Gouache by Natalia Goncharova(also known as Gontcharova), c1915/1930

NOTE WE REMOVED THE GONCHOROVA FROM THE FRAME AND TOOK ADDITIONAL PHOTOS(6/7/22).THERE IS AN 1/8TH OF AN INCH FADING BORDER UNDER THE MAT-SEE THE NEW PHOTOS-BUT THE GOUACHE IS NICELY HINGED NOT GLUED DOWN)

The image measures 6 inches by 10 inches on a larger piece of paper
Frame: 13" x 18.5"

Davids notes: A very strong and energetic work by Goncharova, in beautiful condition, from her early period when she first moved to Paris from Russia. The influences of Modernism, Cubism, Russian Futurism and other movements at the time are all evident in this bold and brilliant work, which was found in the basement of Mary Ellen Kaplans brownstone this month. In all likelihood Mary acquired at one of the major auction houses approximately 50 to 75 years ago, but the information of where or how Mary acquired it is long gone.

Provenance: Estate of Mary Ellen Kaplan(Obituary see below), daughter of Alice M. Kaplan(biography see below), the world famous collector. Alice M Kaplan was a collector of art and antiques, whose collections were written up in numerous books, often published by Columbia University, her Alma Mater.

Natalia Goncharova
(Wiki):Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova; July 3, 1881 to October 17, 1962) was a Russian avant-garde artist, painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer. Goncharovas lifelong partner was fellow Russian avant-garde artist Mikhail Larionov. She was a founding member of both the Jack of Diamonds (1909 to 1911), Moscow's first radical independent exhibiting group, the more radical Donkey's Tail (1912 to 1913), and with Larionov invented Rayonism (1912 to 1914). She was also a member of the German-based art movement Der Blaue Reiter. Born in Russia, she moved to Paris in 1921 and lived there until her death. Her painting vastly influenced the avant-garde in Russia. Her exhibitions held in Moscow and St. Petersburg (1913 and 1914) were the first promoting a “new” artist by an independent gallery. When it came to the pre-revolutionary period in Russia, where decorative painting and icons were a secure profession, her modern approach to rendering icons was both transgressive and problematic. She was one of the leading figures in the avant-garde in Russia and carried this influence with her to Paris.

Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was born on July 3, 1881 (the same year as Larionov, Picasso, and Leger), in Nagaevo (now in the Chernsky District of Tula Oblast). Her father, Sergey Mikhaylovich Goncharov, was an architect and graduate of the prestigious Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Goncharova moved to Moscow at the age of 10 in 1892; she graduated from the Fourth Women's Gymnasium in 1898. Goncharova was the great granddaughter of famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Her immediate family were highly educated and considered themselves politically liberal. Her father designed and built their home, where both Natalia and her brother Afanasii grew up. They were both raised and educated by their mother and grandmother. They lived in the Orlov and Tyla provinces, and soon Goncharova moved to Moscow to pursue the Fourth Women's Gymnasium in 1892, from which she graduated in 1898. She tried several career paths (zoology, history, botany, and medicine), before deciding on sculpture.

She was accepted by the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in the fall of 1901, where she studied to become a sculptor under Pavel Trubetskoi, who was associated with the World of Art movement. By 1903, she began exhibiting in major Russian salons, and in 1903-04 she was awarded a silver medal for sculpture. It was at the Moscow Institute that Goncharova met fellow-student Mikhail Larionov, and it was not long before they began sharing a studio and living space.

At the end of the century the gender segregation in the official art institutions was no longer implemented, but still denied women the right to get the diploma upon the completion. She withdrew from the Moscow Institute in 1909, in favor of classes at Illia Mashkov and Alexander Mikhailovskys studios, where she was able to study male and female nudes, and was trained the equivalent of what she would have learnt upon completion at the Moscow Institute had she been male. In 1910, a number of students were expelled from Konstantin Korovin's portrait class for imitating the contemporary style of European Modernism, with Goncharova, Larionov, Robert Falk, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Alexander Kuprin, Ilya Mashkov amongst them.

