Ilya Mashkov was an artist of exceptional versatility and scope, one of the founders of the sensational artistic association “Jack of Diamonds” in the early 20th century. From an early age, he declared himself an experimenter, was influenced by Modernism, and after the 1917 revolution became a prominent representative of Soviet art.

The artist was born in 1881 into a peasant family in the Cossack village of Mikhailovskaya in the Province of the Don Cossack Host. Since childhood, he was fond of drawing, took private lessons, and in 1900 entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. A few years later, he opened a private studio, which became one of the most popular ones among future students. In parallel with his studies and teaching, he worked in the landscape studio of Apollinary Vasnetsov, later he began to attend the studio of Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin.

After the revolution of 1917, Mashkov was called up to the Committee of Fine Arts and became the commissioner for the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Along with the other founders of “Jack of Diamonds”, he established the association “Moscow Artists”, and joined the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, becoming, in fact, one of the first ideologues of Socialist Realism.

The painting “Still Life. Fruits” is part of a series of works created in Abramtsevo, where the artist spent the last years of his life. Painted by Mashkov in the late 1930s, the still lifes are intimate in nature, distinguished by moderation and refinement of the finest shades, and sharp textures, color and rendering of objects. In these works, it is not immediately possible to recognize the artist who painted the canvas “Soviet Breads”. While working on still lifes, the artist turned to the Dutch masters, unattainable in their ability to summon a beautiful Venetian glass from oblivion, make a dessert knife thrown on the table chime, entice with the warmth of the soft velvety surface of a peach or impress with the precious shimmer of the transparent softness of a lemon. Still lifes of the Abramtsevo series became one of the best and characteristic manifestations of the intimate direction of Soviet art and ended up in many museums of the country.