The Russian Academy Of Arts

Dates: August 28 – September 15, 2024

Venue:  Exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (21 Prechistenka street, Moscow)

SEE THE PHOTOS IN THE RUSSIAN VERSION OF THE SITE

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a major retrospective of works by the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Igor G. Mashkov. Entitled “The Link of Times” it features more than 100 canvases produced by the artist in various years.

Igor Mashkov belongs to the pleiad of artists who devoted themselves to the study and depiction of the centuries-long history of Russia. Already at the beginning of his creative career and participation in exhibitions he became famous for a cycle of pictures connected with the period of pre-Petrine Russia and its little-known pages. His art is distinguished by not the drama of “a story”, but by the artist’s ability to convince and captivate the viewer with the reality he creates on his canvases. According to Mashkov’s words he is a follower of the great predecessors  - Vasili Surikov, V.M. Vasnetsov and A.M. Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov. Working at a picture he recollects Ilya Repin’s precept: “ The beauty is a matter of taste: for me it is all in truth”. His motto is  the words of the Russian writer N.M. Karamzin: “…the history of ancestors is always interesting for those who are  worthy to have  the Motherland”.  Mashkov has also devoted many easel works to the history of Russian Cossacks and in 2001-2010 created a  series of 12 canvases about the  Russian Orthodox pilgrimage. Well-known are his historical portraits of figures of Russian culture and art, portraits of the Patriarchs of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II and Kirill and several other hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, a series of portraits of the Vatican Pontiffs  including the Pope Benedict XVI.  The master’s friends and near ones often become the main characters of his works.

One more facet of the artist’s talent is landscapes. Nizhny Novgorod and Pechory, Moscow and Diveevo, Russian rivers are only a tiny part of the geography of Mashkov’s creative searches. His landscape works demonstrate the brilliant skill of the artist who is sensitive to the nuances of nature. The small homeland for him is near Tula, in the suburbs of Aleksin. The Oka river with its picturesque banks, the charming nature of the region have always been for the artist the places of power.  He travelled a lot across Russia and other countries and impressions fr om these trips have become and will continue to be the sources of inspiration for his new works.

Igor G. Mashkov is an Honored Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and the International Academy of Culture and Arts, Head of the Artists’ Association of the Russian Noble Assembly. In 1993 he graduated from V. Surikov Moscow State Art Institute wh ere he majored in portrait painting under the Academician Ilya Glazunov. In 1995-1999 Mashkov ungraded his skills at the Painting Creative Workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts headed by the People’s Artists of Russia Sergey Tkachev and Alexey Tkachev. He has been an artistic advisor and Art Director of the Pilgrimage Center of the Moscow Patriarchate. Igor Mashkov is a holder of many public and state awards including Medals of the Russian Academy of Arts.  His works are in collections of many Russian museums. In recent years, more than 50 solo exhibitions of his works have been presented in Russia and other countries.

 

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