|
Il'ia Repin (1844-1930) was one of the artists ardently supported and promoted by Stasov. The painting 'The Volga Barge-Haulers', produced while Repin was a student and subsequently a pensioner of the Academy, became a tour de force of Russian critical realist art. For Stasov it was the embodiment of the mission of the new Russian art: the subject was taken from contemporary Russian life, its content disclosed the unacceptable condition in which the lower classes of the society existed and alluded to social inequality. Meanwhile, 'the form', i.e. the way in which the painting was produced, aimed to enhance the meaning of the work. A small group of down-and-outs hauling a heavily loaded barge in the blazing sunshine provided Stasov with an opportunity to write vivid descriptions of the 'types' represented in the picture. This typicality of the work was for Stasov one of its major values: indeed it seemed to have embodied the essence of the suffering of the people in Russia. This painting was acknowledged as a masterpiece of Russian art not only by Stasov: for instance, it was selected for the display at the World Fair in Vienna in 1873, whereas Prince Vladimir, the President of the Academy, acquired it for his private collection. However, Fedor Bruni, the rector of the Academy known for his conservative views, characterised the painting as 'the greatest profanation of art' [see Stasov, Izbrannye sochineniia v trekh tomakh, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1952. vol. 1, p. 701.] In contrast, the radical Russian intellectuals, for example, the populist Nikolai Mikhailovskii, interpreted the picture as a veiled declaration of revolutionary ideas and an appeal for a fundamental transformation of society. [N.I. Bespalova, A.G. Vereshchagina, Russkaia progressivnaia khudozhestvennaia kritika vtoroi poloviny xix veka, Moscow: Izobrazitel'noe iskusstvo, 1979, p. 101]
|
Project Homepage
acknowledgements