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1. Introduction
Theme of my research work"The warning character of Ilya Repin's painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga". Art is the medium of that which cannot be expressed. I think one of the most famous creations Ilya Efimovich Repin's painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" refers precisely to this phrase and has a warning character.
Katrina was written in 1870-1873, even before the revolution. It was written on the Volga in the village of Shiryaevo, Samara province. Every summer I visit the village of Shiryaevo with my family on a pilgrimage and admire the landscape where this painting was painted. I visited the Repin Museum, where the artist lived when he painted the picture (Appendix 1). The painting itself is in the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg. Last summer, I was lucky to see the painting during an excursion at the Russian Museum. The picture produced on me great impression(Appendix 2). I became interested in its history of creation, the history of that era. I believe that this topic is relevant to this day.
Target: to study the history of the creation of Ilya Repin's painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" and the history of the era.
Tasks:
1. study the biography of the artist Ilya Efimovich Repin;
2. find out the reasons that prompted the artist to paint the painting "Barge haulers on the Volga";
3. to analyze the picture;
4. to draw conclusions of the cautionary nature of the picture in that era.
Object of study: the history of the painting by I.E. Repin "Barge Haulers on the Volga".
Subject of study: painting by Ilya Repin "Barge Haulers on the Volga".
Relevance: I believe that the information component of this work is relevant for use for educational purposes, publications.
Research methods: research of printed sources of information, the Internet.
2. The main part.
2.1. Biography of the artist I.E. Repin.
Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in Chuguev, Kharkov province, in 1844. (Appendix 3). He grew up in a poor family. No one would have thought then that the boy would become a great Russian artist. His mother first drew attention to the skill of painting eggs in preparation for Easter. But there was no money for the development of talent in the family.
Ilya attended a local school, where they taught topography. Then he received the necessary skills in drawing in the workshop of the icon painter Ivan Bunakov. From the age of fifteen, Repin participated in the painting of many churches in nearby villages. After 4 years of painting churches and having saved up one hundred rubles, he went to St. Petersburg to enter the Academy of Arts. But he didn't. Without giving up, Repin at the Society for the Encouragement of Artists becomes a listener preparatory school. His first teacher at school was Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. The following year, Ilya Efimovich was admitted to the Academy. In 1871 he graduated with honors and graduate work I. Repin's painting "The Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus" was named the best for the entire existence of the Academy of Arts. Ilya Efimovich paid special attention to writing portraits. Many works have been written prominent personalities: chemist D.I. Mendeleev, M.I. Glinka, L.N. Tolstoy. He preferred to write a group portrait.
2.2. The history of writing the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga".
The painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga" by I.E. Repin created at the age of 29, while still a student of the Academy of Arts. Maybe, random event led him to the idea of writing Burlakov. In 1868, Ilya Repin and Konstantin Savitsky, with whom they studied together, went to write sketches in the village of Ust-Izhora, located at the confluence of the Izhora River with the Neva. Once, next to the festively dressed ladies and men walking along the shore, they saw a gang of barge haulers, ragged and blackened from the sun, pulling a heavy barge. “Oh God, why are they so dirty, ragged! - exclaimed the artist. - One has a torn trouser leg dragging on the ground, and his bare knee sparkles, the other's elbows have come out, some without caps; and shirts, shirts. Decayed - do not recognize the pink chintz hanging on them in stripes, and do not even make out either the color or the matter from which they are made. Here are the tatters that lay in the strap of the chest, were wiped red, exposed and turned brown from sunburn. The faces are gloomy, sometimes only a heavy look flashes from under a strand of stray hanging hair, sweaty faces shine, and the shirts have darkened through and through. Here is the contrast with this pure, fragrant gentlemen's flower garden.
All this impressed I. Repin so much that later he briefly, but emotionally wrote a sketch of the picture he saw. This plot has not reached our time, but the artist Fyodor Vasiliev saw it. Repin became interested in the theme of "Barge Haulers" for a long time.
To make the picture more truthful, in 1870 I.E. Repin went to the Volga to observe the life of the people, got acquainted with their work and life, in order to see the beauty of the Russian character. He wanted not only to look at barge haulers and draw them, but also to live among them, to get to know them better. The artist settled in the village of Shiryaevo, where he spent the whole summer. He paid attention to people difficult fate on the variety of their characters. Here he met one of his favorite heroes - Kanin, here he wrote many sketches for his "Barge haulers" and made many sketches. He dedicated his picture to these people, made them speak through his creation. Some of the artist's friends were sure that the images of tormented barge haulers would only arouse pity and sympathy in the viewer, that there would be nothing poetic. But the artist managed to express deep feelings and thoughts that captivate the viewer in his picture.
2.3. The cautionary nature of the picture.
The painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" was originally shown at the exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in 1871, and then (after the second trip of I.E. Repin to the Volga) in its final, significantly modified form - at the academic exhibition in 1873 (Appendix 4).
