Liubov Popova – a pioneer of Constructivism. The top part of the image shows an example of her linear fabric design. Below is a portrait by Aleksandr Rodchenko of Stepanova showing a silk scarf adopted from a fabric design by Popova in 1924. The image has come from the book created for the Tate Exhibition, Rodchenko & Popova, Defining Constructivism written by Margarita Tupitsyn.
Popova and Rodchenko didn’t distinguish between mediums or disciplines. When Alfred Barr from MOMA first saw the Constructivist work in 1928 he called it “an appalling variety of things”. Even today there can be a tendency to shy away from the idea that a textile print, for example, is of equal value to the artistic idea of a painting. Popova took her radical designs and domesticated them – made them into everyday items.
Julia Ritson
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