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Spanish Dancer

Somewhat abstract and geometric painting of a clearly discernable, light-skinned female dancer, standing in profile, swaths of white lace fabric adorning and radiating from her, a fan in her hand.
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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  • Somewhat abstract and geometric painting of a clearly discernable, light-skinned female dancer, standing in profile, swaths of white lace fabric adorning and radiating from her, a fan in her hand.

Date:

1920s

Artist:

Natalia Goncharova
Born Tula (formerly Russian Empire, now Russia), 1881; died Paris, 1962

About this artwork

Natalia Goncharova first painted the subject of the Spanish dancer in 1916, while touring Spain as a set and costume designer with Sergei Diaghilev’s traveling ballet company, the Ballets Russes. In this painting, the artist depicted a costume featuring delicate transparencies of lace and floral patterns. Inspired by the local flamenco tradition, Goncharova translated the fabric’s radial lines into the axes formed by the dancer’s hands, which fan outward in geometric vectors, building upon the abstract-cubist style she had developed in Moscow the decade before. After her time in Spain, the artist wrote, “It seems to me that out of all the countries I have visited, this is the only one where there is some hidden energy.”

Status

On View, Gallery 392

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Natalia Goncharova

Title

Spanish Dancer

Place

Russia (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1920–1929

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed, l.r.: "N. Gontcharova"

Dimensions

200.7 × 88.9 cm (79 × 35 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Patrick C. Hill in memory of her mother, Rue Winterbotham Carpenter

Reference Number

1971.777

Copyright

© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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