Even in the harshest days of the Stalin era, Ilya Mashkov tried to preserve his distinct identity as an artist. Working under the inescapable ideology of Socialist Realism, the painter -- who had gained fame in pre-Revolutionary Russia as part of the "Knave of Diamonds" group -- retained a semblance of his original style, while winning the approval of the Soviet authorities, by going back to his rural roots.

Now, viewers can judge for themselves whether Mashkov sold out his artistic ideals by visiting a new exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. The exhibition, which features about 70 paintings and sketches on loan from the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts, traces Mashkov's development from the early 20th century to the height of Stalinist rule.

Although never especially noticed in the West, Mashkov became indelibly linked to Moscow after studying at the Moscow School of Painting from 1900 to 1910. But the artist was no urbanite, having grown up in the small Cossack village of Mikhailovskaya, located in the present-day Volgograd region.

Today, Mashkov is remembered primarily for his prominent role in the "Knave of Diamonds" group, a rowdy, controversial circle of artists that eschewed traditions and shocked critics with their joint exhibitions. Heavily influenced by French Post-Impressionists such as Paul Cezanne, the artists adopted a primitive approach to painting that relied on bright colors and simplified geometry. Formed in 1910 and led by the painters Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova, the group boasted names such as Vasily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich -- although only briefly -- and is now seen as a key step in the evolution of the Russian avant-garde.

The display at the Tretyakov offers a fair share of Mashkov gems from that era, such as his 1910 still life "Tulips on a Dish," which greets visitors near the entrance with its thick brushstrokes and exuberant colors.

By 1916, the "Knave of Diamonds" circle had dispersed and Mashkov had begun foraying into other styles, such as Cubism. After the Revolution, however, he steered away from the experimental path and turned to his rural origins for inspiration. Fortunately for Mashkov, the desire of the new Soviet government to glorify the working class and the peasantry was not so different from his own admiration for village and folk themes. Throughout the 1920s, Mashkov traveled across the Soviet Union's rustic southern countryside, depicting rural landscapes and their down-to-earth inhabitants.

The exhibition has a number of these paintings, including "Livada Peasants' Resort" from 1925, in which the afternoon sun beats down on well-dressed peasants as they stroll before a mansion, and "Crimea: Park in Alupka" from 1923, an idyllic depiction of faceless picnickers framed by lush green foliage and backed by jagged cliffs.

Perhaps due to the success of these cheerful works, Mashkov became a member of the Artists' Association of Revolutionary Russia in 1925. He finished off the decade painting peasants, workers, Pioneers and other heroes of the day. The year 1930 marked something of a turning point for his work, when he began returning to his origins even more wholeheartedly -- often frequenting his native Mikhailovskaya -- while at the same time beginning to paint the requisite tributes to Soviet grandeur.

This final period, which lasted until Mashkov's death in 1944, is especially well represented in the exhibition. Echoes of his previous work remain, as in a 1930 portrait of a collective farm worker heaving pumpkins, which shows the painter's continuing devotion to intense, evocative colors.

Other canvases belong squarely to the most grandiose traditions of Socialist Realism. Two of them -- "Welcome to the 17th Congress of the VKP(b)" from 1934 and "Soviet Bread" from 1936 -- are hard to perceive today as anything other than Soviet kitsch. The former composition features busts of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels flanked by roses against a blue background and red star, while "Soviet Bread" -- a gargantuan assortment of every bread and pastry imaginable -- projects a heroic air, enhanced by the hammer-and-sickle emblem hanging above.

Such paintings offer a glimpse into Mashkov's Soviet years, showing the lesser-known face of an artist best known as a young avant-gardist. "We initially planned to call the exhibition 'The Other Mashkov,' but then we felt that the public might not immediately understand what we meant," Tatyana Dodina, the director of the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts, said at the exhibition's opening last week. "We are sure, however, that when viewers see the paintings, they will realize how much Mashkov changed throughout the four decades he painted."

Apparently, the key to Mashkov's versatility and long career -- in a time when other artists were being denounced and repressed -- was his love for life and his genuine affection for his rural roots. So while the transformation from "Knave of Diamonds" brashness to Stalin-era Socialist Realism was a long one, Dodina believes there is nothing surprising about it.

"Mashkov was never a romantic or abstract painter," she said. "Instead, he admired life as it was, and strove -- through varying styles -- to represent its character. Thus, the transformation to realism was not artificial, but a natural progression."

"Ilya Mashkov: From the Collection of the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts" (Ilya Mashkov: Iz Sobraniya Volgogradskogo Muzeya Izobrazitelnykh Iskusstv) runs to Sept. 25 at the Tretyakov Gallery, located at 10/12 Lavrushinksy Pereulok. Metro Tretyakovskaya. Tel. 230-7788, 951-1362, 238-1378.