| In the 1870-80's historical painting for the first time | | | | Looking at the clenched hands of this fine, young, but |
| seemed to reveal all answers to relevant questions | | | | not pretty woman, we can feel her inner strength and |
| addressed by the past. Popular revolts, acts of | | | | the emotional strain in her image. This image probably |
| terrorism, execution, heroic deeds, sacrifice, suffering, | | | | reminded contemporaries of young girls exiled to the |
| betrayal, faithfulness to ideas and treachery are the | | | | mines for expressing their ideas. One critic noted the |
| concepts dominating the society of that time. Some | | | | resemblance of bracelets on her wrists to fetters.As |
| artists approached these problems via religious | | | | has been mentioned, the most famous among the |
| subjects, very familiar and clear to Russian people. | | | | portraitists was Ilya Repin. He saw the souls of every |
| Nikolai Ghe, was one of them. His work, The Last | | | | person who posed for him, and he destroyed all |
| Supper, lacked mystery and sacred meaning. | | | | conventional rules adhered to by other portraitists. He |
| Like-minded people had become enemies. Judas, who | | | | was unsurpassed as a master of any form of portrait |
| thought of the salvation of his people, did not grasp the | | | | from bedchamber to state portraits. He worked both in |
| great idea of Christ providing salvation for the whole | | | | painting and drawing. The backgrounds for his portraits |
| of mankind. The philosophic disagreement, but not the | | | | could be a house interior or landscapes. Using particular |
| betrayal of a greedy man, became the subject of the | | | | composition, color schemes, lines, and strokes, he |
| painting. (Note there are only 11 Apostles depicted in | | | | underlined unique individual features of the model. The |
| the painting and that Judas looks like a winged Angel | | | | German poet, Rilke, said: "Repin has the nature of an |
| of Death.) His works, Calvary and Crucifixion, were | | | | artist. With a glance, he inspects everyone he meets, |
| dedicated to humanity, at a time when spiritual strength | | | | studies him and assigns him to remote corners of his |
| and faithfulness to ideas overcome physical | | | | soul and doesn't let him move away until Rapin is |
| suffering.Ivan Kramskoi, also painted religious subjects. | | | | finished." Repin models came from all types of society |
| In his work, Christ in a Desert, he shows the hero at | | | | to include peasants as well as the aristocracy. He |
| the moment of making a choice of his life's way. This | | | | painted men, women, old people, children, friends and |
| feeling of choice was familiar to many people: whether | | | | relatives. The fine portraiture of Repin gives us an |
| to remain faithful to destiny or to yield to temptation | | | | integral, profound, all-embracing, general presentation of |
| and retreat, having foreseen terrible consequences of | | | | 19th Century society and lively individual images of its |
| remaining steadfast. All his life Kramskoi was devoted | | | | representatives. Many admire the works of Repin. |
| to a large painting called, Christ before the people, | | | | Especially fine paintings include Fall Bouquet, Portrait of |
| where he interpreted the subject of sacrifice and | | | | artist's daughter, Portrait of M. Musorgsky, and the |
| suffering for a people that did not understand.Vasiliy | | | | Portrait of Ivan Kramskoi... The list of works is endless. |
| Surikov's, most famous work is his trilogy painted in the | | | | In the history of Russian art, the portraiture genre is |
| 1880s. Each of these three paintings is devoted to a | | | | one of the oldest and most traditional genres. First |
| specific epic collision of paramount significance: The | | | | introduced at the time of Peter the Great, it was |
| Morning of the Execution of the Streltsi, represents the | | | | developed by different generations of artists, but it |
| nation in history. Menshikov in Berezovo, depicts a hero | | | | was the itinerants that made a particularly notable |
| in history. Finally, the Boyarynya Morozova, is an | | | | contribution to portraiture. They were also great |
| example of a hero and the people. Surikov | | | | innovators in Landscape genre.Another important |
| approached the most dramatic points of Russian | | | | concept of the specific national character of Russia, |
| history: reformation of the church in the mid 17th | | | | the peculiarity of Russian nature, was done for the first |
| century, Peter the Great's reforms of the 18th century, | | | | time by Itinerants. Works by Alexei Savrasov, Ivan |
