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Mashkov came gradually to renounce the effects of light and shade, so fundamental to the Impressionists. In his Still Life with a Pineapple, where the decisive importance of colour is obvious, light plays only a secondary role in the creation of form. In the still-life painting, Fruit on a Dish, the material qualities of the object are conveyed by a single splash of colour. Form is determined by clear-cut outlines; along with others, the black colour becomes obligatory.
For all Mashkov's desire to assert the sensuous materiality of things, one detects in his early works a certain indifference towards the real nature of his chosen subject; the material world appears there in a generalized form. This is the case, for example, in the above-mentioned portraits of E. Kirkaldi and Rubanovich, where there is a conflict between different orders of reality; the live models are set in opposition to the figures depicted on the panel and carpet, but nothing seems completely authentic. It is the same in the painting Russia and Napoleon (The Russian Venus) (1912, Moscow, private collection), where the model is shown against the background of a carpet depicting Napoleon in a sleigh, while the Emperor's troika seems about to run her over.
At this point Mashkov was to some extent influenced by European Cubism. However, he interpreted the ideas of Cubism in his own particular way, linking this new passion with his old enthusiasm for folk toys and the lubok. In his portrait of the poet S. Rubanovich (1910), the artist renounces colour and represents the subject through geometric forms. But living rhyths manage to burst in upon this geometric world, enlivening the grey-black abstractions. Fascinated by Cubism, Mashkov still sought expressiveness in his art; retaining his interest in the distinctiveness of the figure he wishes to paint, he exaggerates the likeness to the point of caricature. Mashkov's humour, alien to the abstractions of Cubism, is what links his portraits here with the products of folk art.
Folk expressiveness of form was henceforth to remain the artist's ideal, but about 1913 he was on the edge of new ventures. At this time his artistic idiom becomes noticeably more complex. However, in the still life entitled Loaves of Bread (1912) this new complexity is not yet apparent. The whole surface of the canvas is more or less filled by the representation of the loaves, ornamental both in their detail and in their total effect; perspective is narrowed, surface is compressed. One feels the artist's passion for the primitive, particularly for sign-painting.
In the still life Camellia (1913), the artist is aiming at a synthesis of decorativeness and materiality. He directs his attention here to the problem of rendering the effect of light, which, however, never becomes an end in itself, as it was for the Impressionists. The camellia plant with its sharply drawn, rigid leaves stands out against a background vibrating with light; the knot-shaped bun, the fruit and the glass bowl with fancy cakes are both decorative and substantial at the same time.
This concentration on the material substance of things and, to a lesser extent, on the problem of light, involved a certain danger, that of illusion, which Mashkov did not altogether avoid even in his Camellia. This feature would occasionally reveal itself in some of his later works. A feeling for the three-dimensional quality and texture of objects as well as for light effects is particularly marked in the Still Life with Brocade (1914). Although the colours are vivid, the painting lacks sharpness of form; faience dish, plums, plate of strawberries, pumpkin, carafe of red wine-all are equally exaggerated in mass, although the position of these objects in perspective is not the same. Their outline is retained, but their expressiveness is lost. Mashkov's tendency towards an ever greater complexity of artistic expression is obvious in other respects as well. The artist begins to be attracted by projects of a monumental nature, though remaining loyal to easel painting. This may be seen in works of different genres. In the landscapes painted between 1910 and 1915, the fragmentary and rather static method of portrayal typical of Л Town View and Л Town View in Winter gives way to complex three-dimensional arrangements aimed at conveying majestic images (Italy. Nervi, 1913; Lake Geneva. Glion, 1914). His portraits display a similar attempt at resolving the problem of monumentality. Though less successful and thorough-going, his searches here led him in various directions. In the portrait of Fiodorova-Mashkova (Lady with a Double-Bass, 1915—16), the artist's interest in problems of style brings him close to the painters of the World of Art group. Like them, he was fascinated by the problem which confronted Russian portrait painters in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries — namely, that of combining decorative appeal with a feeling for detail and subtle modelling. However, Mashkov aimed not at creating deeply psychological portraits, nor did he take any great interest in the objects surrounding his models. His portrayal of man and his surroundings is no departure from the conventions of still-life painting. Imitating the naive manner of old portraiture, with its peculiar ostentation, he tries not to conceal the model's pose, indeed he emphasizes it, though making only outward use of this device. A different approach to the problem of monumentality is apparent in the portrait of N. Usova (1915), which is comparatively simple in design, j Although the portrait is executed in a strictly stylized manner, the artist does succeed in conveying the living features of the model. Here, too, one is aware of the element of pose, but this time Mashkov, as in his Cubist experiments, takes the expressiveness of the folk toy as his point of departure.
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 rhyths 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.
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