Goncharova and other artists at a Donkey's Tail exhibition, 1912The students rejected from Korovin's classes, and others, soon formed Moscow's first radical independent exhibiting group, the Jack of Diamonds, which was named by Larionov.[6] This is rather a provocative name, as it alludes of both boulevard literature and the prison uniforms.

The Jack of Diamonds' first exhibition (December 1910-11) included Primitivist and Cubist paintings by Goncharova, but the group split in half in 1912 to form the more provocative group, the Donkey's Tail. At the latter group's first exhibition (March–April 1912) organized by Larionov, more than fifty of her paintings were on display.[6] Goncharova drew inspirations for primitivism from Russian icons and folk art, otherwise known as luboks.[10] The Donkey's Tail was conceived as an intentional break from European art influence and the establishment of an independent Russian school of modern art. The exhibition proved controversial, and the censor confiscated Goncharovas religiously-themed work, The Evangelists (1910-11), deeming it blasphemous partly because it was hung at an exhibition titled after the rear end of a donkey, partly because it blended sacred and profane imagery, and also because there were taboos for women to paint icons.

Goncharova and her counterpart, Larionov, were continuously harassed for their artwork and the way they expressed themselves. However, the influence of Russian Futurism is much in evidence in Goncharovas later paintings. Initially preoccupied with icon painting and the primitivism of ethnic Russian folk-art, Goncharova soon began to mix Cubist and Futurist elements in her work, which led to the beginnings of Cubo-Futurism. In Russia, she would become famous for her work in this style, such as Cyclist. In 1911, she and Larionov developed Rayonism, and produced many paintings in that style. As leaders of the Russian Futurists,[13] they organized provocative lecture evenings in the same vein as their Italian counterparts. Goncharova was also involved with graphic design—writing, and illustrated several avant-garde books.

Another important exhibition Goncharova participated in is called The Target (March–April 1913) and No. 4 (March-April 1914). She played a very important role when it came to Russian art at the time. Her aesthetic choices that were bridging the Eastern and Western traditions, served as a catalyst for manifestos and art movements at the time. She was one of the leading artists in Cubo-Futurist (Airplane over a Train, 1912) and Rayonist (Yellow and Green Forest, 1913) circles.

Even though her pre-World War I art still had problematic associations, her participation in these exhibits were a segue for Moscow's avant-garde blending of both Western European Modernism and Eastern traditions. In one of her interviews, she said that she got inspiration from Picasso, Le Fauconnier, and Braque, but still her first “Cubist” works to date as long as one year before that.

She was also notorious for her occasionally shocking public behaviour. When Goncharova and Larionov first became interested in Primitivism, they painted hieroglyphics and flowers on their faces and walked through the streets; Goncharova herself sometimes appeared topless in public with symbols on her chest as part of her manifesto "Why We Paint Our Faces."[10]She exhibited at the Salon d'Automne (Exposition de L'art Russe) in 1906.

Goncharova was a member of the avant-garde Der Blaue Reiter group from its founding in 1911. In 1915, she began to design ballet costumes and sets in Geneva. In 1915 she started work on a series of designs—Six Winged Seraph, Angel, St. Andrew, St. Mark, Nativity, and others—for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, to be titled Liturgy. Also involved in the project, for which Igor Stravinsky was invited to compose the score, were Larionov and Leonide Massine, but the ballet never materialized.[16] Goncharova moved to Paris in 1921 where she designed a number of stage sets of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. She also exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1921, and participated regularly at the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des Independants.

