Jack of Diamonds

Esta muestra, que permanecerá abierta al público hasta el mes de julio de 2016, nos permitirá conocer en profundidad uno de los fenómenos artísticos más importantes del inicio del siglo XX en Rusia: la asociación de artistas "Sota de Diamantes", integrada en su origen por artistas en cuya obra se combinaban la pasión por el postimpresionismo europeo y por la cultura popular rusa. En su primera exposición (1910), participaron Mijaíl Lariónov, Natalia Goncharova, Iliá Mashkov, Piotr Konchalovski, Aristarj Lentúlov y Róbert Falk. Causó una honda impresión en sus contemporáneos por su temeridad. A lo largo de casi una década, los miembros de la asociación la Sota de Diamantes y los participantes en sus exposiciones fueron cambiando. A pesar de algunos desencuentros, en dichas exposiciones desfilaron prácticamente todos los artistas de las vanguardias rusas: Kazimir Malévich, Vladímir Tatlin, Aleksandra Ekster, Olga Rózanova, Marc Chagall, etc.

The early twentieth century was in Russia a period of impressive developments in the field of culture. One of the most important artistic events of that time was the Jack of Diamonds association. First the integrated artists whose work combined passion for European post-impressionism and Russian folk culture. The name invented by Mikhail Larionov has been interpreted in different ways both then and later, as the expression bubnovi valet [Jack of diamonds] used colloquially in Russian to designate someone who is not trustworthy. He is therefore concerned a liar, a player or maybe a scammer? His sense, however, was due to antagonism challenging brand associations group against symbolist influence that then prevailed in artistic circles. The names of its exhibits - "Corona", "Blue Rose" and so aroused associations with painting games against which the youth of then united around the Jack of Diamonds won.

In the first exhibition, which opened on December 10, 1910, attended by Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Ilya Mashkov, Pyotr Konchalovsky, aristarkh lentulov and Róbert Falk. It made ​​a deep impression on his contemporaries for his temerity. Self-Portrait and Portrait of Pyotr Konchalovsky , Ilya Mashkov, became standard group. Both artists are represented in shorts, almost naked, like athletes. Their poses and appearance are inspired by portraits of boxers and wrestlers as well as flat film, the most popular at the time. Books with names of respected artists (Cezanne, Matisse), like the piano, violin and notes, are symbols of the scholarship of the characters represented, while trays sold in fairs also represented on the canvas transmitted his interest in folk art. Integration into a single box symbols as disparate tastes not only reflects their real interests. In this work, Ilya Mashkov expressed the ideology of the Jack of Diamonds association. The simplification of the expressive vocabulary, his rudeness and use of motifs from life were fundamental artistic principles. From them, and adhering to the figurative forms, they brought freshness and novelty to different genres. Portraits, landscapes and still lifes of Mashkov, Konchalovsky, Larionov and other artists of the Jack of Diamonds is characterized by its pictorial wisdom and thematic originality.

Over nearly a decade, members of the association and the Jack of Diamonds participants were changing exhibitions. In 1911, they left the Mikhail Larionov, author of the fancy name of the group, and Natalia Goncharova association. Not just to convince them Cézanne powerful imprint in the tables warned its members.

Despite the prevailing misunderstandings between 1910 and 1917, at exhibitions of the Jack of Diamonds works were exhibited virtually all the artists of the Russian avant-garde: Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Aleksandra Ekster, Olga Rozanova, Marc Chagall, etc. Tolerance regarding young radical orientation was a characteristic feature of this artistic group and its exhibitions.