Directional Lines (or, Dissonance)

Label TextDirectional Lines dates from one of the most creative periods of Rozanova’s career, when she was aligned with a collective of Russian avant-garde artists called the Union of Youth. It was painted in the same year Rozanova published her theoretical treatise, in which she was one of the first Russian artist to advocate total abstraction in art. Her works of this period have been described as Cubo-Futurist, and are based on division of space, interaction of color, and discordant linear constructions. Directional Lines demonstrates these techniques, presenting elements of a landscape subverted by rich surface texture, energetic brush strokes, and dramatic use of black lines.

Rozanova was an influential figure in the early 20th century Russian avant-garde. While the composition of this extraordinary pinting references landscape, with allusions to mountains, trees, and sky, more significantly the work exhibits the artist's insistence upon the supremacy of individual feeling, intuition, and personal experience. This painting was first exhibited in Saint Petersburg in 1913 and early 1914. It was then shipped to Italy, where it was exhibited in the Free Futurist Internation Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture at the Galleria Sprovieri in April and May 1914. Undoubtedly the painting exerted influence upon the modernist movement in Italy. Directional Lines is one of the few major canvases by the artist in a museum in the United States.

Source: DMAC NEWS July August September 2002

Exhibition History"Louise Noun Collection of Art by Woman", The University of Iowa and the Des Moines Art Center, ill.

"Iowa Collects", Des Moines Art Center, 1985, cat. p. 21

"The Russian Avant Garde: 1910-1925", Los Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles, and Hirshhorn Museum of Art, Washington, DC, cat. no. 327

"N.Y. Russian Avant-Garde 1908-1922", 1971-1972, cat. no. 111 (color ill, p. 76)

"Gallerie Vittoria Emanuele", Milano, Italy, 1970, cat. no. 29

"Avantgarde Osteuropa 1910-1930", Akademie der Kunste, Berline, Germany, 1967

"Il Contributo Russo Alle Avanguardie Plastiche", Galleria del Levante, Milano, Italy, 1964

"Exposizione Libera Futurista Internazionale", Gallerie Sprovieri, Rome, Italy, April - May 1914, Cat. no. 3

"St. Petersburg Union of Youth", St. Petersburg, Russia, November 23 , 1913 - January 23, 1914, cat no. 115

DimensionsFrame: 50 7/8 × 42 1/4 × 3 1/8 in. (129.2 × 107.3 × 7.9 cm)
Image (visible): 39 1/2 × 30 7/8 in. (100.3 × 78.4 cm)

Accession Number 2002.5

Classificationspainting

CopyrightPublic Domain

InscriptionsCollezione F.T. Marinetti (verso u,c canvas; c stretcher bar)

ProvenanceArtist, Russia; Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Rome [acquired from the previous, 1914]; Daughters of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Milan [inherited from the previous, 1944]; Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York [acquired from the previous, c. 1968-71]; Louise R. Noun, Des Moines [purchased from the previous, 1979]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2002]

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