Lydia Masterkova (Russian, 1927-2008)

Lydia Masterkova was one of the important women artists of Non-Conformist or Underground art in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. Her oeuvre is sometimes seen as associated with Abstract Expressionism and she is one of the first to develop a Metaphysical Abstraction, endowing abstract motifs with a sacred meaning. Her most recognisable form is a circle, often with a three-dimensional texture achieved through a mixed-media approach. Lydia Masterkova was part of the Lianozovo Group: a group of non-conformist artists founded in 1958 that worked in and near Lianozovo (a village near Moscow). The group included other artists such as Oscar Rabin and Vladimir Nemukhin, and poets. The collaboration between the practitioners of the various unofficial art forms like visual arts, poetry, literature and music was important in the creation of an atmosphere of creativity and resistance among them. Together they published samizdat books, journals and essays and organised exhibitions in private flats and outdoors, as they were excluded from exhibiting in dedicated gallery and museum spaces. Alongside other non-conformist artists, Lydia Masterkova participated in the Bulldozer Exhibition (1974).

In 1975, Lydia Masterkova emigrated to France, where she remained for the rest of her life. Her works are represented in some of the most important collections of Modern and Contemporary Art including MoMA (New York), Zimmerli Art Museum (New Jersey), Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow) and Tate (London).