International studio (21.1903/1904(1904))

Associated aH the most briHiant talents of the last
three decades. ,
Kramskoi is the elegiac poet among Russian
painters. He died comparatively young, and his
output of work was not great; but he inaugurated
a period of freedom in Russian art of which we
cannot, as yet, predict the ultimate results.
Constantine Makovsky is a many-sided genius.
His historical scenes are considered impeccabte as
regards costume and arclneological detail. Of iate
years a fatai facility for pieasing the populär taste
has drawn him further and further from the national
idea. His picture of 7%;
is a poetical conception of one of the popu-
lär Russian legends.
The greatest of living Russian artists is un-
doubtedly Elias Repin. He has represented in
the light of his own strong individuality almost
every type of media^al and Contemporary Russian
life. He is especially successful in dealing with a
number of Hgures, and in giving startling animation
to a crowded canvas. To borrow a musical simile

from a Russian critic, " Repin is greater in chorus
than in solo." The graceful and the miniature lie
completely outside his province. He has a gigantic
elemental strength that has won him. the name of
" the Samson of Russian painters." A superb
example of his vitality and realistic force is the
picture of wH/Mg* a A?
7M7-/$i?y. Himself of Cossack descent,
Repin has understood the uncouth mirth and
exuberant animal spirits of this race of hghters and
revellers. The picture is worthy to rank with
Gogobs romance of Cossack-life, " Tarars Boulba."
As might be expected from a race whose art and
literature are preeminently realistic, the Russians
are admirable in portraiture. Almost all their
painters of note have done good work in this direc-
tion; but here, as in other respects, Repin has
excelled them all. He has endowed his country
with a collection of portraits which, for value and
interest, we may compare with that of Watts.
Repin has painted several portraits of Tolstoi, the
latest of which is reproduced here. About a year



THE ROUSSALKAS

BY CONSTANTINE MAKOVSKY