.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The name of Il'ia Mashkov has become synonymous with the Russian avant-garde, the 'Knave of Diamonds', and perhaps above all, the genre of still life. In the history of Russian art Mashkov is feted for his fresh approach to hackneyed methods of pictorial representation and his ability to draw the likes of naïve signboards, wooden toys and the aesthetics of the fairground into the realm of 'high art'.
Il'ia Mashkov was born in the small Cossack village of Mikhailovskaia on the banks of the river Don. As a child, he showed an aptitude for drawing and constructing wooden toys; an interest that swiftly developed into a passion that he nurtured whilst working as a shop assistant continuing his parents vocation. Largely self-taught, Mashkov's first brush with academic training came when he met N. Yevseyev, a drawing master at the local school; 'I countered his question, did I want to learn to draw, by another one: is it something that can be learned? He suggested that I pay a visit to his home to look at his own works. After that visit I firmly decided to become an artist at any cost.' (I. I. Mashkov, V svoikh kraiakh, State Tretyakov Gallery, MS Dept., f. 112 ed. khr. 3, l. 7).
Having moved to Moscow, Mashkov enrolled at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1900 where he studied under K. Korovin, V. Serov and A. Vasnetsov. Mashkov was not the average student; already an accomplished amateur he was forced to adopt the conservative tenets of the School and, to a certain extent, suppress his creativity. Initially he found the conservatism of the school restrictive, but his relationship with the artist A. Mikhailovskii, a connoisseur of Old Masters, enabled him to develop an appreciation and awareness of artists such as Raphael, Titian and Velasquez and their classical ideals. Beginning to see himself as part of the continuation of the classical painting tradition, Mashkov was inspired to seek out new influences and travelled extensively throughout Europe. It was during this period that he developed his distinctive artistic idiom, soldering his affinity with Russian folk art to the pictoral innovations of French Fauvism, German Expressionism and, in particular, the work of Matisse and Cézanne.
Mashkov appeared at the forefront of the avant-garde when in 1910 he co-founded the 'Knave of Diamonds', a controversial exhibiting group of painters that included P. Konchalovskii, A. Kuprin, V. Rozhdestvenskii, and at certain points, N. Goncharova and M. Larionov. The work exhibited shocked critics with its emphasis on primitivism, a palette of violent colours and crude geometry. Through the genre of still life, Mashkov found a vehicle for challenging the status quo; works such as 'Still life. Blue plums' (1910, State Tretyakov Gallery) and 'Still life. Berries in front of a red tray' (1910-11, State Russian Museum) combined Mashkov's propensity towards flat planes of vibrant colour and symmetrical compositions delineated with harsh lines, with one of the most traditional of genres.
The present still life, painted in 1923, is an exquisite example of Mashkov's work in his signature genre and embodies his unique synthesis of classical and folk art. The painting is symbolic of a seminal point in Mashkov's career as he prepared to join the AKhRR, the Artists' Association of Revolutionary Russia, and marks the peak of Mashkov's artistic maturity. That year, he painted very few still lifes as his travels to the Crimea dominate his work with landscapes and studies from nature. For this reason, this particular still life is all the more extraordinary; the confidence of its execution and the eloquence of the composition is in stark contrast with his more impressionistic landscapes and shows the extent to which Mashkov employed a completely different set of rules to this genre.
In the present work, the exuberance of colour that is so prevalent in Mashkov's earlier still lifes is preserved yet is perhaps more tightly controlled. The bold saturated reds of the cherries and strawberries combined with the flame-coloured oranges and pale-citrus lemons, serve to illuminate the composition and hyperbolise the succulence of the fruit. In the same way that these vibrant colours are contrasted and strengthened by the blue of the decanter and the white of the bowl, the curved forms of the fruit and glassware are juxtaposed with the linear background and the variegated table surface. Mashkov creates a painted universe; to a certain extent the objects on the table appear to 'revolve' around the sun-coloured lemons and the composition of the objects form an eclipse imitative of a constellation that is mirrored by the 'floating' table-top. Mashkov experimented with similar compositions using the same objects in his later still lifes (see Figs. 1 & 2) but, arguably, 'Still life with Strawberries, Cherries and a blue Decanter' is one of the most sublime and concrete expressions of Mashkov's artistic ideals.