| etc. In Surikov's own time, the late 19th century, there | | | | Shishkin, Vasiliy Polenov, Arkhip Kuinji, and Isaak Levitan |
| were numerous flashbacks of those events in Russia. | | | | were wildly received by the public. These masters |
| The nation found itself on the threshold of major | | | | showed the highest importance of ordinary motifs, |
| changes once again. Incidentally, Surikov in his Morning, | | | | scenes, and seasons of the year Country sights were |
| showed for the first time how an historical inevitability | | | | approached by artists much more often than urban |
| can divide a single nation, turning fellow countrymen | | | | motifs, thus emphasizing peasant themes. But it was |
| against each other. In the painting, one of Peter's | | | | not based purely on social problems. The whole gamut |
| soldiers is carefully supporting a strelets (a member of | | | | was captured on canvas. Green plain expanses, |
| Ivan the Terrible's elite corps) while leading him to | | | | fallowed fields in the rain, endless travel-worn roads, |
| scaffold. These two Russians are not enemies, only a | | | | narrow paths that stretched from different parts of |
| historical coincidence has turned one of them into a | | | | the vast land, dense forests, impassable thickets, small |
| hangman and the other into his victim. Could Surikov | | | | lakes like blue saucers, hidden copses, and the beauty |
| have foreseen that twenty years later Russia would | | | | of the big Russian river Volga were all acceptable |
| be flooded with blood once again, and brother would | | | | subjects for these Russian immortals.The concept of |
| turn against brother in a civil war? He looked to the | | | | nature, for Russian Itinerant artists and since, has |
| past for answers about Russia's future.Surikov neither | | | | always been closely connected with a man being |
| passed judgment nor took sides in his paintings, and his | | | | painted in his natural environment. Concerns about |
| characters were neither saints nor criminals. Each of | | | | people and their thoughts and the Russian character |
| them was convinced he was doing the right thing, but | | | | were very much affected by landscape. The |
| in the eyes of history, "right" is synonymous with | | | | narrations about Russian nature indeed involved the |
| "imperative." It is the inevitable collision of historical | | | | telling of the life story of human beings living in nature. |
| interest entailing the death of one of the parties that | | | | One of the first among itinerant landscape artists was |
| the artist rendered with disturbing vividness. Relying on | | | | Alexei Savrasov. His painting, Rooks Are Back Again, |
| his creative imagination, the artist craftily conjured up | | | | was exhibited for the first time at the exhibition of 1871 |
| pictures of the past, encouraging the viewer to ponder | | | | and it amazed viewers. For the first time they saw a |
| traumatic historical collisions that had once shaken the | | | | plain native landscape far removed from the flourishing |
| nation, compelling every person then living to make his | | | | Italian beauty typical of classical and romantic artists. A |
| choice. His task was to make his characters | | | | feeling of nature awakening after winter, as a tree |
| convincing and historically credible, to make the viewer | | | | with its bared branches is depicted standing in the |
| believe in the image before his eyes. In later years, | | | | distance, soft light coming from the blue sky, a bustle |
| Surikov abandoned his preoccupation with dramatic | | | | of the first birds, all combined to evoke a feeling of |
| turning points in history in favor of glorifying Russia's | | | | something dear to one's heart.. a familiar scene dating |
| heroic past. In spite of this he remained true to himself: | | | | back to childhood. This sentimental landscape gained |
| the Russian people were still the main character of his | | | | high significance in this genre.Each painter approached |
| works, and courage and daring were the artist's | | | | similar motifs in his own artistic manner. Ivan Shishkin in |
| principal subject-matter. In his paintings, Surikov always | | | | his works glorified the heroic spirit of the Russian land. |
| focused on fine portraiture. His female images are | | | | He liked to emphasize the might and grandeur of |
| particularly elaborate and masterful. He appreciated | | | | Russian nature. Depicting mostly fields and forests, he |
| and knew how to depict the beauty of a Russian | | | | was given an artistic name of "singer of fields and |
