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The creative way of Igor Mashkov, his outlook on life were generally formed in the nineties, in that period of perestroika when almost everything connected with the Soviet period -both good and bad - were subjected to criticism.

He didn't go under the thumb of that part of critics who entirely denied the tradi­tions of Russian artistic school based on high professionalism, love for Russia, its history, nature and people.

Intuition prompted the young artist to go his own way, inspired by observations of life, constantly improving himself, perfecting his professional skill.

Igor Mashkov is a Muscovite by birth. He graduated from the Surikov Moscow Institute of Art (the Glazunov's studio and creative studio of brothers Tkachevy under the Academy of Art). The artist's father comes from the Cossack Don. His stories about Cossack freedom, folk rites and songs significantly influenced the formation of the future artist. It is not only the Cossack gala, severe and beautiful uniform that attracts Igor. A man's soul hidden under this envelope is much more important for him.

The Cossacks' portraits were the first successful works appreciated by the spectator and the artistic world. They are painted attentively, with love; while looking at them one can feel the master's sure hand. These works are not ordinary. The young artist tries to find something unique and typical, to catch the internal state of each model. Mashkov's attempt to create the landscapes of an epic scale is also interesting. In general the love of Russian history, its old times, the Cossacks who start to revive again (the theme that was unrecognizable for a long time) is a distinctive feature of the young artist of a new generation.

We can just wish Igor Mashkov to look deeper into the current life, not to pass over the most actual themes of contemporaneity. The behest of great Repin: "The beauty is a matter of tastes. For me it is all in truth", - remains actual in our days. Only the life in all its variety can feed the creativity of a artist-realist. We wish Igor Mashkov to improve his mastery and then the real discoveries will come.