Udaltsova's At the Piano

NADEZHDA UDALTSOVA’S AT THE PIANO (1914)

is a developed piece of work. Nadezhda Andreevna Udaltsova, the artist, was born in Orel (Russia). She engaged in many of the formal strategies of Cubism, that developed during her studies at the Acádemie de la Palette in Paris, within this piece. Within this piece she creates a one-sided depiction of objects and space through multiple planes of perspective. The overlapping paralleling shapes of focus ring of cubism. She includes prominent lettering, which looks as if it’s stenciled in. She also distinguishes edges through light and dark contrasts. The Cubists often evoked music in their works; the same theme is articulated here through the piano to the right of the middle and the woman playing it to the left. She even weaves the white and black keys into different corners of the planes that make up this piece. The contrasts of the key’s colors are almost paralleled by the contrast of the shapes. However, it is also more dynamic and the scene is more domestic than many of her other Cubist colleague’s work at the time. Cubism was closely linked with the environment of Paris for Udaltsova. Fore example, the architecture which seemed as if it was influenced by Picasso. However, she was not wholly cubist. She was participating in a movement of the time. The artist was also attending school with Popova another female artist who was apart of the Russian Constructivist movement. Influenced by friends and the movement her work became uniquely beautiful. Russian art in the years before the Revolution of 1917 developed along broad paths. Some worked in two dimensions others, like Popova and Udaltsova, emphasized construction, where they focused on texture and design. Themes were often geometric, experimental and rarely emotional. They were also quite minimal, where the artwork is broken down to its most basic elements in a very abstract and modern style. Uniquely many important artists developed out of this movement. Udaltsova’s work, in my own personal opinion is particularly special. As you look at the alluring piece you can almost hear one of Bach’s many unpredictable and fluctuating compositions traveling off the page.