Топик: Илья Иванович Машков
The still lifes painted by Mashkov between 1914 and 1917 are amongst his most remarkable creations. He probes more and more deeply the problem of conveying in art the tangible substance of things. This may be seen in such works as Pumpkins (1914), Still Life with a Horse's Skull (1914) and Still Life with a Samovar (1916), where his tendency to experiment gives way to the achievement of a powerful synthesis, and where what was problematic in his artistic vision is renounced in favour of a forceful affirmation of life. In his earlier works a somewhat generalized method of portrayal tended to conceal the concrete nature of objects. Now, he manages to convey more convincingly than ever before the material character of things, their full diversity of colour, density, texture and weight.
Some of the above-mentioned still lifes (Still Life with a Horse's Skull, Still Life with a Samovar) reflect the dramatic tensions of the period. With the sharpness of his artistic vision, Mashkov noticed how useless everyday household articles had become, like so much scrap metal. With their uneasy rhythms and their dark, harsh colours, his still lifes symbolize the spirit of those difficult and restless times. Mashkov's rare talent for expressing the mood of his age reminds one of the words uttered by Mayakovsky in 1914: "You are no artist if you do not see reflected in the shining apple of a still-life composition an image of those that were hanged at Kalisz. You may choose not to depict the war, but you must paint in the spirit of the war."
The forceful perception of reality displayed in Still Life with a Horse's Skull and Still Life with a Samovar testifies to the artist's attempt, well before the October Revolution, to reveal the inner essence of his subjects.
Mashkov tried to reflect the reality of Soviet life in works of different genres. Although he painted some interesting portraits and landscapes, his talent manifested itself most clearly in the field of still life, where he would attain the true artistic realism so typical of the second half of his creative career. The few works produced by Mashkov between 1918 and 1922 revealed his desire to express that special optimistic mood which was characteristic of Soviet society in its early years. Mashkov's paintings of this period, such as Model (1918), Still Life with a Fan (1922) and the Portrait of N. Skatkin (1921—23), show great variety.
In his Model the principles underlying Mashkov's painting of still lifes of the 1914—1916 period are replaced by a search for monumentality and expressiveness. The emotional quality of his work reflected the new mood of a free society, which was very different from the dramatic outlook of the previous decades. Now the artist was interested not so much in conveying the tangible substance of things as in expressing the energy of life itself, and he indulged in bold combinations of colour and form. Monumentality was achieved by means of compositional devices, as well as by the manner of pictorial representation as a whole. The small size of the canvas brings the portrayal of the model into greater prominence, while the strong build of her body is sharply emphasized. Mashkov was not at all concerned with depicting her body, the draperies or the furniture in their real colours. His brushstrokes are vigorous and unconstrained; he does not divide his canvas into separate areas of colour, however, but rather juxtaposes various shades of pink, red, lilac, golden-brown, blue and green. The darkish gold of the body is spotted with emerald and lilac with a sprinkling of a cold, dark blue. He abandons full verisimilitude of colour here so as to enhance the expressive value of the portrait.
In Still Life with a Fan a feeling of energy and animation is conveyed by it? very design and richness of colour.
Mashkov's desire to achieve an ever fuller expression of his age is also apparent in the portraits. The method developed in still-life paintings, however, was scarcely appropriate to the demands of portraiture. Of poor compositional design, the portraits of this period are usually overloaded with accessories; the artist was interested in depicting the kind of object which he would often introduce into his still lifes. This was a temptation which he could not resist even in the portraits of A. Shimanovsky (1922) and N. Skatkin (1921—23). But in these paintings the still- life approach doe's coincide with an attempt to convey the living features of his subjects.
Between 1918 and 1922 Mashkov was particularly enthusiastic about the techniques of drawing. He preferred to use such materials as charcoal, pastels, sanguine and coloured pencils, which was natural for him as an artist. Comparatively few of these works have been preserved but amongst those which have, there are some well executed drawings of nude models, as well as some portraits which are strikingly true to life.
The logical development of Mashkov's art was bound to lead him towards a consistent form of realism. From the years 1923 and 1924 onwards the artist evolves a sharper sense of reality, which was to remain with him until the end of his creative life. It is in this quality of realism, achieved by pictorial and plastic means alone, that one recognizes the strength of the still lifes and landscapes which he began to exhibit in the second half of the 1920s and during the 1930s.
