DOI issue:
No. 248 (November 1913)
DOI article:Pica, Vittorio: Three russian painters: Konstantin Somoff, Igor Grabar, and Philip Maliavine
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21208#0136
Three Russian Painters
with all the care and great skill of the Imperial
Porcelain Manufactory at St. Petersburg.
Side by side with the group of young painters
and draughtsmen whose inspiration is derived
from the past, there has arisen in Russia during
the last ten years or so another group, not
less interesting in its audacious anti-academicism,
which loves to depict nature in her most bizarre,
uncommon, and vivid aspects, with a technique
somewhat like that of the French, Belgian, and
German impressionists and neo-impressionists.
The most typical representative of this group,
by reason of his subtle acuteness of vision, his
sapient technique, and his artistic knowledge,
is without doubt Igor Grabar. Born in 1871,
he entered the Imperial Academy of Art at St.
Petersburg in 1894, having previously taken his
degree as Doctor of Law. It was the year in
which, under the direction of Repine, the Academy
seemed destined to undergo a radical reconstruc-
tion. He here had as fellow-students Somoff and
MaMavine, but when, as it soon did, the Academy
sank back into its former stagnant condition, he
left it without completing his studies, just as all
the best men, such as Levitan, Vroubel, Seroff,
Maliavine, Moussatoff, and Somoff, had done or
were about to do later on. Leaving Russia, Grabar
wandered throughout the length and breadth of
Europe, only to find on finally returning to his
fatherland that he had lost his artistic bearings.
He therefore decided to settle in Paris and then
pay a visit to Munich. The work of the Impres-
sionists at the Exhibition of 1900 in Paris defined
the artistic future of the young Russian, who had
already been influenced by Japanese paintings and
prints of the so-called “ common ” school.
Returning at length to Russia, he
went to live in a village near Moscow,
where he studied with great assiduity,
painting continuously men and things
en plein air and striving to depict them
with the proper atmospheric effect. In
this manner Grabar’s art attained its
completion, and in spite of adverse
criticism he achieved both at home
and abroad more than one decided
victory. In particular he occupied
himself with problems of snow-painting.
In a series of exceedingly admirable
pictures he has depicted the snow with
the delicacy of touch of a Claude
Monet or a Camille Pissarro, of a
Hiroshige or other great artist of the
Far East. He has rendered not only
its soft downy whiteness, but also that
rare and delicate susceptibility to reflec-
tions of many hues which produces
infinite variations in its aspect. When
we remember the surprise which works
like the Matinee fraiche by Grabar
aroused among the public at large and
the irate protests which this particular
work called forth, one is forced to the
conclusion that the majority of people
look at nature without really seeing
it, or, to be more exact, only perceive
it through an accustomed conven-
tionalism which has been slowly im-
posed by traditions of artistic vision.
The dead uniform whitewash which
triumphs in the winter landscapes of
Christmas cards in England, suggesting
“ PAYSANNE RUSSE ” BY PHILIP MALIAVINE
114
with all the care and great skill of the Imperial
Porcelain Manufactory at St. Petersburg.
Side by side with the group of young painters
and draughtsmen whose inspiration is derived
from the past, there has arisen in Russia during
the last ten years or so another group, not
less interesting in its audacious anti-academicism,
which loves to depict nature in her most bizarre,
uncommon, and vivid aspects, with a technique
somewhat like that of the French, Belgian, and
German impressionists and neo-impressionists.
The most typical representative of this group,
by reason of his subtle acuteness of vision, his
sapient technique, and his artistic knowledge,
is without doubt Igor Grabar. Born in 1871,
he entered the Imperial Academy of Art at St.
Petersburg in 1894, having previously taken his
degree as Doctor of Law. It was the year in
which, under the direction of Repine, the Academy
seemed destined to undergo a radical reconstruc-
tion. He here had as fellow-students Somoff and
MaMavine, but when, as it soon did, the Academy
sank back into its former stagnant condition, he
left it without completing his studies, just as all
the best men, such as Levitan, Vroubel, Seroff,
Maliavine, Moussatoff, and Somoff, had done or
were about to do later on. Leaving Russia, Grabar
wandered throughout the length and breadth of
Europe, only to find on finally returning to his
fatherland that he had lost his artistic bearings.
He therefore decided to settle in Paris and then
pay a visit to Munich. The work of the Impres-
sionists at the Exhibition of 1900 in Paris defined
the artistic future of the young Russian, who had
already been influenced by Japanese paintings and
prints of the so-called “ common ” school.
Returning at length to Russia, he
went to live in a village near Moscow,
where he studied with great assiduity,
painting continuously men and things
en plein air and striving to depict them
with the proper atmospheric effect. In
this manner Grabar’s art attained its
completion, and in spite of adverse
criticism he achieved both at home
and abroad more than one decided
victory. In particular he occupied
himself with problems of snow-painting.
In a series of exceedingly admirable
pictures he has depicted the snow with
the delicacy of touch of a Claude
Monet or a Camille Pissarro, of a
Hiroshige or other great artist of the
Far East. He has rendered not only
its soft downy whiteness, but also that
rare and delicate susceptibility to reflec-
tions of many hues which produces
infinite variations in its aspect. When
we remember the surprise which works
like the Matinee fraiche by Grabar
aroused among the public at large and
the irate protests which this particular
work called forth, one is forced to the
conclusion that the majority of people
look at nature without really seeing
it, or, to be more exact, only perceive
it through an accustomed conven-
tionalism which has been slowly im-
posed by traditions of artistic vision.
The dead uniform whitewash which
triumphs in the winter landscapes of
Christmas cards in England, suggesting
“ PAYSANNE RUSSE ” BY PHILIP MALIAVINE
114