The painter Ilya Mashkov was a member of the artistic association Jack of Diamonds. Its members broke away from the traditions of realistic painting and performed bold experiments in their work. In the early 1910s, the artists shocked the art salons audience and people walking along the streets; they appeared in the streets with painted faces, while discussions and exhibitions held by the association often ended in scuffles.
The list of the Jack of Diamonds members included such artists as Pyotr Konchalovsky, Aristarkh Lentulov, Mikhail Larionov, Robert Falk, and others. The young painters’ work was influenced by French masters of the turn of the 20th century. In their painting activities, the Jack of Diamonds artists focused on the latest French trends including Cezannism and Cubism, Russian lubok, and street advertising panels of stores and small shops. In their pictures, they felt free to use vulgar language.
Ilya Mashkov studied at the Moscow School of Arts, Sculpture and Architecture with such famous masters as Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov. During his studies, he proved to be an eccentric artist; his emotional harshness and eccentricity affected his painting.
One of the favourite genres of the Jack of Diamonds members was still life painting: the artists were interested in the object properties, shape, weight, and colour. In his paintings, Mashkov tried to reveal the secrets of nature and embrace its laws. The artist’s works attracted attention due to their special decorativeness and bright images. The critic Makovsky wrote about the master’s still life paintings that they were impressing with their artistic power and a kind of “bass speech” of colours.
Mashkov’s still life paintings can be placed into three different categories that include realism, an art style close to primitivism, and primitive paintings. Bunch of Flowers in a Black Jug on the Blue Background presented at an exhibition belonged to the last category. During the exhibition, the picture attracted visitors due to its artistic power. It is characterized by contrast colours and simple shapes. To make pictures more expressive, the Jack of Diamonds representatives often used black contours.
After the revolution, many members of the association broke away from their interest in formal experiments. Despite this fact, Ilya Mashkov’s late works are far from the ideology; he managed to keep his radical approach even within the socialist realism frameworks.
The list of the Jack of Diamonds members included such artists as Pyotr Konchalovsky, Aristarkh Lentulov, Mikhail Larionov, Robert Falk, and others. The young painters’ work was influenced by French masters of the turn of the 20th century. In their painting activities, the Jack of Diamonds artists focused on the latest French trends including Cezannism and Cubism, Russian lubok, and street advertising panels of stores and small shops. In their pictures, they felt free to use vulgar language.
Ilya Mashkov studied at the Moscow School of Arts, Sculpture and Architecture with such famous masters as Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov. During his studies, he proved to be an eccentric artist; his emotional harshness and eccentricity affected his painting.
One of the favourite genres of the Jack of Diamonds members was still life painting: the artists were interested in the object properties, shape, weight, and colour. In his paintings, Mashkov tried to reveal the secrets of nature and embrace its laws. The artist’s works attracted attention due to their special decorativeness and bright images. The critic Makovsky wrote about the master’s still life paintings that they were impressing with their artistic power and a kind of “bass speech” of colours.
Mashkov’s still life paintings can be placed into three different categories that include realism, an art style close to primitivism, and primitive paintings. Bunch of Flowers in a Black Jug on the Blue Background presented at an exhibition belonged to the last category. During the exhibition, the picture attracted visitors due to its artistic power. It is characterized by contrast colours and simple shapes. To make pictures more expressive, the Jack of Diamonds representatives often used black contours.
After the revolution, many members of the association broke away from their interest in formal experiments. Despite this fact, Ilya Mashkov’s late works are far from the ideology; he managed to keep his radical approach even within the socialist realism frameworks.
