Petr Konchalovskiy was one of the leaders of the art association ‘Jack of Diamonds’. From a young age he dreamed of painting, and was actively originative, and not just passively replicating the visible world.
Cassidae (1913) is part of a series of cityscapes done from 1912-1913, painted in Siena and in the port town of Cassis in southern France. At that time, Konchalovskiy was seriously interested in the art done by Cezanne, his search for the structural elements that form the landscape, his bold simplification of form, his ability to build space exclusively with color, and made his first earnest attempts to embody Cezanne’s legacy in his works.
In his landscapes, the artist successfully addresses the challenges of using color to build spaces across a plane. In Cassidae, Konchalovskiy was not as concerned with external appearance as with the inner essence of the southern city, and its spirit, which the picture is imbued with. The soft, rounded shapes of densely growing trees, with lush greenery and deep purple shadows, contrast with the harsh constructability of light ocher- colored buildings and the flaming blood orange roofs. This bright world, restless in its brilliance, in the southern city covers and seemingly subdues the inky blue across the southern sky. The contrasts in the picture are bold, energetic, and make the colors shine, or almost “scream”. They create a special brightness, richness, and the festive dignity that is characteristic of the south.
In each of his paintings, Konchalovskiy tried to convey the characteristic, the essence of the phenomenon, the concentrated inner energy in the motif that defined the features of his brushwork. He paints as if using thickened paints, heavy, dense, as if they were not mixed in oil, but on the ground. In his painting, colors become the matter itself that forms the essence of objects, the real “corporeality of things”. The close-up general view, rigorous painting style, intense, contrasting colors, strong-willed composure, and monumental static nature of the landscape - everything corresponds to the creative aesthetics of the artists in the “Jack of Diamonds” group, an association led by Konchalovskiy.
In his landscapes, the artist successfully addresses the challenges of using color to build spaces across a plane. In Cassidae, Konchalovskiy was not as concerned with external appearance as with the inner essence of the southern city, and its spirit, which the picture is imbued with. The soft, rounded shapes of densely growing trees, with lush greenery and deep purple shadows, contrast with the harsh constructability of light ocher- colored buildings and the flaming blood orange roofs. This bright world, restless in its brilliance, in the southern city covers and seemingly subdues the inky blue across the southern sky. The contrasts in the picture are bold, energetic, and make the colors shine, or almost “scream”. They create a special brightness, richness, and the festive dignity that is characteristic of the south.
In each of his paintings, Konchalovskiy tried to convey the characteristic, the essence of the phenomenon, the concentrated inner energy in the motif that defined the features of his brushwork. He paints as if using thickened paints, heavy, dense, as if they were not mixed in oil, but on the ground. In his painting, colors become the matter itself that forms the essence of objects, the real “corporeality of things”. The close-up general view, rigorous painting style, intense, contrasting colors, strong-willed composure, and monumental static nature of the landscape - everything corresponds to the creative aesthetics of the artists in the “Jack of Diamonds” group, an association led by Konchalovskiy.
