Cyclist
ArtistNatalia Goncharova
Year1913
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions78 cm × 105 cm (31 in × 41 in)[1]
LocationState Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg

Cyclist is a 1913 Cubo-Futurist painting by the Russian artist Natalia Goncharova. The painting is considered an "archetypal work" of Futurism by its current holder, the State Russian Museum.[1]

Description

The titular cyclist is a male figure bent over his bicycle while pedaling through a town or city. The street beneath the cyclist is cobbled while behind him lies a row of shop windows.[2][3]: 113 

Goncharova was an early Russian developer of Cubo-Futurism, combining characteristics of both Futurism and Cubism in Cyclist. Cubist fragmentation, for example, is used to indicate the cyclist's speed.[2] Movement is also portrayed in the work's Futurist elements, such as its repetition of forms and dislocation of contours.[1] The dynamic effect of multiplied forms and repeated delineation is further amplified by Goncharova's use of broad brushstrokes.[3]: 113  The presence of urban life, another concern of Futurism, is included in the work through the use of street signs in the background. However, the composition is distinct from classical Futurist works due to its higher level of visual balance.[1] In particular, Cyclist contrasts with the more abstract and dematerialized representation of cycling found in Umberto Boccioni's 1913 painting Dynamism of a Cyclist.[4]

Cyrillic letters from the shop signs are visually "shifted" onto the bicyclist in the painting. The art historian Tim Harte views the pointing finger on the leftmost storefront as part of a "visual clash" since it points in the opposite direction of the cyclist's motions.[3]: 113 

Exhibition and reception

Cyclist was shown with Goncharova's Airplane over a Train in the artist's 1913 solo show.[3]: 113 

In his 2009 book on the Russian avant-garde, Harte considered Cyclist to be a "more mature" Cubo-Futurist painting compared to Goncharova's earlier works[3]: 116  and wrote that the painting evidences Goncharova's intensified focus on "modern motion's distortion of space and image".[3]: 113 

In a 2019 review of Goncharova's work, the art critic Laura Cumming described Cyclist as "an exhilarating picture" demonstrative of the artist's "excitement with futurism".[5]

As of 2021, Cyclist is in the State Russian Museum and is located in the museum's Benois Wing.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cyclist". State Russian Museum. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Lodder, Christina (June 5, 2019). "Natalia Goncharova: The Trailblazer". Tate Etc. No. 46. Tate. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harte, Tim (2009). Fast Forward: The Aesthetics and Ideology of Speed in Russian Avant-Garde Culture, 1910–1930. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 113, 116. ISBN 9780299233235.
  4. ↑ Bennett, Bruce (2021). "The fine art of cycling: bicycles, modernity and political art". In Zuev, Dennis; Psarikidou, Katerina; Popan, Cosmin (eds.). Cycling Societies: Innovations, Inequalities and Governance. Routledge. ISBN 9781000339895.
  5. ↑ Cumming, Laura (June 9, 2019). "Natalia Goncharova; Lee Krasner review – brilliant, bold and trailblazing". The Observer. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
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