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.