Lyubov Popova was one of the pioneering women artists in the early 20th century. She was born in 1889 near Moscow where she developed an interest in sketching and drawing.
She was born into a wealthy family so she started taking private art lessons at age 11 and developed herself very quickly. In the early 1910’s she went to Italy, where she was amazed by the monumental art of early Renaissance. After Italy, she traveled to Pskov and Novgorod to study iconography. In 1912 she met Vladimir Tatlin, Nadezhda Udaltsova, and Aleksandr Vesnin and worked with them for a while in their studio. During this period Popova was drawn to Cubism and she went to Paris with Udaltsova to study cubism.
In 1914 she returned to Moscow after her trip to France. In Moscow, she organized weekly ‘‘art gatherings’‘ at her house which attracted Russian avant-garde artists. Popova’s mid-1910’s was successful she became well known compared to all the avant-garde artists.
After being well known as a painter Popova started designing costumes and stage sets for theaters like Kamerny Theater. In 1923 she designed for Moscow Textile Factory. Also in her last years, she also gave art theory lessons.
Even though she was very successful she died in 1924. She was only 35 years old when she died.
