, Liubov Popova , New York, page 100; and ed. A. Z. Rudenstine, The Russian Avant-garde: The George Costakis Collection , New York, 1981, pl. 819. Study for Birsk , 1916, pencil on paper (formerly George Costakis Collection), reproduced in Adaskina and Sarabianov, ibid, page 99 Landscape with Buildings , c. 1916, pencil on paper (formerly George Costakis Collection), reproduce in ed. A.Z.Rudenstine, ibid, pl. 818 This work has been authenticated by Dr. Dmitrii Sarabianov.