| woman; he understood her contradictory personality, | | | | forests.'' His selfless love of nature made him not only |
| her tenderness, kindness, compassion, cordiality, quiet | | | | an artist, but a botanist as well. He refused to be |
| resignation, and readiness to sacrifice herself, and he | | | | inaccurate depicting tree or blade. Numerous studies |
| recognized that sometimes, her courage, strong will, | | | | and sketches that survived till today offer testimony |
| devil-may-care attitude, and her strong convictions | | | | concerning his great care in studying nature.Although |
| bordered on fanaticism.During that epoch - the heyday | | | | Shishkin was often criticized for his naturalism and his |
| of portrait genre in Russian art - many artists tended | | | | unreasonable standards in his representation of nature, |
| to emphasize their characters' personalities in their | | | | the careful work at the details of his paintings can't be |
| historical and genre painting. Itinerants made a | | | | called "naturalism." Naturalism in painting means blind |
| particularly notable contribution to portraiture. For the | | | | imitation of a natural view without a well thought-out |
| first time in Russian art, portraiture stopped being | | | | composition and without the correlation of common |
| merely the art of painting family members and stopped | | | | details and a particular selection of the items painted. |
| serving exclusively the sentimental needs and vanity of | | | | At first sight, Shishkin's landscapes look so trustworthy |
| individuals and families. As a result of the itinerants, the | | | | that one can get the wrong impression of the artist's |
| very word portrait acquires new understanding. The | | | | work. The artist desires the viewer to believe in the |
| reason for the above we find in the definition of | | | | reality of such an existing view.In this connection, his |
| reconsidered art that achieved vivid social status. | | | | painting, The Rye, is very typical. The artist selected |
| Portraits became very regulated such as the portraits | | | | the typical natural motives of a central Russian |
| of contemporary heroes, public figures, common | | | | landscape: the field of rye, the road, and mighty oaks. |
| people, peasants, and workers. Art changed much. | | | | Next he thought about the composition, trying to get |
| Now it served more for exhibition purposes rather than | | | | the right correlation between the sky and the earth, the |
| purely as private commissions.The name of Pavel | | | | fore and background, as well as the right light |
| Tretyakov, is closely connected with establishment of | | | | combination. All these details create mighty images |
| this new art destination. He was a Moscow merchant | | | | that affect the feelings of the viewer. In this painting |
| who had decided to set up a gallery of the national | | | | the artist truly glorifies the true beauty and grandeur of |
| modern art. He started buying itinerants' work, not only | | | | Russian nature.One must give credit to the Itinerants |
| at the exhibitions, but also unfinished works while they | | | | for the creation of the genre of "plein air" painting. Two |
| were in an artist's studio. Tretyakov attended artists' | | | | of the best were Polenov and Levitan. Polenov's |
| workshops and often paid money to an artist in order | | | | artistic manner was much different from that of |
| for him to complete the work. Moreover, he | | | | Shishkin. In his paintings Moscow Courtyard and |
| commissioned different artists to make portraits of | | | | Grandmother's Garden, he acts as a delicate lyric, |
| writers, musicians, actors, and other artists in order to | | | | entertaining storyteller. For the first time in these |
| leave a cultural heritage for the generations to come. | | | | paintings he demonstrated the principles of so-called |
| His life and the life of his family were very modest as | | | | "plain-air painting." However, the greatest "plein air" |
| most of his money was spent for paintings. Being so | | | | landscape painter in Russian art was Levitan. |
| interested in portraiture, he got other artists interested | | | | Considering the power and might of his talent and his |
| in this genre. Among the artists working in portrait | | | | contribution to the landscape genre he can be |
| genre there are several outstanding masters whose | | | | compared with Repin. His huge creative legacy gives |
| names are worthy of mention.Vasiliy Perov was the | | | | an idea about the broad scope of his interests in the |
