by Alexey Makhrov
Russian writings on visual arts in the ninenteenth and early
twentieth centuries (1814-1909) (2nd of 3) (Go to pt. 1, p. 3)
The texts
Art criticism in the form of exhibition reviews emerged in Russia
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This early period is
represented by Konstantin Batiushkov's essay 'A Stroll to the Academy of Arts' published in the
journal Son of the Fatherland (Syn Otechestva) in
1814. Written by a well-known Romantic poet, this review includes
the first published criticism of an Academic painting, The
Scourging of Christ by Aleksei Egorov.
A selection of reports on the Academy exhibitions published in
the middle of the nineteenth century in the journal The
Contemporary (Sovremennik), the organ of the radical
intelligentsia, demonstrates a rapid change of attitude towards the
official art which occurred after the death of the Emperor Nicholas
I in February 1855. The accession to the throne of Alexander II
brought with it the relaxation of censorship and a period of
glasnost' which allowed art critics to turn the genre of
exhibition review into a highly polemical discourse. For example, a
review of the Academy exhibition of 1855 by Vasilii
Botkin, although not openly critical of the Academy, aims to limit
its influence and commends the development of a national character
in art, which is linked to the progress of society. Mikhail
Mikhailov's 'Art Exhibition in St Petersburg of 1859' applies
ideas evolved in literary criticism to the visual arts and finds the
majority of the displayed works irrelevant to the needs of his
contemporaries. Pavel Kovalevskii in 1860 used the pretext of
reporting about the Academy exhibition in order to publish a highly
critical investigation of the relationship between art and society
entitled 'On Art and Artists in Russia'.
The attacks of radical art critics on the Academy culminated in
1863 when Ivan Dmitriev produced a damning report on its annual
exhibition under the title 'Art which Bows and Scrapes'. Its publication preceded
the 'Revolt of the Fourteen' Academy students headed by Ivan
Kramskoi. The students wrote petitions to the Academic Council asking to grant
them free choice of subjects for their Major Gold Medal examination.
Having received no positive response the students demonstratively
left the Academy to form an independent community of artists called
the Artel', the precursor of the Association of Itinerant Art
Exhibitions. Vladimir Stasov's and other critics' assaults on the
exhibition of 1865 prompted the rector of the Academy, Fedor Bruni,
to appear in print with a refutation entitled 'To the Antagonists of the Academy of Arts'. This was
one of the few attempts by the Academy openly to confront its
opponents in the press rather than silencing them by means of
censorship.
One of the characteristic features of Russian culture of the
nineteenth century was that the visual arts were frequently
perceived as following in the footsteps of rapid developments in
Russian literature. It is therefore important to reflect upon the
perspectives on art taken by famous Russian writers and literary
critics, such as Nikolai Gogol' and Fedor Dostoevskii, whose essays
are included in the archive. Gogol's contribution to the discussions
on contemporary Russian art is represented by his article entitled
'The Last Day of Pompeii (Briullov's Painting)'
published in 1834 appraising Briullov's spectacular canvas; the
article 'The Historical Painter Ivanov', published in 1846,
draws the attention of the authorities to the tragic fate of
Aleksandr Ivanov and explains the significance of his momentous
The Appearance of Christ to the People.
Articles by literary critics, such as Vissarion Belinskii,
Nikolai Dobroliubov and Apollon Grigor'ev, reverberated strongly in
Russian society and were instrumental in forming the attitudes of
their readers to art in general and visual arts in particular. A
selection from their writings included in the archive is therefore
essential for an understanding of art critical discussions in the
middle and second half of the nineteenth century. Vissarion
Belinskii, the influential journalist and literary critic of the
1840s and the ardent propagandist of the natural school in
literature, created in Russian intellectual life an atmosphere of
intense questioning of the established views approved by the
authorities. His article 'A speech on criticism' is an eloquent testimony to
his belief in reason and progress which influenced Russian
intellectuals during his lifetime and in the following decades. His
insistence on broadening the appeal of art to include a wide
audience is manifest in the excerpt entitled 'On Book Illustration'. Although Belinskii himself did
not focus specifically on the visual arts, his ideas ultimately
reverberated strongly in the writings of the art critics of the next
generation who matured in the atmosphere of a greater intellectual
freedom during the early years of the reign of Alexander II, a
period known as 'the Sixties' ('shestidesiatye gody'). Indeed,
essays by Belinskii and Dobroliubov provided the ideological
foundations for the radical criticism of the Academy by the critics
of the 1860s and particularly Vladimir Stasov, who undertook the
task of applying Belinskii's ideas to Russian art.
One of the aims of the project is to highlight the development of
what may be called 'professional art criticism', i.e. the emergence
of a type of author who regularly contributed articles on
contemporary Russian art to the periodical press and assumed an
active role in the art world. An example of this type of critic is
Vladimir Stasov, who, together with Ivan Kramskoi, became the chief
ideologues and advocates of the Peredvizhniki. The formation
of the Association of Itinerant Art Exhibitions was a turning point
in the history of Russian art. The Statutes of the Association is an important document
which explains the Association's mission to disseminate interest in
art among Russian people and to assist artists in marketing their
works. Stasov enthusiastically praised and passionately defended the
Peredvizhniki against their opponents, primarily affiliated
with the Academy of Arts. Il'ia Repin was one of the artists
promoted by Stasov in such articles, as 'Repin's painting "The Volga Barge Haulers"' and 'Deplorable aestheticians'. Moreover, Stasov firmly
believed that Russian realism was the truly national art, liberated
from the foreign influence of the Academy. He attempted to analyse
the history of Russian culture in this conceptual framework by
proclaiming Aleksandr Ivanov the harbinger of Russian realist art in
the article 'On Ivanov's Significance in Russian Art.' He also
traced the parallel development of realism and nationality in
painting and music in the article 'Perov and Musorgskii'. Stasov incessantly attacked
supporters of the concept of 'art for art's sake', as in the article
devoted to 'Mr Prakhov's inaugural lecture' in 1874 (the lecture
itself has also been translated for the on-line archive in order to
present the user with the opportunity to assess Stasov's argument).
His bitter disappointment with young artists of the turn of the
century who discarded what he believed to be the right path for
Russian art is expressed in his furious attacks on the 'decadents',
primarily artists of the World of Art group, for instance, in
the article entitled 'False Art and False Artists'.
However, Stasov's classification as a 'professional art critic'
has to be used with caution. In fact, none of the Russian art
critics who could be called 'professionals', such as Stasov, Adrian
Prakhov, Aleksandr Benua or Sergei Diagilev, were able fully to
support themselves by publishing art criticism: Stasov was a
librarian, Prakhov an academic, Benua a practising artist, while
Diagilev found his true vocation as an impresario and manager of
celebrated cultural projects, such as the World of Art
journal, exhibitions of Russian art, and the theatrical and ballet
productions which culminated in the organisation of the Russian
Seasons by the Ballet russe in Paris.
In addition to the texts produced by writers, literary critics,
art critics and journalists, the project also illustrates ideas on
art formulated by artists themselves, such as Ivan Kramskoi and
Vasilii Vereshchagin. The latter's 'Realism' and 'On Progress in Art', based on his public lectures
delivered during the exhibitions of his works in Europe and America,
and Kramskoi's thoughts on 'tendentsiia' (tendentiousness) in
painting provide an insight into how these crucial concepts, hotly
debated in educated society, were interpreted by the people who
actually put them into practice.
Images, database
and timeline
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