Lidiya Masterkova

"IT’S IMPORTANT THAT A WORK OF ART EXCITES YOU WITH THE WAY HOW IT’S DONE, WITH THE DEPTH OF FEELINGS, EVEN WITH SOME KIND OF MYSTERY THAT LURES TOU MORE AND MORE. IMPORTANT THAT THE ARTIST’S SOUL LIVES INSIDE THE ARTWORK."


Lidiya Masterkova was a painter who participated in the Lianozovo group. In the late 1950s, she started developing her unique non-figurative style, worked in the style of Abstract Expressionism. Masterkova was among the pioneers of the artists who worked with clear abstraction within the Moscow underground movement. In 1974 she took part in the so-called Bulldozer Exhibition which was dispersed and humbled by the Soviet government. In 1976 the artist moved to France, then took part in exhibitions in France, Austria, the United States, Italy and Belgium. The retrospective of her works was displayed in the "Cinema" gallery in 2006. Lidiya Masterkova’s artworks are at the Tretyakov gallery, the Russian Museum, in museums and collections of the US and Europe.