Aristarkh Lentulov was the most daring experimenter in The Jack of Diamonds group of artists — the largest association of early avant-garde. Lentulov came to Saint Petersburg from Penza and entered the Academy of Arts, studio of Professor of Art Dmirty Kardovsky.

Afterwards, Aristarkh Lentulov studied in private French art school Académie de la Palette, popular among Russian artists. It was attended by Marc Chagall, Liubov Popova, Vera Mukhina, its students practiced cubism and futurism. In the Academy, Aristarkh Lentulov formed his own cubo-futuristic concept of a panel picture or kaleidoscope consisting of dynamic brush strokes, spots, thin lines of color.

Cubo-futurism is a phenomenon of Russian avant-garde in fine art and poetry, an alloy of French cubism and Italian futurism. Cubists attempted to ‘disintegrate’ an object into spherical, conic, or cylindrical forms, and futurists tried to convey movement using sharp angles, spirals, zigzags, and other dynamic figures.

It is believed that the word of ‘cubo-futurism’ was first used in the Russian literary criticism by Korney Chukovsky, and not at all in a complimentary manner at that.

Aristarkh Lentulov’s concept extended to portraits as well: the artist rather experimented with the model, colors, and the canvas texture than seeked to reproduce the features of the character.

On the portrait of Maria Lentulova, among geometrical figures, one can discern her face, the oval of her sloping shoulders, her arms. The image is split into planes of different colors — vivid red, blue, and yellow shades render the dynamic quality to the canvas. The artist used the motive or an arch — it divided the canvas into three parts. On the label still preserved on the back side of the canvas, it is possible to see the emblem of the society and inscription “Bathers”. The painting second title prompts that Maria Lentulova is depicted at seaside.

Portrait of Maria Petrovna Lentulova was shown at The Jack of Diamonds exhibitions in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in 1913.