Painting. The Wanderers (Peredvizhniki)
The second half of the 19th century saw the maturing of
Realism in Russia. A sympathetic attitude toward the
hard life of the people is reflected in the works of
painters and sculptors of that time. The populist
revolutionary ferment prevalent toward the end of the
1850s and the beginning of the 1860s, and inspired by
the writers Nikolay Dobrolyubov and Nikolay
Chernyshevsky provided the basis for the new trend in
art. The main thesis of Cherny-shevsky's dissertation
The Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality (1855) that
art must not only reflect reality but also explain and
judge it, became a starting point for contemporary
artists.
A truly national tradition did not begin, however, until
the 1870s with the appearance of the "Wanderers" — the
Peredvizhniki. This society was formed by a group of
Romantic artists who regarded themselves as Realists.
They rejected the restrictive and foreign - inspired
classicism of the Russian Academy to form a new realist
and nationalist art that would serve the common men.
Believing that art should be placed at the service of
humanitarian and social ideals, they produced realistic
portrayals of inspiring or pathetic subjects from
Russian middle-class and peasant life in a literal,
easily understood style.
Forming a Society of Wandering Exhibitions, they
organised mobile exhibitions (hence the name) of their
works in an effort to bring serious art to the people.
The most prominent Russian artists of the 1870s and
1880s, including Ivan Kramskoy, Il'ya Repin, Vassily
Surikov, Vassily Perov, and Vassily Vereshchagin,
belonged to this group. The Wanderers attached much
importance to the moral and literary aspects of art than
to aesthetics. Its artistic creed was realism, national
feeling, and social consciousness. The influence of the
Wanderers spread throughout Russia. This group was
dominant for nearly 30 years, but by the end of the
century it had greatly declined nevertheless it became
model for the Socialist Realism of the Soviet Union.
Literature: Book "Russian art" A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva |
