Oil paint on canvas
Tate Modern
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/natalia-goncharova-1186" aria-label="More by Natalia Goncharova" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Natalia Goncharova</a>
Linen
Presented by Eugène Mollo and the artist 1953
abstraction
architecture
blouse
clothing
clothing and personal items
Cyrillic text
domestic
female - women’s clothing
from recognisable sources
gender
inscriptions
iron
lace
launderette
laundry
male - men’s clothing
man-made
objects
public and municipal
shirt
symbols and personifications
<p>The Russian inscriptions suggest a launderette sign: <span>Prache </span>is part of the word for laundry, b.s. is an abbreviation for ‘white wash’, and <span>BOT </span>possibly part of the word rabota meaning ‘work’. The iron bears a monogram with the artist’s initials. This painting conveys the bustle of a commercial laundry but can also be seen as a coded commentary on Goncharova’s relationship with her partner, fellow-artist Michel Larionov. The two sides of the work are divided between male (shirts, collars and cuffs) and female (lace, blouses, aprons) items of laundry.</p><p><em>Gallery label, December 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 May 2000 – 30 October 2005
2005-10-30
12 May 2000 – 30 October 2005
2005-10-30
2000-05-12
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2000-05-12
Modern Life
Collection based display
1 May 2006 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
1 May 2006 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
2006-05-01
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2006-05-01
States of Flux
Collection based display
15 October 2008 – 20 September 2009
2009-09-20
12 June 2009 – 20 September 2009
2009-09-20
2009-06-12
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2008-10-15
Futurism
Exhibition
18 October 2013 – 22 June 2014
2014-06-22
18 October 2013 – 2 February 2014
2014-02-02
2013-10-18
Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
3 July 2014 – 19 October 2014
2014-10-19
2014-07-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2013-10-18
Tate Modern Touring: Malevich
Loan-out
29 October 2015 – 7 February 2016
2016-02-07
29 October 2015 – 7 February 2016
2016-02-07
2015-10-29
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)
http://www.schirn.de
2015-10-29
Storm-Women: Women Artists of the Avantgarde in Berlin 1910-1932
Loan-out
8 February 2016
8 February 2016
2016-02-08
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2016-02-08
Modern Times
Collection based display
5 June 2019 – 17 May 2020
2020-05-17
28 September 2019 – 12 January 2020
2020-01-12
2019-09-28
Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy)
27 February 2020 – 17 May 2020
2020-05-17
2020-02-27
Ateneum Art Museum (Helsinki, Finland)
2019-06-05
Natalia Goncharova
Loan-out
6 June 2019 – 31 May 2020
2020-05-31
6 June 2019 – 8 September 2019
2019-09-08
2019-06-06
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
28 September 2019 – 12 January 2020
2020-01-12
2019-09-28
Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy)
21 February 2020 – 24 May 2020
2020-05-24
2020-02-21
Ateneum Art Museum (Helsinki, Finland)
2019-06-06
Natalia Goncharova
Exhibition
5 August 2024 – 9 August 2026
2026-08-09
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2024-08-05
Monsieur Venus
Collection based display
Linen
support: 956 × 838 mm
frame: 1028 × 911 × 67 mm
Presented by Eugène Mollo and the artist 1953
<div class="text">
<p>The Russian inscriptions suggest a launderette sign: <i>Prache </i>is part of the word for laundry, b.s. is an abbreviation for ‘white wash’, and <i>BOT </i>possibly part of the word rabota meaning ‘work’. The iron bears a monogram with the artist’s initials. This painting conveys the bustle of a commercial laundry but can also be seen as a coded commentary on Goncharova’s relationship with her partner, fellow-artist Michel Larionov. The two sides of the work are divided between male (shirts, collars and cuffs) and female (lace, blouses, aprons) items of laundry.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-12-12T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Nathalie Gontcharova</b><span> 1881-1962 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/goncharova-linen-n06194" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06194</span></a> </span><b>Linen (Futurist)</b><span> 1913 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'N. Gontcharova. 912.' b.r., 'NG' (in cyrillic letters) on the iron and 'N. Gontcharova. [in cyrillic letters] 1912. | N. Gontcharova'. on back of canvas</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 37 5/8 x 33 (96 x 84)</span>
<br/><span>Presented by Eugene Mollo and the artist 1953</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Vuistavka kartin Natalii Sergyevnui Goncharovoi, 1900-1913</i><span>, Art Salon, No.11 Bolshaya Dmitrovka, Moscow, August 1913 (644, repr.); [?</span><i>Vuistava kartin Natalii Sergyevnui Goncharovoi, 1900-1913</i><span>, Art Salon of N.E. Dobytchina, St Petersburg, April-May 1914 (repr., probably exhibited as one often pictures 110-11, 139, 160, 171-2, 225, 229, 230, 241 listed as 'Still Life')]; </span><i>Nathalie de Gontcharova et Michel Larionow</i><span>, Galerie Paul Guillauine, Paris, June 1914 (38) as 'Le Linge (1912)'; </span><i>Le Cubisme (1907-14)</i><span>, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, January-April 1953 (not in catalogue)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Eli Eganbury, </span><i>Nathalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov</i><span> (Moscow 1913), p.xii; Mary Chamot, </span><i>Gontcharova</i><span>
(Paris 1972), pp.58, 104, repr. p.51 in colour</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
</span><i>Art News</i><span>, LII, April 1953, p.27 (dated 1914); </span><i>Studio</i><span>, CXLIV, 1954, p.5 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Painted in Russia. The longest of the inscriptions in cyrillic characters reads 'Prache', which is the beginning of the word for laundry. The other inscriptions are 'Bot' (again possibly the beginning of a word), and 'V.S.'. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>This picture was reproduced in the catalogue of Gontcharova's exhibition in Moscow in August 1913 as 'Linen' and appears in the lists of exhibits as 'Linen (<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/futurism" title="Glossary definition for 'Futurism'"><span>Futurist</span></a>)'. (The actual Russian word used was 'Belye', which can be translated as either 'Linen' or 'Underclothes'). It was also listed by Eganbury as 'Linen (Futurist)' among Gontcharova's works of 1913, that is to say as one of her latest pictures. When exhibited in Paris in June 1914 it was given the date 1912, which it now bears on the front and the back. Gonteharova and Larionov seem to have first begun to predate their works at the time of this exhibition and the incorrect inscriptions may have been added then or a few years later. (Gontcharova's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of 'Cats' now in the Guggenheim Museum, New York, was also listed by Eganbury among the works of 1913, was exhibited in Paris with the date 1910 and is now dated 1910 on the back - see Angelica Zander Rudenstine, </span><i>The Guggenheim Museum Collection: Paintings 1880-1945</i><span>, New York 1976, Vol.1, pp.175-7). The paintings from the Paul Guillaume exhibition were in transit to Russia at the outbreak of war and were seized by the Germans. In order to save them, Herwarth Walden claimed them as his own, stuck labels of his gallery Der Sturm on the backs (there was originally one on this painting, which has now been removed and is in the Gallery's files), and returned them to the artists after the war. The inscriptions may have been added then or later, in accordance with the dates in the Paris catalogue. The fact that only one of the three signatures is in cyrillic would tend to confirm that the picture was signed and dated after Gontcharova left Russia. The possibility that the picture was begun in 1912 and finished early in 1913 cannot, however, be ruled out. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.296-7, reproduced p.296 </span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction architecture blouse clothing clothing and personal items Cyrillic text domestic female - women’s clothing from recognisable sources gender inscriptions iron lace launderette laundry male - men’s clothing man-made objects public and municipal shirt symbols and personifications