Natalya Goncharova

Natalya Goncharova, Russian Nataliya Sergeyevna Goncharova, Goncharova also spelled Gontcharova   (born June 4, 1881, Ladyzhino, Russia—died Oct. 17, 1962, Paris, France), innovative Russian painter, sculptor, and stage designer who was a founder, with Mikhail Larionov, of Rayonism (c. 1910) and was a designer for the Ballets Russes.

The daughter of an aristocratic family, Goncharova studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow. After an early preoccupation with sculpture, in 1904 she began to seriously paint, experimenting with the Cubist and Futurist styles during the next few years. It was as a synthesis of these movements that Goncharova and Larionov, whom she later married, conceived of Rayonism, which sought to portray in two dimensions the spatial qualities of reflected light. In 1912 Goncharova took part in Roger Fry’s Postimpressionist exhibition in London and in the second exhibition of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”) in Munich.

Goncharova earned a high reputation in Moscow for her scenery and costume designs for the Kamerny Theatre. When she and Larionov moved to Paris in 1914, she became a designer for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes; her vibrant, Byzantine-inspired designs for the ballet Coq d’Or were especially notable.

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(1881-1962), Russian painter, sculptor, and stage designer, born in Ladyzhino; daughter of aristocratic family, she studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow; began to experiment with cubist and futurist styles 1905; with Mikhail Larionov founded Rayonism, a style that sought to portray in two dimensions the spatial qualities of reflected light; in 1912 exhibited at postimpressionist gallery show in London and with Der Blaue Reiter in their second exhibition in Munich; earned high reputation in Moscow for scenery and costume designs for the Kamerny Theater; moved to Paris in 1914 and designed sets for the Ballets Russes.