Singerstraße 27
Works 1953–1980
Anna Andreeva
December 12, 2024 – January 25, 2025
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Fireworks, 1963
Gouache on paper
42.8 × 36.3 cm / 64 × 49 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Night city (traffic lights), 1953
Mixed media on paper
53 × 41.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Electrification Sketches, 1950s
Pencil on paper
4 parts: 1: 19.5 × 15.8 cm; 2: 18 × 19.6; 3: 7.8 × 9 cm; 4: 7.8 × 8.9 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1977
Mixed media on paper
54 × 41.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1960s
Gouache and pen on paper
35.5 × 43.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
The Pine Cone, 1979
Gouache on paper
99.8 × 75 cm
Anna Andreeva
Exercise with stripes, late 1950s
Gouache and ink on paper
45.7 × 17.4 cm
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, n.d.
Pen on paper
25.7 × 12.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
The bark, Surfaces, 1960s
Silk fabric
92 × 51.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1963
Mixed media on paper
58.3 × 43.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
The Bark, exercise with surfaces, 1983
Mixed media on paper
69.5 × 44.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Chrysanthemums in yellow, n.d.
Silk textile
47 × 39.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Chrysanthemums in purple, n.d.
Silk textile
47 × 40.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Abstraction, 1974
Gouache on paper
80.5 × 73.2 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, n.d.
Mixed media on paper
43.3 × 43 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Exercise with Northern Embroideries, 1968
Gouache and pencil on cardboard
69.2 × 52 cm / 75.2 × 58 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
From the artists boat, 1950s
Encaustics on paper
74 × 53.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
City, 1960s
Pencil and coloured pencil on paper
39.9 × 32.8 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Childrens Design, Pencils, 1972
Mixed media on paper
58.9 × 47.8 cm / 65.2 × 53.8 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Red Rose, 1964
Collage
Two parts: 24,8 × 62,3 cm / 21,3 × 62,3 cm / 64 × 68.3 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Pied de Poule, n.d.
Technical pen on plastic plate
14.8 × 17.1 cm
Red rose factory for Anna Andreeva design
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1960s
Coloured pencil on paper
38.5 × 23.8 cm / 42 × 29.8 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1965
Pen on paper
30.3 × 21 cm
Anna Andreeva
Waves, 1960s
Pencil on paper
27 × 41.5 cm
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Works 1953–1980, 2024
Installation view
Layr Singerstraße, Vienna
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1953
Gouache on paper
53.6 × 42.3 cm
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1972
Pen on paper
30.8 × 23.3 cm / 64 × 49 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Cosmos Series, 1960s
Gouache on paper
29.5 × 26.9 cm / 64 × 49 cm (framed)
Anna Andreeva
Untitled, 1963
Mixed media on paper
46.5 × 52 cm
All photos by Kunst-Dokumentation.com
Display by Benjamin Hirte
Anna Andreeva (1917-2008) was a leading designer at one of the most prestigious state textile factories in the Soviet Union, the Red Rose Silk Factory, named after Rosa Luxemburg. Andreeva created hundreds of designs for scarves and fabrics, but her aspirations for the autonomy of art constantly undermined the rigid, oppressive political system. Born near Tambov, about 400 kilometres southeast of Moscow, she studied textile design at Vkhutemas, the famous radical avant-garde art school of the early Soviet era. When she joined the Red Rose Silk Factory in 1941, Anna Andreeva was a young artist, influenced by modernist ideas and ever striving to justify her art in a scientific, if not mathematical sense. She was interested in the relationship between the aesthetics and the material structure of textiles produced by the repetitive process of creating patterns (the irreversible nature of a pattern). Her patterns show no figuration whatsoever and are entirely abstract. These include the geometric cubes of Little Cubes, fabrics featuring assorted combinations of numbers, as well as ornaments inspired by cybernetics, the fashion theory of the time, which appear to cite algorithmic structures – patterns far ahead of their time. Andreeva even pioneered a design that can be likened to a QR code, as early as 1968. Such designs in particular required considerable justification before they could go into production, as abstract art was considered decadent in the former Soviet regime. For some of her abstract designs, such as the overlapping zigzags in the “Electrification” series produced from the 1960s to the late 1970s, Andreeva initially had to invent her own narratives in order for them to be accepted by the state censorship authorities. This particular design was initially rejected as “pure abstract propaganda” and it was only when the artist argued that electricity was one of the central pillars of Soviet development that the design was approved and eventually went on to be used for prestigious projects such as the interior design of the state radio building in Moscow.
Patricia Grzonka