With a picture, the artist tried to convey to the nobility and nobility what is the limit of the mood of the people. The first impression is that a group of emaciated people is pulling a barge up the Volga. Eleven people are pulling straps that cut into their chests, shoulders under the scorching sun. Barge haulers have shabby clothes, this tells us about the poverty of the people. But they stubbornly pull the ship by the rope. If you look closely at the barge haulers separately, you can see that each has its own character. Someone submitted to the will of a hard fate, someone is calm, realizing that at the end of the season, hard work will also end. I turned my attention to the third barge hauler. He literally glared at me with his eyes full of hatred.
The image of barge haulers shows the mood of the people in that era. But there are other signs in the picture that are of a warning nature. There is a flag on the ship that the barge haulers pull, it develops with the left wind. And on a sailboat, the sail also develops with the left wind. But the smoke passing by the steamer is directed in the other direction. This makes it clear that the opinion of the people has differences.
In the foreground, you can see a torn basket and a stone. A basket symbolizes prosperity, and a torn basket is a symbol of disaster. The stone is a symbol of the drowned man. This can be explained in such a way that prosperity is on the brink of disaster. The time will come and there will be a decline in those who have wealth.
The rope by which barge haulers pull the barge is tied to the top of the mast. It turns out a good lever, and if they pull the rope with force, they can capsize the ship or break the mast. This symbolizes great power people. The artist predicts a coup state power, given that the ship is a symbol of the state. Also, the inverted arrangement of the colors of the Russian flag on the ship's mast can also be attributed to the symbol of the coup.
In the picture, the artist shows the symbolic danger that hangs over Russian Empire. He provided an opportunity for the nobility to face the lower classes of society, to think in what appalling conditions haulers work. Although Repin chose not the most terrible story of the life of the poor. The artist was upset that the viewer did not perceive the warning nature of the picture.
3. Conclusion.
Working on a given topic, I learned a lot about the life and work of the great Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin. The history of the creation of the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga" is described in detail in the autobiographical book of I.E. Repin "Far - close". Working with literature, looking at the picture, I plunged into my thoughts in the era of pre-revolutionary times. The potential of the revolution was felt both by poets and artists, in particular by Repin. And he expressed it in the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga". But his contemporaries did not draw conclusions.
In 2014, on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the birth of the Russian artist, a bronze monument "Barge haulers on the Volga" was erected on the embankment of Samara, which immortalizes famous painting Ilya Efimovich Repin. (Appendix 6). Author sculptural composition is the Samara artist Nikolai Kuklev.
My generation and I truly admire the creation of the artist, his courage to convey through art what could not be expressed.
Bibliography.
1. Repin I. Far close. Moscow: publishing house of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, 1960. p. 510.
2. Prorokova S. Repin, M .: Young Guard, 1960. p. 416.
3. Lyaskovskaya O. Repin. Life and creation. M.: Art. 1982. p. 480.
4. Stasov V.V. Selected writings. M.: Art, 1952. p. 620.
5. http://samaratoday.ru/news/194933
Applications.
Attachment 1.
In the house-museum of I.E. Repin with. Shiryaevo Samara region.
Monument to I.E. Repin in the historical and museum complex with. Shiryaevo.
Appendix 2
Visit to St. Petersburg.
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
Appendix 3
Ilya Efimovich Repin. Self-portrait.
Appendix 4
Painting by I.E. Repin "Barge haulers on the Volga"
Appendix 5
Bronze sculpture of a painting on the embankment of Samara.
"Barge haulers on the Volga" - one of the most famous paintings the great Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930). The painting was created in the period 1870-1873. Art historians define the genre of this painting as naturalism with elements of critical realism.
Burlak - hired worker in Russia XVI- the beginning of the 20th century, which, walking along the coast (along the so-called towpath), pulled a river vessel against the current with the help of a towline. In the 18th-19th centuries, the bark was the main type of vessel operated by barge workers. Burlatsky labor was seasonal. Boats were pulled along the "big water": in spring and autumn. To fulfill the order, barge haulers united in artels. The work of a barge hauler was extremely difficult and monotonous. The speed of movement depended on the strength of the tail or head wind. With a fair wind on the ship (bark), the sail was raised, which significantly accelerated the movement. Songs helped barge haulers maintain the pace of movement. One of the well-known burlatsky songs is "Oh, bludgeon, let's go," which was usually sung to coordinate the forces of the artel in one of the most difficult moments: breaking the bark from its place after lifting the anchor.
When Dostoevsky saw this painting by Ilya Repin "Barge haulers on the Volga", he was very happy that the artist did not put any social protest into it. In the Writer's Diary, Fyodor Mikhailovich noted: “... barge haulers, real barge haulers and nothing more. None of them shouts from the picture to the viewer: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you owe the people!”