Last viewed by the public in 1924 when it was exhibited in Moscow, 'Still Life with Strawberries, Cherries and a blue Decanter' has been in a private collection for the past fivty years. With the vast majority of Mashkov's oeuvre in private collections and Russian Museums, the appearance of this work at auction is an exceptional event.
Il'ia Mashkov was born in the small Cossack village of Mikhailovskaia on the banks of the river Don. As a child, he showed an aptitude for drawing and constructing wooden toys; an interest that swiftly developed into a passion that he nurtured whilst working as a shop assistant continuing his parents vocation. Largely self-taught, Mashkov's first brush with academic training came when he met N. Yevseyev, a drawing master at the local school; 'I countered his question, did I want to learn to draw, by another one: is it something that can be learned? He suggested that I pay a visit to his home to look at his own works. After that visit I firmly decided to become an artist at any cost.' (I. I. Mashkov, V svoikh kraiakh, State Tretyakov Gallery, MS Dept., f. 112 ed. khr. 3, l. 7).
Having moved to Moscow, Mashkov enrolled at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1900 where he studied under K. Korovin, V. Serov and A. Vasnetsov. Mashkov was not the average student; already an accomplished amateur he was forced to adopt the conservative tenets of the School and, to a certain extent, suppress his creativity. Initially he found the conservatism of the school restrictive, but his relationship with the artist A. Mikhailovskii, a connoisseur of Old Masters, enabled him to develop an appreciation and awareness of artists such as Raphael, Titian and Velasquez and their classical ideals. Beginning to see himself as part of the continuation of the classical painting tradition, Mashkov was inspired to seek out new influences and travelled extensively throughout Europe. It was during this period that he developed his distinctive artistic idiom, soldering his affinity with Russian folk art to the pictoral innovations of French Fauvism, German Expressionism and, in particular, the work of Matisse and Cézanne.
Mashkov appeared at the forefront of the avant-garde when in 1910 he co-founded the 'Knave of Diamonds', a controversial exhibiting group of painters that included P. Konchalovskii, A. Kuprin, V. Rozhdestvenskii, and at certain points, N. Goncharova and M. Larionov. The work exhibited shocked critics with its emphasis on primitivism, a palette of violent colours and crude geometry. Through the genre of still life, Mashkov found a vehicle for challenging the status quo; works such as 'Still life. Blue plums' (1910, State Tretyakov Gallery) and 'Still life. Berries in front of a red tray' (1910-11, State Russian Museum) combined Mashkov's propensity towards flat planes of vibrant colour and symmetrical compositions delineated with harsh lines, with one of the most traditional of genres.
The present still life, painted in 1923, is an exquisite example of Mashkov's work in his signature genre and embodies his unique synthesis of classical and folk art. The painting is symbolic of a seminal point in Mashkov's career as he prepared to join the AKhRR, the Artists' Association of Revolutionary Russia, and marks the peak of Mashkov's artistic maturity. That year, he painted very few still lifes as his travels to the Crimea dominate his work with landscapes and studies from nature. For this reason, this particular still life is all the more extraordinary; the confidence of its execution and the eloquence of the composition is in stark contrast with his more impressionistic landscapes and shows the extent to which Mashkov employed a completely different set of rules to this genre.
In the present work, the exuberance of colour that is so prevalent in Mashkov's earlier still lifes is preserved yet is perhaps more tightly controlled. The bold saturated reds of the cherries and strawberries combined with the flame-coloured oranges and pale-citrus lemons, serve to illuminate the composition and hyperbolise the succulence of the fruit. In the same way that these vibrant colours are contrasted and strengthened by the blue of the decanter and the white of the bowl, the curved forms of the fruit and glassware are juxtaposed with the linear background and the variegated table surface. Mashkov creates a painted universe; to a certain extent the objects on the table appear to 'revolve' around the sun-coloured lemons and the composition of the objects form an eclipse imitative of a constellation that is mirrored by the 'floating' table-top. Mashkov experimented with similar compositions using the same objects in his later still lifes (see Figs. 1 & 2) but, arguably, 'Still life with Strawberries, Cherries and a blue Decanter' is one of the most sublime and concrete expressions of Mashkov's artistic ideals.
Last viewed by the public in 1924 when it was exhibited in Moscow, 'Still Life with Strawberries, Cherries and a blue Decanter' has been in a private collection for the past fivty years. With the vast majority of Mashkov's oeuvre in private collections and Russian Museums, the appearance of this work at auction is an exceptional event.