Goncharova also identified with Everythingvism (russ. Vsechestvo), the Russian avant-garde movement. Everythingvism was considered as an extension of Neo-Primitivism. This art promotes heterogeneity, a blending of multiple cultural traditions, such as West and East and different styles such as Cubism and Futurism. It aspired to erase the boundaries between what is considered the origin and the copy, and assimilated those together. It was an art movement that was free of already set artistic laws.[9]Together with Larionov, she left Russia and went to Paris on April 29, 1914. In this year she designed costumes and sets for the Ballets Russes's premiere of The Golden Cockerel in the city. Goncharova and Larionov collaborated on four events in Paris for the benefit of the Union des Artistes Russes. These events were the Grand Bal des Artistes or the Grand Bal Travesti Transmental (February 23, 1923), the Bal Banal (March 14, 1924), the Bal Olympique or the Vrai Bal Sportif (July 11, 1924), and the Grand Ourse Bal (May 8, 1925). They both designed much of the publicity materials for the event.[17]Between 1922 and 1926, Goncharova created fashion designs for Marie Cuttoli's shop, Maison Myrbor on the Rue Vincent, Paris. Her richly embroidered and appliquéd dress designs were strongly influenced by Russian folk art, Byzantine mosaic and her work for the Ballets Russes.[18][19]In 1938 Goncharova became a French citizen.[20] On June 2, 1955, four years after Larionov suffered a stroke, the two artists got married in Paris to safeguard their rights of inheritance.[20] Influenced by the School of Paris, her style moved from Cubism nearer to Neoclassicism. Goncharova was the first of the pair to die, seven years later, on October 17, 1962, in Paris after a debilitating struggle with rheumatoid arthritis.

Contradictions between country life and city life left a residue in Goncharova's artistic production and places it within European and Russian Modernism of that time. The urban Moscow, fast-paced life and the relaxed summer retreats in the country are highly apparent in her art. Photographs of her in the family estate show her wearing peasant clothes in combination with city shoes. Her early self-portraits deal with identity, where her interest in elite masquerades is revealed. In one she dresses as a gentlewoman; in other, she is in a domestic environment wearing a dress; others focus on her identity as a painter (for example Self-Portrait with Yellow Lilies, 1907.)[citation needed]Her early pastels and painting are influenced by the family main estate in Kaluga province, called Polotnianyi Zavod. The description of the life there suggests that the leisure part and the work part blurred together, and as such may be associated with the liberal reforms in Russia of the time. The inspiration Goncharova draws from the lifestyle is mostly taken from observing the everyday activities of the servants and peasants who lived there. That is evident in the number of her gardening images that can be identified with the landscape of this property.

Goncharova had a successful career in fashion, where she was producing costumes for the Ballets Russes. The style was influenced by her involvement in the avant-garde in combination with her Russian heritage. In France, she worked for the House of Myrbor, where her Slavic heritage influenced the abstract design that was favored by the avant-garde.

She also worked for a famous designer Nadejda Lamonava in Moscow, where her completely artistic expression came to life. She experimented with abstract design, colors, patterns, different combinations of material, and evidently reacting against the prevailing fashion for Orientalism. Her designs were both influenced by Russian tradition and the Byzantine mosaics, which are visible in both the costumes and the dresses. Her work also exhibits Primitivist tendencies.

She also designed many costumes for the Ballets Russes, most notably for the company's production of The Golden Cockerell (Le Coq d'Or) and Firebird. She was a key member of the Ballets Russes and worked closely with Sergei Diaghilev and Bronislava Nijinska. Her work had a major influence on French fashion at the time, particularly with legendary designer Paul Poiret.

