Society of painters of the early twentieth century. "Jack of Diamonds"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

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 existed until 1916. In the future, these figures became famous masters of Russian art. The "Jack of Diamonds" is an association that, with its exhibitions, collections of articles, charter, influenced the formation and development of Soviet art in the early twentieth century. Further in the article, we will find out how the work of the group went, what directions in painting were touched upon.

Protest against Impressionism

What goals did society pursue? The primary task of the founders 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 the painters declared themselves and their work. Representatives of the "Jack of Diamonds" express dissatisfaction with the state of affairs inSoviet art: they fiercely struggle with the stylism of the World of Art, the psychologism of the painting of the Blue Rose, 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 manifesting itself during the period of the revolution (1905-1907) and during the years of reaction (1907-1910).

Opposite "Blue Rose"

Contrasting its tendencies with the symbolism of the "Blue Rose", the "Jack of Diamonds" (artistic association) makes an effort to decisively express the movement away from the focus on personal feelings. The creators of society strive to acquire the stability of the visual image, the full sound of colors, the constructive logic of building a picture. Rejecting spatiality and asserting objectivity and subject matter, representatives of the "Jack of Diamonds" movement, thus, highlight their creed in the development of Soviet art.

The importance 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 in his works of art the controversial tasks of the creative work of the "Jack of Diamonds". The painting of this painter "Blue Plums" is a kind of motto of the direction. The view of the depicted fruits, laid in a stable, motionless, expressive composition, createsthe appearance of fading in the middle of the transition: the raw substance of rich colors did not have time to turn into the real color of nature. An artist is comparable to an artisan who makes things. A painter who paints a picture-thing approaches folk art. "Jack of Diamonds" is an artistic association, thanks to which the meaning of high art has returned to the genre of still life, capable of conveying a different content, consonant with the controversial modernity.

Cubism in pictures

The cult of decorativeism, which dominated at first among the painters of the "Jack of Diamonds", was at odds with Cezanne's painting. The paintings of the masters had a weak sculptural sense of form. In an effort 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, the current of painting recommended by Cezanne, helped to cope with this difficulty. It was he who proposed using geometric shapes - a cube, a cone, a ball - to mentally analyze complex forms, bringing them closer to figures. "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, which is thought of as an 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 art

From the mid-1910s together with cubism, futurism begins to use as an important component of the Jack of Diamonds style. This well-known trend originated in Italy. Marching in step with the era of the scientific and technological revolution, this trend encouraged the introduction of industrial rhythms into the works of artists. With the help of the "montage" technique, the view of single or grouped objects or their parts is transmitted, which were taken as if from different points of view and at different times. An object that moves spontaneously, capable of bizarre modifications, transfers the movement of the subject (viewer) onto itself. Panel paintings by A. V. Lentulov (1882-1943) "The Ringing" (1915) and "Vasily the Blessed" (1913) are an example of a spectacular combination of a cubic "shift" of forms and stratification of spatial plans.