The first impression of the canvas is that a group of emaciated people under the hot sun pulls a barge, overcoming the force of the flow of the great Russian river. There are eleven people in the gang, and each of them pulls a strap that cuts into the chest and shoulders. From the torn clothes, it becomes clear that only extreme poverty can push a person to such work. Some barge haulers have shirts so dilapidated that the strap simply rubbed them through. However, people stubbornly continue to drag the ship by the rope.
If you look closely at the characters individually, you can see that each has its own character. Someone completely resigned to a difficult fate, someone is philosophically calm, because he understands that the season will end, and with it the hard work. But the family after that will no longer need.
The composition of the picture is built as if barge haulers are going towards the viewer. However, people pulling the strap do not close each other, so you can see that one of the characters lights up, while the rest take on the entire load. Nevertheless, all the gang members are calm, apparently due to great fatigue. They will treat their comrade with the understanding that he now needs a little rest.
The central character walks with skill. This is an elderly barge hauler, apparently the main one in the gang. He already knows exactly how to calculate the forces, so he steps evenly. Despite the heat, he is wearing thick clothes, as he knows that a light shirt will quickly fray in such work. His gaze reflected both fatigue and even some hopelessness, but at the same time, the realization that the road would still be mastered by the walking one.
The then publicist Alexei Suvorin responded with numerous criticisms of Repin's work. Despite this, many colleagues and people of that time accepted the picture enthusiastically, for example, Kramskoy and Stasov. Nevertheless, at the world exhibition, the painting was awarded only a bronze medal. The painting was very much liked by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who bought it for three thousand rubles.
The main canvas has dimensions of 131.5 cm by 281 cm, the painting is in the Russian Museum in the city St. Petersburg, a smaller canvas "Barge haulers wading", 1872, size 62 cm by 97 cm, is in the Tretyakov Gallery.
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but limited himself to this. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the path of barge haulers, so the place painted by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Bump - foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel, which Repin captured, Kanin, a pop-cut, was the bump (the sketches were preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some characters). The foreman swooped, that is, fastened his strap, ahead of everyone and set the rhythm of movement. Every step the barge haulers did in sync with right leg, then pulling up the left. From this, the whole artel swayed on the move. If someone lost his stride, people collided with their shoulders, and the bump gave the command "hay - straw", resuming movement in step. To keep the rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs, the foreman required great skill.
3. Podshishelnye - the closest helpers of the bump, swooping to the right and left of it. By left hand from Kanin comes Ilka the sailor - the artel headman, who bought provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. In Repin's time it was 30 kopecks a day. So much, for example, it cost to cross all of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo (not so little - all of Moscow in a cab, that is, a taxi). Behind the backs of the podshishelnyh roamed those in need of special control.
4. "Bonds", like a man with a pipe, even at the beginning of the journey managed to squander the salary for the entire flight. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for food and did not try very hard.
5. The cook and falcon headman (that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village guy Larka. Considering his duties more than sufficient, Larka sometimes quarreled and defiantly refused to pull the strap.
6. "Hackers"
In each artel there were also simply negligent ones. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting partcarry on the shoulders of others
.
7. "Overseer"
Behind them came the most conscientious barge haulers, goading the hacks.
8. Inert or inert
Inert or inert - the so-called barge hauler, closing the movement. He made sure that the line did not cling to the stones and bushes on the shore. Inert usually looked at his feet and moored apart so that he could go at his own pace. Experienced, but sick or weak, were chosen as inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of bar. Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal fat, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) were transported up the Volga. The artel was recruited according to the weight of the loaded vessel at the rate of approximately 250 pounds per person. Cargo being pulled up the river 11 barge haulers, weighing at least 40 tons. The order of the stripes on the flag was not treated too carefully, and sometimes they were raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water spout
A pilot is a person on the steering wheel, in fact, the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire gang put together, gives instructions to barge haulers and maneuvers both the rudder and the blocks that regulate the length of the tow line. Now the bark is making a turn, bypassing the stranded.
Water dispenser - a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, bears financial responsibility for it during loading and unloading. Under the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12. Becheva - a cable to which barge haulers rush. While the barge was being led along the steep, that is, near the shore, the line was etched for 30 meters. But then the pilot loosened it, the bark moves away from the shore. In a minute, the towline will stretch like a string and barge haulers will first have to restrain the inertia of the ship, and then pull with all their might. At this moment, the bump will drag out the chant: “Here, let's go and take it, / They stepped in with the right-left. / Oh, one more time, / One more time, one more time ... ”, etc., until the artel enters the rhythm and moves forward.
14. The sail was raised with a fair wind, then the ship went much easier and faster. Now the sail is removed, and the wind is contrary, so it is harder for barge haulers to walk and they cannot take a wide step.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate the Volga bark with intricate carvings. It was believed that she helped the ship to rise against the current. The best specialists in clumsy work in the country were engaged in bark work. When steamboats pushed wooden barges out of the river in the 1870s, the craftsmen dispersed in search of work, and in wooden architecture A thirty-year era of magnificent carved architraves has begun in Central Russia. Later, highly skilled carving gave way to more primitive stencil sawing. 
