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Peredvizhniki

Group of Russian realist artists

Group of Russian realist artists

Peredvizhniki (, ), often called The Wanderers or The Itinerants in English, were a group of Russian realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restrictions; it evolved into the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions, in short Peredvizhniks, in 1870.

History

In 1863, a group of fourteen students decided to leave the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. The students found the rules of the Academy constraining; the teachers were conservative and there was a strict separation between high and low art. In an effort to bring art to the people, the students formed an independent artistic society; The Petersburg Cooperative of Artists (Artel). In 1870, this organization was largely succeeded by the Association of Travelling Art Exhibits (Peredvizhniki) to give people from the provinces a chance to follow the achievements of Russian Art, and to teach people to appreciate art. The society maintained independence from state support and brought the art, which illustrated the contemporary life of the people from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, to the provinces.

From 1871 to 1923, the society arranged 48 mobile exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow, after which they were shown in Kiev, Kharkov, Kazan, Oryol, Riga, Odessa and other cities.

Influence of literary critics

Peredvizhniki were influenced by the public views of the literary critics Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolai Chernyshevsky, both of whom espoused liberal ideas. Belinsky thought that literature and art should attribute a social and moral responsibility. Like most Slavophiles, Chernyshevsky ardently supported the emancipation of serfs, which was finally realized in the reform of 1861. He viewed press censorship, serfdom, and capital punishment as Western influences. Because of his political activism, officials prohibited publication of any of his writing, including his dissertation; but it eventually found its way to the art world of nineteenth-century Russia. In 1863, almost immediately after the emancipation of serfs, Chernyshevsky's goals were realized with the help of Peredvizhniki, who took the pervasive Slavophile-populist idea that Russia had a distinguishable, modest, inner beauty of its own and worked out how to display it on canvas.

Subjects of the paintings

Nationalmuseum (Stockholm), 2011 Peredvizhniki portrayed the many-sided aspects of social life, often critical of inequities and injustices. But their art showed not only poverty but also the beauty of the folk way of life; not only suffering but also fortitude and strength of characters. Peredvizhniki condemned the Russian aristocratic orders and autocratic government in their humanistic art. They portrayed the emancipation movement of Russian people with empathy (for example, The Arrest of a Propagandist, Refusal of Confession, and They Did Not Expect Him by Ilya Yefimovich Repin). They portrayed social-urban life, and later used historic art to depict the common people (The Morning of the Streltsy Execution by Vasily Surikov).

During their blossoming (1870–1890), the Peredvizhniki society developed an increasingly wider scope, with more natural and free images. In contrast to the traditional dark palette of the time, they chose a lighter palette, with a freer manner in their technique. They worked for naturalness in their images, and the depiction of people's relationship with their surroundings. The society united most of the highly talented artists of the country. Among Peredvizhniki there were artists of Ukraine, Latvia, and Armenia. The society also showed the work of Mark Antokolski, Vasili Vereshchagin, and Andrei Ryabushkin. The work of the critic and democrat Vladimir Stasov was important for the development of Peredvizhniki's art.

Reproduction of works

Even though the number of travelling exhibition visitors from the provinces was increasing during the years, the main audience was the urban elite. Local photographers created the first reproductions of Peredvizhniki's paintings, which helped popularize the works and could be bought at exhibitions. Niva magazine also published illustrated articles about the exhibitions. Since 1898, the landscapes of the society have been used in the postcard industry. Various books of poems were published with the illustrations of landscapes. Ordinary Russian people at that time could not afford to go to Moscow or Saint Petersburg, so popularization of Russian art made them familiar with a number of Russian art masterpieces. Even now publishers use the reproductions in textbooks as a visual icon of national identity.

Decline of creativity

As the authority and public influence of the society steadily grew, government officials had to stop their efforts to repress the members. Attempts were made to subordinate their activity, and raise the falling value of Academy of Arts-sanctioned works. By the 1890s, the Academy of Arts structure was including Peredvizhniki art in its classes and history, and the influence of the artists showed in national art schools.

Members

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Peredvizhniki artists included:

  • Abram Arkhipov
  • Ivan Bogdanov
  • Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky
  • Alexey Bogolyubov
  • Pavel Brullov
  • Nikolai Ge
  • Kārlis Hūns
  • Nikolay Kasatkin
  • Alexander Kiselyov
  • Ivan Kramskoi
  • Arkhip Kuindzhi
  • Nikolai Kuznetsov
  • Isaac Levitan
  • Rafail Levitsky
  • Alexander Litovchenko
  • Vladimir Makovsky
  • Vassily Maximov
  • Grigoriy Myasoyedov
  • Leonid Pasternak
  • Vasily Perov
  • Konstantin Pervukhin
  • Vasily Polenov
  • Illarion Pryanishnikov
  • Ilya Repin
  • Andrei Ryabushkin
  • Antonina Rzhevskaya
  • Konstantin Savitsky
  • Alexei Savrasov
  • Valentin Serov
  • Emily Shanks
  • Ivan Shishkin
  • Alexei Stepanov
  • Vasily Surikov
  • Vitaly Tikhov
  • Apollinary Vasnetsov
  • Viktor Vasnetsov
  • Yefim Volkov
  • Nikolai Yaroshenko
  • Nikolai Zagorsky

References

References

  1. Fedotova. (2019-10-04). "Who Were the Peredvizhniki and Why Were They So Important in Russian Art?".
  2. Ely, Christopher. (2000). "Critics in the Native Soil: Landscape and Conflicting Ideas of Nationality in Imperial Russia". Ecumene.
  3. Sartorti, Rosalinde. (2010). "Pictures at an Exhibition: Russian Land in a Global World". Studies of East European Thought.
  4. Brooks, Jeffrey. (2010). "The Russian Nation Imagined: The Peoples of Russia as Seen in Popular Imagery, 1860–1890s". Journal of Social History.
  5. Strachan. (2008). "Russia & Europe in the Nineteenth Century". Sphinx Fine Art.
  6. Donnelly, Michael E.. "The Immortal Itinerants (Peredvizhniki)".
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peredvizhniki landscape-painters-from-the-russian-empire 1923-disestablishments organizations-established-in-1863 russian-art-movements russian-artist-groups-and-collectives social-realism
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