Knave of Diamonds

also: Jack of Diamonds · Bubnovyi Valet

movement 1910-1917 Russia Europe

Named for its inaugural Moscow exhibition, which opened in the Levisson Building on 10 December 1910, the Knave of Diamonds (Russian: Bubnovyi valet) was the first and most influential exhibition society of the Russian avant-garde. The group set out to unite the stylistic system of Cézanne with the primitive traditions of folk art, the lubok popular print, and tradesmen's signboards; the name itself, coined by Mikhail Larionov, was meant to provoke, and bemused Muscovites reportedly took the show for a gambling house. Founders included Pyotr Konchalovsky, Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Ilya Mashkov, Aristarkh Lentulov, Aleksandr Kuprin, and Robert Falk, and their shows mixed Russian painting with French Cubists and Fauves such as Picasso, Matisse, and Derain. In 1912 the more radical members, led by Larionov and Goncharova, split away to form the Donkey's Tail; after six exhibitions the society dismissed itself in December 1917.

Lead image of the Wikipedia article "Knave of Diamonds".
Lead image of the Wikipedia article "Knave of Diamonds".Public domain (credit: Aristarkh Lentulov) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Cézanne-like construction: simplified, faceted volumes and tilted, compressed space
  • Vivid, saturated color with heavy dark outlines borrowed from lubok prints and shop signs
  • Deliberately 'primitive' drawing: crude proportions, flat planes, raw physical brushwork
  • Still life and genre subjects with hearty, coarse energy and exaggerated texture
  • Faces and figures treated like painted dolls, carved toys, or painted folk trays

Key figures

  • Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) — Co-founder who coined the group's name; left in 1912 to found the Donkey's Tail
  • Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) — Co-founder and leading painter; split with Larionov to the Donkey's Tail in 1912
  • Pyotr Konchalovsky (1876-1956) — Founding chairman; Cézanne-inspired painter of still lifes and portraits
  • Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944) — Elected secretary; celebrated for exuberant, folk-charged still lifes
  • Aristarkh Lentulov (1882-1943) — Founding member who secured funding for the first exhibition; painter of faceted color

Example works

  • Woman with a Guitar — Aristarkh Lentulov (1913)
  • Still Life with Fruit — Ilya Mashkov (1910)
  • Russian Venus — Ilya Mashkov (1914)

Sources

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