AT Western Europe(for example, in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, as well as in Italy), the movement of river vessels with the help of manpower and draft animals continued until the thirties of the XX century. But in Germany, the use of manpower ceased already in the second half of the 19th century. There were women's artels.
The famous painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin Barge haulers on the Volga, the artist painted it during 1870-1873. Ilya Efimovich was inspired to paint a picture of Barge haulers on the Volga by his trip to sketches along the Neva, in the vicinity of Ust-Izhora back in 1869.
Having enjoyed the beauties of nature, the artist was very touched by life ordinary people barge haulers pulling a heavy barge. Tired, dirty barge haulers in ragged clothes contrasted very much with the rich and pompously dressed public, usually standing not far away on the shore. This whole scene struck the painter very much, evoking sympathy and pity for these people in his soul. And why not embody this story on canvas,
thought Ilya Efimovich, realizing in advance that this picture would have many critics, especially since the idea of the picture could arouse sympathy and pity for these destitute people in the viewer. And so it happened, creating the first sketch of barge haulers painted in watercolor according to a plan, haggard and dirty barge haulers pulling a strap, opposite to a well-dressed rich public having fun.
Such a plot was immediately criticized by Fedor Vasiliev as an artificially forged and meaningless work. Of course, Repin was aware of the composition of the picture was contrary to the worldview, both in academic and secular circles.
Therefore, in the future, Repin abandoned direct accusations, focusing specifically on barge haulers, trying to show difficult life these people in their future picture Barge haulers on the Volga, thus showing the characters of these people and nothing more.
At the same time, Repin had some problems at the Academy of Arts, not wanting to take exams in general subjects that were not interesting in his opinion, the artist decided to file a letter of resignation, which he was politely refused. Apparently, the academy understood that firing such a master could lead to a lot of trouble for the academy itself.
At these times, a new movement, the camaraderie of the Wanderers, was just gaining strength; their ideology ran counter to academic foundations. Instead of being fired, Repin was offered an internship abroad, also paying him a tour along the Volga from the city of Tver to Saratov. During a trip along the Volga, along with his colleagues, Fedor Vasiliev was among them.
In 1870, in the village of Shiryaevo, which is a dozen kilometers from Samara, he creates a small pencil sketch, with which Repin also paints in oil the first version of the painting, a small size of about 23 by 50 cm. The first exposure of Repin's painting with barge haulers was demonstrated in St. Petersburg which was awarded the prize.
While working with the painting, the Artist often reworked the plot, returning to sketches, being among the barge haulers Repin, getting to know them closely. One of the characters in Kanin's painting is a former priest, bright personality, a man with a difficult fate.
In the picture Barge haulers on the Volga, the viewer sees the infinitely wide Volga River, along which merchant ships float, in the foreground is a winding sandy shore, along which a gang of barge haulers pull a merchant ship by straps, a merchant on the ship stares at the work of barge haulers. Our main character pictures of burlak Kanin as the leader of the pack leads the whole artel irresistibly forward.
Among the characters in the picture, the character of a young boy stands out noticeably, his name is Larka. He differs significantly from his older comrades, burned with spirit, by his youthfully impatient character and inexperience, opposite the hardy, wise Kanin and the curly bearded man, who is patiently pulling his straps to the right of Kanin. Jacked by unbearable work the old man next to Larka is barely weaving his legs.
In the gang of barge haulers, Repin collected characters different types people, dividing them into different groups characters from the most strong in spirit and wise in age to emaciated and weak, who seem not quite capable of doing such hard work, this, of course, is the whole color and contrast of the characters of barge haulers, for example, Ilka, a sailor with a noticeably embittered look, looking directly at the viewer, very diligently pulls the strap, character Ilka is not simple, he will be able to swear loudly hating everything and everything in the life around him.
In the wake of Kanin, a tall peasant with half strength, pulling his strap, stands out noticeably smoking pipe and an old man, exhausted from work, wiping sweat from his forehead. Of the entire gang of barge haulers, the first three characters are significantly different, on which the most significant traction force hangs relative to others reluctantly pulling their straps. In the images of barge haulers, Repin tried to show different tempers people in whom there is also obedience to their difficult fate, life protest, bitterness and innocence of ordinary people with a difficult fate.
After many sketches and sketches, the painting Barge haulers on the Volga was finally completed by Repin in 1873, and was exhibited at an exhibition of paintings, with the next sending of works for display at the world exhibition in Vienna. As expected, the painting had many admirers and those who did not like the work, there were those who criticized the master very harshly, among them was the ardent academician Fyodor Bruni, he negatively commented on the painting as a great profanity in the fine arts.