| first who featured mostly in psychological portrait the | | | | landscape field. Some of his works are full of delicate |
| complicated inner world of the person and his soul. His | | | | lyrics while others have epic and broad |
| portraits of Feodor Dostoevskiy and of Alexei | | | | generalizations.Issak Levitan had a very profound |
| Ostrovskiy are considered to be his best and most | | | | understanding of nature. Nature in his opinion holds onto |
| famous portraits. The portrait of Dostoevskiy, a great | | | | its inner content. He said, "Can anything be more tragic |
| Russian writer who tried to penetrate the darkest | | | | than to feel the endless beauty of surroundings, the |
| parts of a human soul, is of special value. Kramskoi | | | | concealed secrets of nature, to see the Lord in |
| used this painting to reflect his own understanding of | | | | everything and have no possibility to express such |
| duty and honor of Russian intelligence. He strove to | | | | deep emotions?" These words reveal the modesty of |
| reveal the versatile personality of the writer.Ivan | | | | the artist who has created real masterpieces but was |
| Kramskoi, being a very talented portraitist, was a | | | | not satisfied with himself and who worried about his |
| prominent public figure and art was not the only | | | | inability to achieve perfection. Levitan confirmed once |
| domain of his activity. Kramskoi was the head of the | | | | again that Russian landscape art demands to be |
| Society of Traveling Art Exhibitions from the time it | | | | considered as an object of the highest ideals of art. |
| was established. His particular understanding of art as | | | | Many of his paintings contain a reflection on people's |
| a way of educating people dictated his individual choice | | | | destiny and the meaning of their life. His paintings are |
| of the model and interpretation of his portrait image. He | | | | full of literary associations and philosophical ideas such |
| chose those whom he considered to be an ideal | | | | as Over Eternal Peace, and Eternal Chime. In an |
| subject and who shared his views on the exclusive | | | | entirely different manner he created landscapes in |
| educational mission of art. His views coincided with | | | | natural beauty, illustrating the waking up of nature |
| general trends and objectives in art - a search of the | | | | March and the fading of nature in Golden Autumn. |
| identifiable person. The resulting form of the above | | | | Levitan painted typical Russian landscapes, reproducing |
| social significance of a model was of particular | | | | different states of nature correlating with human |
| importance for Kramskoi. A fine example of this | | | | emotions.The pictorial freedom of Levitan's creative |
| approach is the portrait of L.Tolstoy. The ascetic | | | | manner made him different from other landscape |
| simplicity of the writer's image and feeling of serious, | | | | painters of his time. His last painting, Russia, was not |
| dramatic thought that dominated Tolstoy was | | | | finished. He dreamed of creating the common artistic |
| reflected in Kramskoi's opinion on the writer's | | | | image of his homeland in this painting. Levitan fell |
| destiny.After the death of Kramskoi, Nikolai | | | | deeply in love with the Motherland as did all of the |
| Yaroshenko, who was called "the conscience of the | | | | Itinerants. They dreamed and believed that their art |
| Itinerants" for his integrity and adherence to principles, | | | | would give people happiness and hope and recognition |
| headed the itinerants' society. Yaroshenko created his | | | | of the need to develop a high moral ideal in Russia. |
| own portrait type, and his representation of a specific | | | | The Itinerants held sway over Russian art until the first |
| model became the basis for his generalized image of | | | | ten years of the 20th Century. For me they will always |
| the representation of the different layers of society. | | | | be the best that Russian art has to offer. They painted |
| Girl Student, is typical of Yaroshenko. His Portrait of | | | | in many styles, but they depicted life as they believed it |
| Pelageya Strepetova, a Russian tragical actress, is a | | | | was. They did this at great risk to themselves, and it is |
| very good example of his work. She specialized in the | | | | hoped that finally Russia stands on the golden |
| roles of the poor and humiliated, exhausted by life | | | | threshold of freedom that they envisioned for her so |
| women, and these roles left their mark on this portrait. | | | | many years ago.Michael E. |