Ilya Ivanovich Mashkov
A Town in Switzerland
1914
oil on canvas
75.5 х 115.5 cm
Nizhny Novgorod State Museum of Art

Ilya Mashkov was a member of the Jack of Diamonds group; in his art, he combined the traditions of the Russian pictorial school with the discoveries of French painters, particularly Paul Cézanne. This landscape is part of the series of works painted on Mashkov's final visit abroad, between April and June 1914. Mashkov's landscapes are generally faithful to nature. Recently, at an exhibition in Switzerland, it was established that this work was based on a small town by the name of Riex. A comparison between a contemporary photograph and this work, painted early in the twentieth century, shows that the village has remained virtually unchanged after a hundred years.