The then publicist Alexei Suvorin responded with numerous criticisms of Repin's work. Despite this, many colleagues and progressive-minded people of that time accepted the picture enthusiastically, for example, Kramskoy and Stasov. The writer Fyodor Dostoevsky responded positively as a complete, genuine and truthful work. Nevertheless, at the world exhibition, the painting was awarded a bronze medal, the painting was very much liked by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who bought it for three thousand rubles.
The main canvas has dimensions of 131.5 cm by 281 cm, the picture is in the Russian Museum in the city of St. Petersburg, the smaller canvas Haulers fording, 1872, size 62 cm by 97 cm, is in the Tretyakov Gallery
Plot
On the river bank, barge haulers are pulling the ship. According to Repin's canvas, which seems to be even in school history textbooks, the image of a beggar ragamuffin is replicated, who cannot earn a living except by hellish labor. Repin also throws firewood on the social fire: a symbol of progress is visible on the horizon - a tugboat that could replace the barge hauler, alleviate his lot, but for some reason is not used.
The gang is headed by a trio of “roots”: in the center is a barge hauler Kanin, reminiscent of a philosopher Repin, a bearded man, personifying primitive strength, and an embittered “Ilka the sailor”. Behind them are the rest, among whom stand out a tall, phlegmatic old man stuffing his pipe, a young man Larka, as if trying to free himself from the strap, a black-haired "Greek", who seems to be calling out to a barge hauler, ready to collapse on the sand.
The characters are written out so emotionally and vividly that this story is readily believed. However, do not rush to judge the whole phenomenon in the economy by one picture. tsarist Russia. The fact is that the work process of the barge hauler was different.
On the barges there was a large drum, on which a cable was wound with three anchors attached to it. The movement began with the fact that people got into a boat, took a rope with anchors with them and sailed upstream. Dropping anchors along the way. The haulers on the barge clung to the cable with their chocks and walked from the bow to the stern, choosing the rope, and there, at the stern, it was wound on a drum. It turned out that they were walking back, and the deck under their feet passed forward. Then they again ran to the bow of the barge, and all this was repeated. This is how the barge sailed upstream to the first anchor, which was then raised, then to the second and third. What Repin described happened if the pilot ran the barge aground. Such work was paid separately.
As for money and food, the barge hauler was far from being as poor as the artist showed. They worked as artels and, before the start of the shipping season, they agreed on grubs. On the day they were given bread, meat, butter, sugar, salt, tea, tobacco, cereals. After dinner they always slept. And a good barge hauler earned so much money during the summer season that he could do nothing in the winter. Hundreds of thousands of people were employed in the barge trade. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they went there voluntarily, as if they were going to waste work.
Context
"Barge Haulers on the Volga" - early work Repin. He was also not 30 years old when the canvas was completed. At that time, the artist was a student at the Academy and mainly painted in biblical stories. Repin turned to realism, it seems, unexpectedly for himself. And it was like that. In the late 1860s, he and his fellow students went to study in Ust-Izhora (a village not far from St. Petersburg). The embankment, the gentlemen are walking, everything is decorous - nobly. And suddenly the impressionable Repin noticed a gang of barge haulers.
“Oh God, why are they so dirty, ragged! - exclaimed the artist. - ... Faces are gloomy, sometimes only a heavy look flashes from under a strand of stray hanging hair, sweaty faces shine, and the shirts have darkened through and through. Here is the contrast with this pure, fragrant flower garden of gentlemen.
During that trip, Repin made a sketch of the painting, the plot of which was based on the contrast of barge haulers and summer residents. The composition was criticized by the artist's friend Fyodor Vasiliev, calling it artificial and rational. It was he who advised Repin to go to the Volga and finalize the plot, and at the same time helped with money - the painter himself was extremely short on funds.
Repin settled in the Samara region for the whole summer, got acquainted with the locals, asked about life. “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the question of the way of life and the social structure of contracts between barge haulers and their owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absent-mindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship to the owners and these blood-sucking boys.
Much more artist the very image of a barge hauler was captivating: “This one, with whom I caught up and keep pace - this is the story, this is the novel! Yes, all novels and all stories before this figure! God, how wonderfully his head is tied with a rag, how his hair curled up to his neck, and most importantly, the color of his face! So Repin described Kanin - a barge hauler, a shorn priest, whom he met on the Volga. His artist considered "the pinnacle of the burlak epic."
The public saw the picture in 1873 in St. Petersburg on art exhibition works of painting and sculpture intended to be sent to Vienna for world exhibition. Reviews were mixed.
Dostoevsky, for example, wrote: “It is impossible not to love them, these defenseless ones, it is impossible to leave without loving them. It is impossible not to think that he owes, really owes the people ... After all, this barge "party" will later be dreamed of in a dream, in fifteen years it will be remembered! And if they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make an impression and wouldn’t make such a picture. Repin was praised by Kramskoy, Stasov, and all those who later became Wanderers.
