Реферат: Ilya Repin

IlyaRepin

(1844-1930)

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RepkaNick form 11 “B”

IlyaRepin

(1844-1930)

Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in 1844 in asmall Ukrainian town of Tchuguev

in the family of a military settler. As a boyhe was trained as an icon

painter. At the age of 19 he entered the St.Petersburg Academy of Arts.

His arrival to the capital coincided with animportant event in artistic

life of the 60s, the so-called ‘Riot of theFourteen’, when 14 young artists

left the Academy having refused to use mythologicalsubjects for their

diploma works. They stood on the point that artshould be close to real

life. Later Repin would be closely connectedwith some of them, the members

of the Society ofPeredvizhniky.           

For his diploma work Raising of Jairus'Daughter(1871) Repin was awarded The Major Gold Medal and received ascholarship

for studies abroad. Barge Haulers on theVolga(1870-1873) was the first considerable work painted by Repin aftergraduation.

It immediately wonrecognition.           

In 1873, Repin went abroad. For some months hehad been traveling in Italy

and then settled and worked in Paris up to1876. It was in Paris that he

witnessed the first exhibition of theImpressionists, but, judging by the

works created then and by his letters home, hedidn't become the ardent

follower of this new Paris school of painting,though he didn't share the

opinion of some of his country-men who saw adangerous departure from “the

truth of life” inImpressionism.           

After returning to Russia Repin settled inMoscow. He was a frequent visitor

in Abramtsevo – the country estate of SavvaMamontov,

one of the most famous Russian patrons of art.It was a very fruitful period

in his creative activity. During 10-12 yearsRepin created the majority

of his famous paintings. In 1877, he started topaint religious processions

(krestny khod): Krestny Khod (ReligiousProcession)

in Kursk Gubernia (1880-1883). The compositionwas based on

the dramatic effect of different attitude ofthe participants of the procession

to the wonder-working icon carried at the headof the procession. There

were two different versions of the picture. Thesecond one, completed in

1883, became the most popular. At first glance,the spectator discovers

an abundance of social types and humancharacters in the crowd.           

A series of paintings devoted to the revolutiontheme deserves special

attention. The artist was no doubt interestedin creating the character

of a fighter for social justice. The range ofsocial, spiritual and psychological

problems, which attracted Repin, is revealed inhis works: Unexpected

Return (1884) and Refusal from

the Confession(1879-1885).           

Repin is the author of many portraits, whichare an essential part of his

artistic heritage. Repin never painted faces,he painted real people, managing

to show his models in their natural state, toreveal their way of communicating

with the world: Portrait of the Composer Modest

Musorgsky (1881), Portrait of

the Surgeon Nikolay Pirogov (1881), Portrait

of the Author Alexey Pisemsky (1880), Portrait

of the Poet Afanasy Fet (1882), Portrait

of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov (1883), andPortrait

of Leo Tolstoy (1887) and many others aredistinguished by

the power of the visual characteristic and theeconomy and sharpness of

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Repin rarely painted historical paintings. Themost popular in this genre

is Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan (1895).The expressive, intense

composition and psychological insight inrendering the characters produced

an unforgettable impression on the spectators.Another popular work of

the genre is The Reply of the Zaporozhian

Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV (1880-1891). Thefaithfully rendered

spirit of the Zaporoguus freemen, who,according to the artist, had a particularly

strong sense of “liberty, equality andfraternity” undoubtedly gives the

picture its significance. The contemporariessaw it as a symbol of the

Russian people throwing off theirchains.           

The last quarter of the 19th century is thebest period in Repin’s work,

though his creative activity continued in the20th century (the artist

died in 1930), he did not paint anymasterpieces then. After the bolsheviks’

revolution in 1917 he lived and worked in hisestate Penates in Finland.

There is a Repin museum. The museum visitorshave the opportunity of gaining

a detailed knowledge of the artist's life andwork.