Iliya Repin

Iliya Repin (1844—1930), a colleague and close friend of Polenov's was also one of the group. Though never an active member of the Society of Wandering Art Exhibitions, he was nevertheless deeply influenced by Kramskoi and his followers. He was a far more articulate and distinguished master of his medium than any of the original "fourteen".

Repin's overriding interest in people led him to devote most of his time to painting his contemporaries. Practically everybody of importance sat for Repin, who recorded their appearance in restrained and severe colours, which differ completely in character from the sombre colours used by many of the Wanderers. In Repin the colours are a reflection of his mood, for, like so many of his contemporaries, he too was often grieved by the darkening outlook. He expressed his dislike of oppression in some subject paintings. The finest of these is a picture he painted in 1884, entitled "They did not Expect Him"; it illustrated the return of a political exile from Siberia. It is a poignant, profound, and extremely convincing psychological study, as well as a painting of real aesthetic merit. This painting is one of his few full-sized paintings, for Repin spent much time working on studies before executing a painting in full-scale. In many of those studies one can discern an extremely talented draughtsman with a real percep­tion of nature. The no less sincere and aesthetically equally im­portant painting which is generally known by the name of "The Volga Boatmen" is likewise concerned in drawing attention to a social evil.

Some of Repin's paintings were executed at Abramtsevo, an estate near Moscow. It belonged to Savva Mamontov, the Rus­sian railway tycoon of the 1870's, who surrounded himself with the most progressive personalities of his day, not only painters but composers, singers, architects, art historians, writers and actors This colony of artists brought together by Mamontov was known as "Mamontov's circle". They were inspired by ide­als of bettering the life of the people. "Mamontov's circle" drawn together by the common determination to create a new Russian culture, can be regarded as the cradle of the modern movement in Russian art.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1043