Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Bubnova, Varvara (1886 - 1983)

Varvara Bubnova was born in St. Petersburg. From 1903 to 1905, she studied in the studio of the Art Promotion Society. From 1907 until 1914 she studied in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1910 she became a member of the Youth Union and participated in art exhibitions with a.o. Vladimir Majakovsky and Kazimir Malevich.
From 1917 until 1922 Varvara Bubnova lived in Moscow and worked for the Institute of Artistic Culture with a.o. Wassily Kandinsky. In 1923, she moved to Japan where she lived until 1958. During her time there, she mainly made watercolours and lithographs. She was very influential in Japan, particularly with Sosaku Hanga artists such as Ono Tadashige, Sumio Kawakami, Fujimaki Yoshio and Kawanishi Hide. Her influence was also strongly felt with the members of MAVO. She was awarded the Japanese Order of the Precious Crown by the Japanese Emperor.