Lidia Masterkova (Lydia Masterkova) (Russian: Лидия Мастеркова, 1927, Moscow, USSR - May 12, 2008, Saint Laurent, France) - was a Russian-born French painter, non-conformist artist in USSR. Masterkova graduated from the Surikov Art Academy in 1950. A dedicated abstractionist, Masterkova was associated with the Lianozovo Circle along with Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Nemukhin, a diverse group of artists and poets who fought steadfastly and uncompromisingly for creative freedom. Masterkova was one of the significant personalities in the Moscow art world of the 1960s. Masterkova’s work in the early 1960s included loosely painted watercolors in bright colors. Soon after, she darkened her palette and began to incorporate lace and fabric into her compositions. In the mid 1960s, her work was characterized by abstract compositions created with a palette knife in which dark, craggy forms contrasted with a light background. By the early 1970s, these dark, brooding forms were still in evidence, but superimposed by collages of white circles bearing the numerals 0, 1, and 9. she also creates subtle, circular, black and white compositions by manipulating India ink or watercolor on wet paper, often affixing collage elements cut out of white paper. She exhibited her works in the first shows of nonconformist art, including the 1st autumnal review "In the open air" ("Bulldozer Exhibition").
After a 1974 'Bulldozer Exhibition' in Belyaevo she moved to France in 1975 where she worked till the end of her life. She died at 81.
T. Smorodinskaya (Editor), K. Evans-Romaine (Editor), H. Goscilo (Editor). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture (Encyclopedias of Contemporary Culture). Routledge, 2007.