Alexey Makhrov, Introduction to V.V. Stasov, 'Academic exhibition of 1863'

Copyright © 2003; all rights reserved. Redistribution or republication of this text in any medium requires the consent of the author(s).

Vladimir Stasov's review of the Academy exhibition of 1863 which opened in September was published as late as February 1864: its publication was delayed by censorship which removed all information about the Revolt of the Fourteen from the text. The same exhibition was reviewed by other critics, for instance, Ivan Dmitriev who in his article entitled 'The Art which Bows and Scrapes' sharply criticised the Academy and Academic art for being useless to society. In contrast to Dmitriev's sociological essay, the review by Stasov concentrates more on paintings themselves and particularly emphasises the importance of Vasilii Pukirev's genre painting The Unequal Marriage and Nikolai Ge's The Last Supper for which both artists were awarded professorships by the Academy. The decision of the Academy to give this title to a genre painter for work which depicts a scene from contemporary Russian life is hailed by Stasov as a milestone in the development of Russian art: the practice of the Academy had traditionally been to encourage more 'elevated' subjects taken from the Bible or ancient history. Although the religious theme of Ge's work did not appeal to Stasov, he nevertheless acknowledged the artist's unorthodox approach to the subject and highly commended the mastery of the execution of the painting. In this essay Stasov also clearly displayed his understanding of his role as an art critic, ridiculing reviewers who used the exhibition as a pretext to demonstrate their eloquence and reveal their feelings and naïve speculations about art. Stasov instead endeavours to give a critical analysis of the current state of Russian art, the policy of the Academy of encouraging artists by granting them professorships, and the success of contemporary art in addressing itself to the Russian people. Stasov's view that real art is that 'in which the people feel that they are at home and are the dramatis personae; [...] which responds to real feelings and thoughts, and which is not like a sweet dessert which one can equally do without' was the cornerstone of his approach to art and remained unchanged during his long career as an art critic.