As we continue to investigate the ephemera connected to Natalia Gontcharova let’s take a look at the ephemeral nature of the so-called ‘Decorative Arts’. I can recall learning the distinction between the ‘Fine Arts’ and the ‘Decorative Arts’ back when I began in this business in the mid 1990s and thinking how artificial this delineation was. Why draw a line between types of human creative production? I chose at this time to focus on the dec arts because I could not relate to the pretension required by the fine arts to maintain their phony superiority. I noticed at this time as well that there was not false distinction between the arts in cultures other than my own ie. the educated Western mindset. In Asia for example, Art is Art whether it is a ceramic bowl or a scroll painting and what matters is meaningful purpose. If the bowl is beautiful, performs its function and is made skillfully it exists on the same level as the scroll painting. This is my thought process to this day and closely mirrors Goncharova’s own views. Meaning, beauty, skillful execution before pretentious self absorption.
One typical distinction between the fine and the decorative comes in the form of the artist’s signature. If a thing is signed it is Fine Art and should be afforded special treatment and if not, it is not worthy of distinction or special consideration and is merely decorative or less than. This is the Western mindset. Conversely in the East, the ceramic bowl is signed just as often as the scroll painting and the perceived difference is mitigated. Either everything is signed or nothing.
Natalia Gontcharova plays with these dualities throughout her career. What gets a signature and what doesn’t? The rule of thumb is that she did not regularly sign Russian period works or signed much later. However her decorative work is often signed which is funny and atypical. Decorative art work can be ephemeral by nature being only a step in the process of the creation of an end product. A costume design or a stage set for example is a large project with many steps yet Natalia will mark an ephemeral piece of the project, a moment. I think she does this to give the less than, the decorative, a more permanent, important position in the world. Her signature is the mark of legitimacy. Either everything is signed or nothing and as she develops in the West she starts to sign everything which has a similar leveling affect of not signing anything only that the signature is now weaponized. It has agency. I hope to build out this idea later but what do you think? Why do we see a line between the decorative and the fine?
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