Dear readers (whomever you may be, there seem to be quite a few of you at the moment!).

Apologies for the slight delay in recent posts, currently I am in the midst of a couple of essays and dissertation planning, which appears to be taking a great deal of time and strength! In the heat of the coronavirus, art history seems to be of little importance compared to maintaining good health!

There are a couple of exciting posts coming up very soon, but in the meantime I’ll give a little glimpse into my final dissertation project. I’ll be writing about the ballet set and costume designs by Russian Avant-Garde Artist Natalia Goncharova for the ballet Russes. I’ve loved Goncharova’s work since visiting a TATE exhibition of her work last Summer with my lovely friend Maude, an artist and stylist. Down below are a few photos I took of the Summer exhibition, which was complete with Sunshine-yellow painted walls and a wonderfully curated collection of her versatile work.

And here below are a couple images I’ll be considering when writing and planning my research piece. They’re both ballet costumes designed by Goncharova. The seahorse, I think is a wonderful costume! Though I imagine It must have been a little tricky to dance in.

Down below here area a couple of her gouache and pencil designs along with designs for ballet sets.

There is something about Goncharova’s work which fills me with excitement, as an illustrator and maker. It is the type of work that for me, makes me want to gather up my pencils and draw wonderfully abstract scenes with bright colours and folk-art motifs. Finally, below is one of my favourite paintings of Goncharova’s of all her works. Titled ‘Gardening‘, it takes on the style of impressionism and a bit of cubism. I find the scene very sweet and simple, and it still remains my favourite (So far).

From now, I hope to try and make a post a week, complete with illustrations and interesting research. Not only will it give me a little something to look forward to and get the old cogs turning, but hopefully be something of some use when applying towards research degrees in the future. It’s also a great way to do a bit more drawing, as sadly I’ve lost all motivation to carry on with that for a little while, really. Hopefully this will act as a ‘function’ for me to pick up the dip pen!

A x