Academic circles called the picture "the greatest profanity of art", "the sober truth of miserable reality." One of the journalists saw on the canvas "various civic motives and meager ideas transferred to the canvas from newspaper articles ... from which realists will draw their inspiration."
After St. Petersburg, the picture went to Vienna. There she was also greeted by some with delight, others with bewilderment. “Well, tell me, for God's sake, what kind of hard pull pulled you to paint this picture? You must be a Pole?.. Well, shame on you - Russian! Why, this antediluvian method of transport has already been reduced to zero by me, and soon there will be no mention of it. And you paint a picture, take it to the World Exhibition in Vienna and, I think, dream of finding some stupid rich man who will get these gorillas, our bast shoes, for himself, ”said one of the ministers.
And yet the painting found a buyer. They became Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, because of which the canvas turned out to be closed to the general public, who could only see it at exhibitions.
Artel barge haulers
These images of unfortunate ragamuffins earning a living by overwork are familiar to everyone from school textbooks. Barge haulers in the XVI-XIX centuries. were hired workers who, with the help of tow lines, pulled river boats against the current. Barge haulers united in artels of 10-45 people, there were also women's artels. Despite hard work, during the season (in spring or autumn) barge haulers could earn enough to live comfortably for six months later. Because of the need and poor harvests, peasants sometimes went to barge haulers, but mostly vagrants and the homeless were engaged in such work.
There were also women's artels
I. Shubin claims that in the XIX century. the work of barge haulers looked like this: a large drum with a cable wound around it was installed on barges. People got into the boat, took with them the end of the cable with three anchors and sailed upstream. There they threw anchors into the water one by one. Burlaks on a barge pulled a cable from bow to stern, winding it around a drum. In this way they "pulled" the barge upstream: they went back, and the deck under their feet moved forward. Having wound the cable, they again went to the bow of the ship and did the same. It was necessary to pull along the shore only when the ship ran aground. That is, the episode depicted by Repin is an isolated case.
The ship could be pulled upstream with cables
The section of the road shown in the picture can be called the same exception to the rule. The towpath - the coastal strip along which barge haulers moved, was not built up with buildings and fences by order of Emperor Paul, but there were plenty of bushes, stones and swampy places. The deserted and flat coast depicted by Repin is an ideal section of the path, which in fact was not much.
The work of barge haulers was unbearably hard
The painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" was painted in 1870-1873, when steamboats replaced sailing boats, and the need for barge haulers disappeared. Also in mid-nineteenth in. the labor of barge haulers began to be replaced by machine traction. That is, at that time the theme of the picture could no longer be called relevant. Therefore, a scandal erupted when Repin's Barge Haulers were sent to the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. Russian minister way of communication was indignant: “Well, what a difficult one you pulled to write this ridiculous picture? Why, this antediluvian method of transport has already been reduced to zero by me and soon there will be no mention of it! However, Repin was patronized by the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich himself, who not only spoke approvingly of the artist's work, but even acquired it for his personal collection.
Artel barge haulers
"Barge haulers" Repin wrote at the age of 29, finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. At the end of the 1860s. he went to study in Ust-Izhora, where he was struck by the artel of barge haulers he saw on the shore. To learn more about the characters he was interested in, Repin settled for the summer in the Samara region. His research cannot be called serious, which he himself admitted: “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the issue of life and the social system of contracts between barge haulers and owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absent-mindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship to the owners and these blood-sucking boys.
I. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. Fragment: ahead was *bump*, next to it - *podshishelnye*
Nevertheless, "Barge haulers on the Volga" quite accurately reproduce the hierarchy of hired workers.
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but limited himself to this. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the path of barge haulers, so the place painted by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Bump - foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel, which Repin captured, Kanin, a pop-cut, was the bump (the sketches were preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some characters). The foreman swooped, that is, fastened his strap, ahead of everyone and set the rhythm of movement. The barge haulers did each step synchronously with the right foot, then pulling up the left. From this, the whole artel swayed on the move. If someone lost his stride, people collided with their shoulders, and the bump gave the command "hay - straw", resuming movement in step. To keep the rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs, the foreman required great skill.
3. Podshishelnye - the closest helpers of the bumps
On the left hand of Kanin is Ilka the sailor, the headman of the artel, who bought provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. At the time of Repin, it was small - 30 kopecks a day. So much, for example, it cost to cross all of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo. Behind the backs of the podshishelnyh roamed those in need of special control.
4. "Bondage"
"Bondage", like this man with a pipe, even at the beginning of the journey managed to squander the salary for the entire flight. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for food and did not try very hard.
5. Cook Stall
The cook and falcon headman (that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village guy Larka, who experienced real hazing. Considering his duties to be more than sufficient, Larka sometimes quarreled and defiantly refused to pull the strap.
6. "Hackers"
In each artel there were also simply negligent ones, like this man with a pouch. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting part of the burden onto the shoulders of others.
