Still Life - Alexandra Ekster

Pissarro
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Pissarro

4 June to 15 September 2013

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Autor:: Camille Pissarro
Título:: Self-portrait
Fecha:: 1903

Técnica:: Oil on canvas
Medidas:: 41 x 33 cm.
Ubicacion:: Tate: gift of Lucien Pissarro, the artist's son, 1931.

<exchanging gazes> 6: Reflections. From Van Eyck to Magritte

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From 10 June to 15 September 2013

Autor:: Jan van Eyck
Título:: The Annunciation Diptych: The Archangel Gabriel (detail)
Fecha:: c. 1433-1435

Técnica: Oil on panel: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Nº INV. 137.a (1933.11.1)

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Still Life

Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection

Autor:: Alexandra Ekster
Título:: Still Life
Fecha:: 1913

Técnica:: Collage y óleo on canvas
Medidas:: 68 x 53 cm
Úbicacion:: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Numero de inventario: INV. Nr. 540 (1973.26)

More information about this work

Alexandra Ekster , a painter of Ukrainian origin, has recently been acknowledged as one of the foremost artists of the Russian avant-garde movements and a key link in connecting French Cubism and Italian Futurism with Russian Cubo-Futurism — a name some authors claim that she coined . Although from 1907 onwards she spent long periods in Paris, where she met Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and the Italian Futurists Ardengo Soffici and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, she always returned to her beloved Kiev. Furthermore, despite her close relationship with the European avant-gardes, she never lost contact with her fellow Russians and took part in the leading Russian avant-garde exhibitions such as Jack of Diamonds and 5 x 5 = 25, both held in Moscow.

Although it is more than likely that the present Still Life was painted in Paris, where the artist lived from 1912 to 1914, Yakov Tugenhold believes it is among the works shown at the aforementioned Jack of Diamonds exhibition in 1914. As can be clearly seen in the composition, she was influenced by the Cubist movement while living in the French capital. Nevertheless, whereas the spatial fragmentation and use of collage evidence her experimental zeal, the vivid colours are drawn from Russian traditions. Furthermore, the characteristic objects depicted in the Cubist still lifes, such as the bottle and glass in the centre of the composition, are intermingled with various collages of advertisements and fragments of articles cut out of newspapers, as well as a large letter “A” crossed by an arrow in the upper left corner.

Paloma Alarcó

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