Jack of Diamonds

Colourful exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of work by the Russian Jack of Diamonds group.

This group was formed following an exhibition of modern art in Russia in 1910 which reminded me of a similar show in London that year organised by Roger Fry of work by the post impressionists.

There seemed to be a lot of women in the group and they looked back to folk art and playing cards, which they called “people’s pictures”, for their inspiration. There was a lovely picture by Olga Rozanova “Queen of Diamonds” which showed a card design in a colourful , bold design.

I loved Aristarkh Lentulov’s “Flowers” an abstract picture of pink and red roses on a surface of blocks of colour. Also Mikhail Larlonov’s two still lives described as being in the major and minor key which had not been shown together since 1910.

This is a group I will look out for in the future, they had a slight feel of the Scottish Colourists but without the big hats!

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