Modern and Contemporary Art
Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Copyright Nadezhda Andreevna Udaltsova/VAGA, New York, NY
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Artist: Nadezhda Andreevna Udaltsova, Russian, 1886–1961

At the Piano

1915

Oil on canvas

106.7 x 89 cm (42 x 35 1/16 in.)
Gift of Collection Société Anonyme
1941.725
Many elements of At the Piano register Nadezhda Andreevna Udaltsova’s engagement with the formal strategies of Cubism that she studied in Paris: for example, the representation of objects and space as faceted planes; the inclusion of prominent lettering; and the articulation of edges through strong contrasts of light and dark. The painting also thematically relates to the interests of the Cubists, who often evoked music in their works. However, the dynamism of Udaltsova’s facets and rhythmically distributed parallel lines, as well as her selection of a domestic scene as her subject, distinguishes this piece from the work of her Cubist colleagues.
Culture: 
Russian
Period: 
20th century
Classification: 
Paintings
Status: 
On view
Provenance: 

Galerie Van Diemen, Berlin, to 1922; Katherine Dreier, 1922–41; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Bibliography: 

Collection of the Société Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art 1920 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1950), 38-39, ill.

Robert L. Herbert, Eleanor S. Apter, and Elise K. Kenney, The Société Anonyme and the Dreier Bequest at Yale University: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984), 666, no. 695, ill.

Ruth L. Bohan et al., The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America, ed. Jennifer Gross, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 58, 184, fig. 15.

Matthew J. Drutt, In Search of 0,10: The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting, exh. cat. (Basel, Switzerland: Hatje Cantz, 2015), 54, 210–11, no. 145, ill.

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.