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Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov (1881 - 1964)
Like Goncharova Larionov also spent his childhood at the home of his grandparents. Growing up at Tiraspol , a town surrounded by the natural beauty of the country side , his local landscape also made a deep impression on him as a child and was to have a significant role in his art. He joined the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1898 where he studied painting . He and Natalya Goncharova became friendly with the painter Konstantin Korovin when he became a member of staff at the Moscow school in 1902. Korovin had studied in Paris with the Impressionists and was interested not only in painting but also in theatrical design. Korovin was a member of The World Of Art Group , the leading St.Petersburg art society led by Serge Diaghilev . Larionov felt indebted to the teaching of Korovin , exclaiming "...It was thanks to painters like Korovin that Russian art began to discover its own path by the end of the 19th century".
In 1903 Larionov met Serge Diaghilev at an exhibition of the work of Charles Rennie MacKintosh who was reviewing it for his World of Art magazine , from then they formed a close personal and professional friendship .
Similarly to Goncharova Larionov’s early art was impressionistic in style , their creative relationship meant that they inspired each other and worked together in order to progress artistically , their thinking often correlates but they both followed very independent paths . With Goncharova Larionov mixed with the international modernist elite and absorbed much of their theories whilst formulating their own . In 1913 for example Larionov became inspired by Futurism and becomes a declared Russian Futurist , he caused outrage with Goncahrova by painting symbols and animals on their faces while wearing brightly coloured wigs , contributing to cabaret , film, and theatre. However it is also in that year that he first writes about Rayism, his distinctive embellishment of Futurism, and works on its manifesto published in 1914.
| In 1914 while conscripted in the army he was badly wounded in the war , it has been suggested that these injuries resulted in a loss of creativity due to his subsequent lack of concentration, yet he still had the ability to produce many theatrical designs for his friend Diaghilev , such as "Soleil de Nuit" 1915, "Kikmora" 1916, "Contes Russes" 1917, he even worked with Massine on the choreography of the former. |
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From 1915 he and Goncharova travelled with the Ballets Russes to Switzerland , Rome and Spain, finally settling in Paris for good in 1918. As with Goncharova , Larionov continued to make impressive contributions to painting , graphic art and theatrical design. He also published his own writings and illustrated numerous publications , and even designed a puppet ballet called Karagueuz. He died in Paris , two years after Natalya Goncharova , in 1964.
