 130 130.jpg "Composition with a Watermelon")
From the end of the 1950s, Lydia Masterkova developed her own artistic style, creating works in the manner of Abstract Expressionism. One of the first members of the Moscow underground, she began to work with “pure abstraction,” becoming a member of the Lianozovo Circle. Every Lianozovo artist, whether it was Oskar Rabin, Yevgeny Kropivnitsky or Vladimir Nemukhin (the husband of Lydia Masterkova) developed his own variant of modernism. Lydia Masterkova’s style was extremely personal and lyrical, but at the same time not devoid of mysticism. At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, she took a further step toward creating works of a predominately clear-cut structural origin. This was a time when the artist’s creative maturity coincided with her theoretical maturity. She worked with cycles and with series. Among her best known and important works are “Planets” (1976), “Triptych” and the numerous works entitled “Composition,” which the artist often dedicated to some specific individual. Masterkova emigrated to France in 1975.
THE TSUKANOV ART COLLECTION
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Masterkova Lydia | “It is important that one’s work be filled with profound feelings, even something secret that beckons onward. It is important that soul of the artist be alive in the work.” Lydia Masterkova |
1927-2008 | ||
“There is always something in her abstract compositions that, with unremitting power, burns, sparkles and glimmers from the fire of bewitching colors. It appears that she always proceeds from different directions to the magical surface of the canvas. Sometimes a joyful clarity of flaming sounds, coiling and rising upward, brings to mind the organ chords of Johann Sebastian Bach, while sometimes the greenish-gray combined planes, associated with biological forms, seem connected with “Le creation du monde” of Darius Milhaud. The drawing of Masterkova speaks volumes. It organizes the surface and gives colorful accents. It is unique and very expressive of its author.” L. Kropivnitsky
The artist's work can be found in the following museums and collections:
Contemporary Art Museum | Composition Museum Drugoye Iskusstvo |
