Lyubov Popova's most famous painting was Painterly architectonic. painted in 1917 using oil paint on canvas, this painting can be considered an important milestone in the history of the revolutionary movement of Russian avant-garde and depicts the moment when the artist departed from purely European concept of Cubo-Futurism and moved on to a non-objective form of painting.
In contrast to the big and light empty spaces typical for the works of Malevich, Popova creates her painting in the shallow pictorial plane. A complicated geometry of aggressive polygons which includes sharp triangles and postmodern trapezes of bright colors—pink, white, red, and deep grey—is superimposed over the neutral background.
The contrast within the work of Popova creates a mental tension in her work. The heavy geometric figures appear to have a life of their own in spite of being painted on the flat canvas. Popova constructs special diagonal lines and highlights the shadow on the red shape to force the viewer’s eye to see the three-dimensional object instead of plane painting. The contrast of colors gives birth to the energy which hints that the forms of shapes are fighting among themselves and want to escape off the frame.
'Painterly architectonic' is a fine example of Cubo-Futurism. In fact, Popova was one of the first female pioneers in Cubo-Futurism. The heavy use of complicated geometric figures provides a complex element to the painting, which is difficult to ignore. One cannot help but be captivated by the sophisticated nature of the painting, which is quick to capture the attention of the viewers. However, it would have been great if the researcher used the picture from the original museum site (The Museum of Modern Art , New York), so that the authenticity of the picture would be taken care of.
