Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate
Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate (also known as Easter Procession in the District of Kursk or A Religious Procession in Kursk Gubernia'
The procession is led through a dusty landscape by robed,
The painting is a continuation of Repin's social commentary in his works and highlights perceived abuses by both church and state. He wrote of the work, "I am applying all of my insignificant forces to try to give true incarnation to my ideas; life around me disturbs me a great deal and gives me no peace – it begs to be captured on canvas..."[4]
Description
At the right, burly peasants carry a platform holding the icon inside an elaborate neo-classical case; only gleams of light reflecting off the gold
The Procession is representative of Repin's style from the period, in that it first appears to be a scene from everyday life in Russia. In fact, it pointedly shows people from a range of social strata united and moving collectively towards their destination at Korennaya.[6]
Provenance and critical opinion
The painting was highly popular, but controversial. The journal publishing a favourable review by the leading critic Vladimir Stasov published an editorial in the next issue dissociating itself from his views, and a second review by the editor. Stasov had made much of the violence of the riders to the crowd. Apart from Leo Tolstoy, who praised the painting and regarded it as neutral in its depiction of the social system, all were agreed that it was hostile to the established social order. Another reviewer noted with disapproval the "undesirables who thronged around it at exhibition, noting a preponderance of liberated women with short haircuts, nihilistic young men, and a strong Jewish element; the chief characters of Imperial xenophobia".[5]
The writer Richard Brettell summarised the painting as "a sort of summa of Russian society, diverse members of which move uneasily but restlessly together down a dusty path through a naked landscape towards a future that cannot be seen even by the painter."[6] Critic Christian Brinton saw a mixture of "fat, gold-robed priests, stupid peasants, wretched cripples, cruel mouthed officials, and inflated rural dignitaries".[2] Repin is less sympathetic to the privileged members of the procession, whom he depicts as uncaring and indifferent to their struggling fellow travelers. The disenfranchised members of Russian society are represented by, amongst others, the old and young peasants in the left foreground (serfdom in Russia had been abolished in 1861).
The painting was bought by the leading Russian collector
References
- ^ The English title used by the Tretyakov, p. 143
- ^ ISBN 1-4067-3795-X
- ISBN 1-58465-437-6
- ^ "Krestny Khod (Religious Procession) in Kursk Gubernia". Tretyakov Gallery. Retrieved on 13 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d Jackson, 44
- ^ ISBN 0-19-284220-X
Bibliography
- Alpatov, Mikhail. Russian Impact on Art. New York: Philosophical Library, 1950.
- Bolton, Roy. Russia & Europe in the Nineteenth Century. Sphinx Books, 1999. ISBN 1-907200-02-9
- Jackson, David L., The wanderers and critical realism in nineteenth-century Russian painting, Manchester University Press, 2006,
- State Tretyakov Gallery; Guidebook, 2000, Moscow, Avant-Garde, ISBN 5-86394-106-5
- Sternin, Grigory. Ilya Efimovitch Repin: Painter of Russian History. USSR, 1995. ISBN 0-569-08846-1