Joy in the fullness of life and in the powerful forces of nature becomes the leading motif in the subsequent development of his art. As he once said: "Physical health, abundance, growing prosperity. . . new people—resolute, powerful, strong. . .—this is the world which nourishes my art, these are the surroundings which bestow joy in creation." "Beauty may be found," he goes on to say, "in the bronzed, weather-beaten faces of collective farm workers, in young people at a holiday home, gladdened by the sun, the sea and the south wind, and finally in the abundance of the 'fruits of the earth', by the boundless decorative possibilities of which I have always been captivated. . ."
Mashkov's attempts to work in various genres were not always successful. If the artistic method which he developed in the field of still life was scarcely suitable for portraiture, then it was even less appropriate for paintings depicting a complex theme. Far from dissuading him, however, the art critics of the time actually encouraged his efforts in this direction. In short, he tried to overreach himself, which explains the failure of a painting like Partisans, for example.
Similarly, it is scarcely possible to count those paintings depicting new industrial projects as being amongst Mashkov's creative achievements, although they do display his interest in contemporary life. Yet at the same time, in the twenties and thirties. Mashkov did paint some magnificent landscapes, remarkable for their sweeping perspectives and expressiveness of form. The studies which he made in the environs of Leningrad (1923), in Bakhchisaray (1925) and in the Caucasus are full of sunlight and warmth; the clearness of the air seems almost palpable. Mashkov was indeed as full of admiration for nature herself as for her abundant gifts of vegetables and fruit.
The most significant works created by Mashkov during the two last decades of his life are undoubtedly his still lifes. Although he continued to paint the same fruit, vegetables and flowers, his artistic conceptions were of a quite different order, as was his attitude to life in general. Amongst these paintings are the two still lifes displayed at the seventh exhibition of the AARR, entitled Moscow Meal. Meat, Game and Moscow Meal. Loaves of Bread (1924), both of which have since become widely known. Being conceived as separate works — different in size, composition and colour — they are linked by an inner unity of content. The artist wished to express in them the popular notion of abundance, wealth and beauty of the physical world. In contrast to the somewhat simplified nature of his earlier works, here decorative expressiveness and the over-concentrated use of colour are subordinated to the real characteristics of the objects, their solidity, weight and texture. Intensity of colour, far from being an obstacle to the paintings' unity, on the contrary, emphasizes it. Making bold use of contrast and placing warm colours by the side of cold ones (bright red, pink, lilac and brownish-orange in Moscow Meal. Meat, Game), Mashkov relies here on his own profound knowledge of the laws of colouring.
The painter now achieves a synthesis of great artistic skill and objectivity. He is able to transform a pile of fruit lying on a table into a festival of colour. At the same time he can reveal in objects qualities one would have thought impossible to communicate in painting. His still lifes breathe forth the fragrance of the flame-coloured oranges, the dark-red roses and the strawberries which they depict; they exude the juice of sliced lemons, pumpkins, pineapples and water-melons. . . Every time the artist conveys the heaviness of a bunch of grapes differently, according to whether they are lying on a table, in a dish or simply hanging down over the side.
During the last years of his life Mashkov did not abandon his search for new artistic possibilities. He renounced all too intense an emphasis on colour and decorativeness, giving to his representations a more tranquil and intimate form. Among his last works, two are of particular interest, namely Still Life. Pineapples and Bananas (1938) and Strawberries and a White Jug (1943). Their subtle execution, their light but deliberate brushstrokes, re-creating form and distinguishing light from shade, their dignified colours — all harmonize here with a vivid and poignant feeling for life.
However experimental the practice of his art, Mashkov remained essentially faithful to a true-to-life interpretation of nature. He devoted a great deal of his time to exploring the elements of formal expressiveness in painting, greatly enhancing our understanding of the problem. His own solutions were of considerable objective value. Some unequal results in varying genres bear witness to a certain one-sidedness in his approach, but Mashkov's position in the history of Russian art is fully assured; a leading exponent of still-life painting during both the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods, some of his achievements in this genre possess genuine grandeur.
The vivid colours of Mashkov's canvases, his delight in the infinite variety of the surrounding world, his pronounced feeling of social reality — all conspire to make his work one of the great achievements of Russian art. Igor Grabar was to distinguish in the work of Mashkov "a profoundly independent and individual interpretation of nature, refracted through an exceptionally pictorial mind and imagination". Creating canvases of an "arch-concrete and realistic" kind, Mashkov never ceased to admire the form, texture and colour of what he was painting. He shares with the onlooker his own love of nature and life, his spirit of joy, courage and optimism.
G. Arbuzov
V. Pushkariov