Good condition overall, Provanance: Estate of Mary Ellen Kaplan,Obituary:Mary Ellen Kaplan, philanthropist, patron of the arts and activism, above all, humanist whose generosity knew no bounds, died surrounded by friends and family at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan on Thursday, November 18, 2021. She was 85. Born on January 3, 1936 in New York City to Alice Manheim and Jacob M. Kaplan, Mary grew up in a family that fostered social awareness and dedication to the arts. She attended Dalton, followed by the Putney School in Vermont and Radcliffe College. A lifelong New Yorker, Mary spent most of her life in various townhouses in the West Village, and over the years also owned property in Upstate New York, Nova Scotia, and Paris. Many of her homes were architecturally significant and it was often noted that their true brilliance lay in Mary's interior arrangements, imaginative and often extraordinary. She curated the rooms as theatrical spaces and changed them constantly, once hanging mid-century modern chairs upside-down from the first- floor ceiling of her townhouse. Mary welcomed those who were overlooked by society, advocated for them, and took them under her wing. An engaging, highly literate, and articulate conversation-loving and exceedingly generous person, Mary was the center of a bohemian community of artists, would-be artists, and intellectuals from around the world, some of whom enjoyed the privilege of living in her residences for years, entirely rent-free. She was an ardent supporter of literature, particularly poetry, and played a major role in establishing Poets House in Manhattan. As a trustee of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a New York foundation established by her father, Jacob M. Kaplan, Mary contributed to the arts and to a wide range of social causes. Mary's wit, warmth, and disarmingly honest commentary will be remembered and cherished by all whose lives she impacted. She was an unconventional thinker who challenged opponents, as well as a deeply compassionate friend. Mary is survived by her sisters, Elizabeth Fonseca and Joan K. Davidson, her sister-in-law Edwina Sandys and many nieces and nephews.------------------Mary Ellen Kaplan is the daughter of Alice M Kaplan.Both mother and daughter were art collectors.(from Christie's auction house):Alice Manheim Kaplan was born in Budapest in 1903. She moved with her family to New York two years later. She attended the Teachers College at Columbia University but left in 1925 to marry New York businessman and philanthropist Jacob M. Kaplan. She raised four children. It was not until Mrs. Kaplan resumed her education three decades later, however, that she embarked upon a calling that would place her among the leading collectors and supporters of the fine arts in New York. Within a few years of receiving her master's degree in art history in 1963, Mrs. Kaplan became president of the American Federation of Arts, where she served for ten years, actively developing many exhibitions that traveled the length and breadth of the United States. She also produced the important educational film The Art of Seeing. She became a member of the boards of the Museum of American Folk Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She headed the advisory council for the department of art and architecture at Columbia University and was a member of the visiting committees of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. She helped to save the Cooper Union Museum (now the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum) and Carnegie Hall when it was threatened with demolition in 1960. Mrs. Kaplan was not a systematic collector. Instead, she used her education and extraordinary eye to take advantage of situations in which she encountered art works of exceptional quality. In 1980 she wrote in the forward to her collection catalogue: "I was inspired to acquire objects related to what I was studying. But it was the hunt that excited me: the discoveries were my victories; the missed opportunities, also, remain my regrets. In this pursuit, chance often played a large part." Her fascination with the work of Egon Schiele began as one such "discovery." In 1959, her first year of serious collecting, Mrs. Kaplan found herself on the wrong floor at the wrong exhibition in the Fuller Building on East 57th Street, which as it does today housed many art galleries. As she was about to leave, she noticed a row of drawings in the distance. It was the first major exhibition of works by Egon Schiele in New York. She left the gallery an hour later with her first acquisition of a Schiele drawing.---- She also collected notable paintings by the American artists Ammi Phillips, William Harnett and Maurice Prendergast, Old Master drawings, and sculptures from such diverse cultures as 13th century Burgundy, Benin, pre-Columbian America and the Far East. What interests Alice Kaplan primarily is line. This is obvious in the gentle outline of a weathervane or the angry scribbled line of a Schiele drawing, but it is also true of the Harnett, of the folk paintings, and even of the Indian sculpture. She is drawn to line that, in the hands of a master, creates a nervous consciousness, a special awareness. Each of her objects, whatever the culture or period, has a primitive, direct power. (T.E. Stebbins, Jr., "Alice Kaplan, Collector," Portfolio, May-June, 1982, p. 85)