Liubochka and Lydochka

Long before the whole art world started talking about the "Amazons of the Avant-Garde" - an outstanding cohort of Russian artists of the 1910-20s - George Costakis began to study and collect their works (Exter, Rozanova, Udaltsova, etc.). With a special awe he treated the work of Lyubov Popova (1889-1924), whose paintings Costakis literally saved from destruction. He called the artist only “Lyubochka".For the sake of acquiring her "Spatial Force Compositions" Costakis went to Zvenigorod, where Popova's brother lived. There, in a wooden house, he discovered unique works that were used as household materials.

It is noteworthy that among contemporary artists Costakis considered Lydia Masterkova (1927-2008) to be the continuer of the avant-garde tradition. He treated her with the same degree of attention and tenderness that he bestowed on Popova: he called her "Lidochka" and actively supported her searches in poetic abstraction.