7. "Overseer"
Behind them came the most conscientious barge haulers, goading the hacks.
8. Inert or inert
Inert or inert - the so-called barge hauler, closing the movement. He made sure that the line did not cling to the stones and bushes on the shore. Inert usually looked at his feet and moored apart so that he could go at his own pace. Experienced, but sick or weak, were chosen as inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of bar. Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal fat, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) were transported up the Volga. The artel was recruited according to the weight of the loaded vessel at the rate of approximately 250 pounds per person. The cargo, which is pulled up the river by 11 barge haulers, weighs at least 40 tons.
The order of the stripes on the flag was not taken very seriously, and was often raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water spout
A pilot is a person on the steering wheel, in fact, the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire gang put together, gives instructions to barge haulers and maneuvers both the rudder and the blocks that regulate the length of the tow line. Now the bark is making a turn, bypassing the stranded.
Water dispenser - a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, bears financial responsibility for it during loading and unloading. Under the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12 and 14. Line and sail
Becheva - a cable to which barge haulers rush. While the barge was being led along the steep, that is, near the shore, the line was etched for 30 meters. But then the pilot loosened it, the bark moves away from the shore. In a minute, the towline will stretch like a string and barge haulers will first have to restrain the inertia of the ship, and then pull with all their might.
At this moment, the cone will tighten the chorus:
"Here, let's go and take it,
Right-left stepped in.
Oh one more time
One more time, one more time..."
and so on until the artel enters the rhythm and moves forward.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate the Volga bark with intricate carvings. It was believed that she helped the ship to rise against the current. The best specialists in clumsy work in the country were engaged in bark work. When in the 1870s steamboats forced wooden barges out of the river, the craftsmen dispersed in search of work, and a thirty-year era of magnificent carved architraves began in the wooden architecture of Central Russia. Later, highly skilled carving gave way to more primitive stencil sawing.
I. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. Fragment: on the left - *bondage*, on the right - a cook Stall
Despite the existence real prototypes, in academic circles, "Barge Haulers" was called "the greatest profanity of art", "the sober truth of miserable reality." Journalists wrote that Repin embodied "skinny ideas transferred to the canvas from newspaper articles ... from which realists will draw their inspiration." At the exhibition in Vienna, too, many greeted the picture with bewilderment. One of the first to appreciate the picture was F. Dostoevsky, whose admiring reviews were later picked up by art connoisseurs.
When Dostoevsky saw this painting by Ilya Repin, he was very glad that the artist did not put any social protest into it.
In the Writer's Diary, Fyodor Mikhailovich noted:
“... barge haulers, real barge haulers and nothing more. Not one of them shouts from the picture to the viewer: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you owe the people!” And this alone can be put in greatest merit artist. Glorious, familiar figures: the two advanced barge haulers almost laugh, at least they don't cry at all, and certainly don't think about their social position. The soldier is cunning and false, he wants to fill his pipe. The boy is serious, screaming, even quarreling - an amazing figure, almost the best in the picture and equal in design to the rearmost barge hauler, a downcast peasant, weaving especially, whose face is not even visible ...
After all, it is impossible not to love them, these defenseless ones, it is impossible to leave without loving them. It is impossible not to think that he owes, really owes the people ... After all, this burlatskaya "party" will be dreamed of later, in fifteen years it will be remembered! And if they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make such an impression and wouldn’t make such a picture.
Dostoevsky could not even imagine how many platitudes would be said about this picture and what an invaluable document it would now be for those who want to understand the organization of labor of barge haulers.
By the way, did you know that today Repin is called one of the most mysterious figures in the history of painting?
His work was accompanied by one whole strange circumstance - many who were lucky enough to become his sitters soon went to another world. And although in each of the cases there were some objective reasons for death, the coincidences are alarming ...
“Beware of the painter’s brush - his portrait may turn out to be more alive than the original,” wrote Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim back in the 15th century. The work of the great Russian artist Ilya Repin was proof of this. Pirogov, Pisemsky, Mussorgsky, the French pianist Mercy d "Argento and other sitters became the "victims" of the artist. As soon as the master began to paint a portrait of Fyodor Tyutchev, the poet died. Even the healthy men who posed for Repin for the painting "Barge haulers on the Volga", according to rumors, prematurely gave their souls to God.
Today this picture is known as "Ivan the Terrible kills his son." It was with this picture that Repina happened creepy story. When it was exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery, the canvas made a strange impression on visitors: some fell into a stupor in front of the picture, others sobbed, and others had hysterical fits. Even the most balanced people felt uncomfortable in front of the picture: there was too much blood on the canvas, it looked very realistic.
On January 16, 1913, the young icon painter Abram Balashov cut the painting with a knife, for which he was sent to the "yellow" house, where he died. The painting has been restored. But the tragedy didn't end there. The artist Myasoedov, who posed for Repin for the image of the tsar, almost killed his son in a fit of anger, and the writer Vsevolod Garshin, the sitter for Tsarevich Ivan, went crazy and committed suicide.
