Lidiya Masterkova

Who was Lidiya Masterkova?

Lidia Masterkova was a Russian-born French painter, and part of the non-conformist Lianozovo Group along with Oscar Rabin. She was strongly influenced by Abstract Expressionism, which she was exposed to at the exhibition of foreign artists held during the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow.

Masterkova studied under Mikhail Perutski at the Moscow Secondary School of Art, the Vasily Surikov School of Art and Moscow Regional School of Art. A dedicated abstractionist, Masterkova was associated with the Lianozovo Circle, a diverse group of artists and poets who fought steadfastly and uncompromisingly for creative freedom. One of these artists, Vladimir Nemukhin, lived with her, although they never married.

One of the significant personalities in the Moscow art world of the 1960s, Masterkova’s work at the beginning of that decade included loosely painted watercolors in bright colors. Soon after, she darkened her palette and in the mid 1960s, her work was characterized by abstract compositions created with a palette knife in which dark, craggy forms contrasted with a light background. By the end of the decade, she began incorporating lace and brocade collected from abandoned churches into her compositions. She felt these items were filled with a kind of mysticism.