At the turn of 1910-1911. a new group appears, which was formed by active artists. “Jack of diamonds” - that’s what it was called. As part of the famous painters P. Konchalovsky, I. Mashkov, A. Lentulov, A. Kuprin, R. Falk, this society lasted until 1916. Subsequently, these figures became famous masters of Russian art. "Jack of Diamonds" is an association which, with its exhibitions, collections of articles, and articles of association, influenced the formation and development of Soviet art at the beginning of the 20th century Further in the article, we will find out how the work of the group went, what directions in painting were affected.
Protest Against Impressionism
What were the goals of society? The primary task of the creators of the Jack of Diamonds group was to overcome impressionism in all its forms. This direction is the starting point of creative development and, at the same time, the method by which painters declared themselves and their work. Representatives of Jack of Diamonds express dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in Soviet art: they fiercely struggle with the stylism of the World of Art, the psychologism of the Blue Rose painting, rejecting everything that is connected with mystery and understatement in creativity. The dissatisfaction of young painters with how things were in the art of that time had a basis: tsarism in Russia reached its peak, clearly manifested during the revolution (1905-1907) and during the years of reaction (1907-1910).
The contrast of the "Blue Rose"
Contrasting its tendencies with the symbolism of the Blue Rose, the Jack of Diamonds (artistic association) makes efforts to decisively express movement from focusing on personal feelings. The creators of society strive to find the stability of the visual image, the fullness of colors, the constructive logic of building a picture. Rejecting spatiality and affirming objectivity and object, representatives of the “Jack of Diamonds” trend, thus, highlight their creed in the formation of Soviet art.
The significance of the still life genre
Still life as the main type of painting comes to the fore. The artist Mashkov (1881-1944), one of the founders of the group, vividly and figuratively embodied the controversial tasks of the work of the Jack of Diamonds in his works of art. The painting of this painter "Blue Plums" is a peculiar motto of the direction. The appearance of the depicted fruits, laid in a stable, motionless, expressive composition, creates the appearance of fading in the middle of the transition: the raw substance of rich colors did not manage to go into the true color of nature. An artist is comparable to a craftsman doing things. A painter who paints a thing-thing draws close to folk art. "Jack of Diamonds" is an artistic association, thanks to which the meaning of high art has returned to the still life genre, able to convey a different content, consonant with controversial modernity.
Cubism in the paintings
The reign of the painters of the Jack of Diamonds, which ruled for the first time, differed from that of Cezanne. The paintings of the masters had a weak sculptural sensation of form. Trying to focus on the materiality of objects, the artists paid more attention to the image of the massiveness of the object, and the space at that moment looked blurry and fuzzy. Cubism helped to cope with this difficulty - the course of painting recommended by Cezanne. It was he who proposed using geometric shapes - a cube, cone, ball - to mentally analyze complex shapes, bringing them closer to the figures. The Jack of Diamonds, in his work, resorted to using this technique. Konchalovsky (1916) with his painting "Agave" demonstrates a variant of studying the experience of this direction. This is one way of analyzing spatial relationships. Objects in a broken, deformable form crystallize out of the space of the picture, thinking like some object. Things conquer the surrounding space, pushing it out. It brings a sense of drama. Things distant, hostile to man, protect the conquered place.
Futurism in creativity
Since mid-1910 Together with cubism, Futurism begins to use futurism as an important component of the Jack of Diamonds style . This famous trend originated in Italy. Walking in step with the era of the scientific and technological revolution, this trend pushed for the introduction of industrial rhythms in the works of artists. With the help of the “installation” technique, the view of single or grouped objects or their parts that are taken as if from different points of view and at different times is transmitted. An object moving spontaneously, capable of bizarre modifications, transfers the movement of the subject (spectator) onto itself. Pictures-panels A.V. Lentulova (1882-1943) “Ringing” (1915) and “Vasily Blessed” (1913) comprise an example of a spectacular combination of a cubic “shift” of forms and separation of spatial plans.