"ceremonial meeting State Council»
I.E. Repin. "The ceremonial meeting of the State Council" (1903)
In 1903 Ilya Repin completed monumental painting"Ceremonial meeting of the State Council". And in 1905, the First Russian Revolution happened, during which many government officials depicted in the picture laid down their heads. So, the former Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Minister V.K. Plehve were killed by terrorists.
Portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin
I.E. Repin. "Portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin"
The writer Korney Chukovsky recalled: “When Repin painted my portrait, I jokingly told him that if I were a little more superstitious, I would never have dared to pose for him, because an ominous power lurks in his portraits: almost everyone whom he writes, in the next few days he dies. Wrote Mussorgsky - Mussorgsky died immediately. Wrote Pisemsky - Pisemsky died. And Pirogov? And Mercy d'Argento? And as soon as he wanted to paint a portrait of Tyutchev for Tretyakov, Tyutchev fell ill in the same month and soon died.
The humorist O. L. d "Or, who was present at this conversation, said in an imploring voice:
- In that case, Ilya Efimovich, do me a favor, please write to Stolypin!
Everyone laughed. Stolypin was prime minister at that time, and we hated him. Several months have passed. Repin told me:
- And this Or of yours turned out to be a prophet. I am going to write Stolypin by order of the Saratov Duma.
Repin did not immediately give his consent to the proposal to paint a portrait of the Prime Minister, he was looking for a variety of pretexts to refuse. But the Saratov Duma fulfilled all the requirements set by the artist, and it was simply inconvenient to refuse.
The artist decided to depict Stolypin not as a courtier in a uniform with orders and all the regalia, but in an ordinary suit. The portrait is evidence that Repin was interested in a person, and not a state person. Officiality and solemnity of the portrait gives only a dark red background.
After the first session, Repin told his friends: “Strange: the curtains in his office are red, like blood, like fire. I am writing it against this bloody fiery background. But he does not understand that this is the background of the revolution ... ”As soon as Repin finished the portrait, Stolypin left for Kyiv, where he was killed. “Thanks to Ilya Efimovich!”, the Satyricons joked evilly.
In 1918, the portrait entered the Radishevsky Museum of Saratov and has been there ever since.
"Portrait of the pianist Countess Louise Mercy d * Argento"
I.E. Repin. "Portrait of the pianist Countess Louise Mercy d * Argento" (1890)
Another "victim" of Repin was Countess Louise Mercy d "Argento, whose portrait Repin painted in 1890. True, one should not forget that at that time the Frenchwoman, who first introduced the Western public to the music of the young Russian school, was seriously ill and even I couldn't pose while sitting.
Portrait of Mussorgsky
I.E. Repin. "Portrait of Mussorgsky
The portrait of the great composer Modest Mussorgsky was painted by Repin in just four days - from March 2 to March 4, 1881. The composer died on March 6, 1881. True, it is hardly appropriate to talk about mysticism here. The artist arrived at the Nikolaevsky military hospital immediately after he learned about the fatal illness of a friend in the winter of 1881. He immediately hurried to him to write lifetime portrait. Here, fans of mysticism clearly confuse cause with effect.
These are mystical and not very stories associated with the paintings of Ilya Repin.
Well, then let's find out what kind of famous folk "Repin's painting - Sailed!"
The expression “Repin’s painting “Sailed” has become a real idiom that characterizes a stalemate. The picture, which has become part of folklore, really exists. But Ilya Repin has nothing to do with her.
The painting, which popular rumor ascribes to Repin, was created by the artist Lev Grigorievich Solovyov (1839-1919). The painting is called “Monks. We didn't go there." The picture was painted in the 1870s, and until 1938 it entered the Sumy Art Museum.
“Monks. We didn't go there." L. Solovyov.
In the 1930s, the painting hung at a museum exhibition next to paintings by Ilya Repin, and visitors decided that this painting also belongs to the great master. And then they also assigned a sort of “folk” name - “Sailed”.
The plot of Solovyov's painting is based on the bathing scene. Someone else is undressing on the shore, someone is already in the water. Several women in the painting, beautiful in their nakedness, enter the water. Central figures paintings - dumbfounded by unexpected meeting monks whose boat was brought to the bathers by a treacherous current.
The young monk froze with oars in his hands, not knowing how to react. The elderly shepherd smiles - “They say they have sailed!” Painter miraculously managed to convey emotions and amazement on the faces of the participants in this meeting.
Lev Solovyov - artist from Voronezh - a wide range fans of painting little sign. According to the information that came about him, he was a modest, industrious, philosophical man. loved to write domestic scenes from the lives of ordinary people and landscapes.
Very few works of this artist have survived to our time: several sketches in the Russian Museum, two paintings in the gallery of Ostrogozhsk and conversation piece"Shoemakers" in the Tretyakov Gallery.
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