Ilya Repin Research Articles

Роль монгольских художников — выпускников Института имени И.Е. Репина в развитии театрально-декорационного искусства Монголии (на примере творчества Лувсангийна Гаваа)

В статье ставится вопрос о значении деятельности монгольских художников — выпускников Ленинградского института живописи, скульптуры и архитектуры имени И.Е. Репина в развитии театрально-декорационной живописи Монгольской Народной Республики во второй половине XX века. Рассмотрен обширный изобразительный материал, уточнены многие важные детали творчества мастеров. Актуальность задачи исследования обусловлена тем, что история развития сценографии в Монголии не получила еще достаточного освещения в научных трудах по истории искусства страны. Особое значение имеет факт, что наиболее заметный вклад в данную сферу творческой деятельности осуществил Лувсангийн Гаваа, который по праву считается одним из крупнейших представителей местной художественной школы в прошлом веке. Рассмотрению выполненных им эскизов к различным театральным постановкам посвящена данная статья. Необходимость верной оценки историко-художественного значения произведений Л. Гаваа потребовала их рассмотрения на фоне общей картины развития театрально-декорационной живописи в Монголии. Показано, что основные этапы в этом процессе, нашедшие свое выражение в оригинально-самобытных изобразительных формах, получили отражение в творчестве Гаваа-декоратора, которое продлилось не один десяток лет с рубежа 1930–1940-х годов. Особое значение для формирования творческих принципов монгольского художника имели его контакты с представителями русской школы — сначала на родине, где его учителем был К.И. Померанцев, а затем в СССР, в Институте имени И.Е. Репина в Ленинграде, где он окончил мастерскую театрально-декорационной живописи, возглавляемую М.П. Бобышевым. В статье показано, что, помимо собственно пространственной организации сцены, Гаваа как декоратор ставил две важные задачи. Одна из них, «стилизаторская», заключалась в том, чтобы воссоздать в сценическом пространстве особый дух эпохи. Другая имела целью создание особого настроения в зрительном зале. На примере рассмотрения ряда эскизов для оформления театральных постановок хорошо видно, как художник всё дальше уходил от реалистических принципов декорации, типичных для искусства 1950-х годов, в сторону условного и предельно обобщенного живописного оформления спектаклей в 1970-х годах. This article poses a question of the role which Mongolian painters — the graduates from the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture played in the development of the theatrical and decorative painting in this country in the second half of the 20th century. Extensive pictorial material is considered, many important details of the masters' creativity are clarified here. The relevance of the research task is due to the fact that the whole history of Mongolian theatrical and decorative painting also hasn't yet been treated until now in satisfactory way. Along that, there is another reason to study this topic, because one of the leading Mongolian theater painters was Luvsangiin Gavaa who is now credited to be the greatest representative of the local artistic tradition. This article deals with a number of theater production sketches and various pieces executed by Gavaa in this field. In order to understand rightly his role in this process we have to study in brief the previous development of the theatrical and decorative painting in Mongolia. This process and its various stylistic stages can be traced on the example of Gavaa's artworks which he had been creating since the time of c.1940. His contacts with Russian art played a very important role in this process which started in Mongolia in the studio of Gavaa's teacher's K.I. Pomerantsev and later continued in the Repin's Institutes in Leningrad. There Gavaa graduated from the department of the theatrical and decorative painting led by M. Bobishev. Along with his primary concern which was to organize the spatial structure of the scene, Gavaa tended to achieve two important goals executing his stage designs. On the one hand, he tried to re-create on the stage a specific spirit of a certain time basing on the imitation of the original stylistic provided by its artworks. On the other, it was necessary to evoke certain emotional mood in the auditorium. On the base of studying some of his sketches we tried to demonstrate Gavaa's striving for the new pictorial conditions and expressive means in his late works of the 70s. They are characterized by the more general treatment of scenic decorations in spite of the realistic depiction of every-day life objects which was very typical to the earlier period of the 50s and 70s.

Произведения монгольских скульпторов — выпускников Ленинградского института имени И.Е. Репина

Произведения монгольских скульпторов — выпускников Ленинградского института имени И.Е. Репина

POETICS OF EKPHRASIS OF PAINTINGS IN LYRIC POETRY BY SERGEY GANDLEVSKIY

The article considers the functioning of ekphrasis, which is understood as a kind of self-reflexive text based on interpreting non-verbal works of art, in poetry by Sergey Gandlevskiy. Painting plays a significant part among the media the author refers to: in his poems, frequent are both mentions of artists (Vincent Willem van Gogh, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Karl Bryullov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov) and references to well-known paintings (Barge Haulers on the Volga, Stag Hunt, The Hunters in the Snow, Saint Agnes, Bedroom in Arles, etc.). The ekphrasis is built as an inter-media palimpsest resulting from “layering” of verbal and visual quotations: reality is represented as a “picture” that existed before the creative act, “on top” of which a poem is being written. It is natural that an increased focus on the “alien’s” (word, images, scenes) actualises the meta-poetic function of ekphrasis – it not just reveals the fact that empirical reality is secondary to art, but also “highlights” the ability of the latter to resist the course of time. As a tool for the hero’s self-identification, ekphrasis brings to the fore the figure of an “alien”, serving as a “reference point”, relying on (or building on) which the protagonist evaluates himself and his experience. Thus, the ekphrasis in Sergey Gandlevskiy’s lyrics represents the meanings related to the problems of reality and fiction, time and eternity, life and death, thereby contributing to the author’s revision of human cognitive abilities.

Vitebsk as a local text

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the image of Vitebsk in the works of Russian-speaking poets of Belarus. The research material is poetic texts of Russian-speaking poets of Belarus, which touch upon the spiritual, natural, material, cultural, historical realities of Vitebsk. The main general scientific methods of observation, description, analysis and interpretation were used in the work. It is proved that the study of the concept of “city” is based, first of all, on the relationship of a particular person and social realities: the city as an extension of a person to the outside world - social, collective, cultural, the city as a “condensed” information and semantic space. Vitebsk is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. According to legend, the city was founded by the Kiev Princess Olga in 974. Dvina is often mentioned in poems. Vitebsk appeared at the confluence of two rivers - the Western Dvina and the Vitba, from which the name of the city came. The ancient name of the Dvina is Eridan, Homer, Hesiod, Nestor the chronicler wrote about it. In the poems of Belarusian poets, she appears in the image of a nurse, a protector, a wise and mysterious woman. The article says that Vitebsk is rightly called the cultural capital of Belarus. The works of Vitebsk poets reveal precedent names that are significant for the history and culture of Belarus, as well as for the world cultural space. Marc Chagall, Vasily Kandinsky, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, El Lisitsky, Kazimir Malevich worked in Vitebsk. Not far from Vitebsk, the Russian painter Ilya Repin lived in the Zdravnevo estate. I.I. Sollertinsky created his musical masterpieces, M.M. Bakhtin lived and worked in Vitebsk in the thirties. Thus, in Russian-speaking Belarusian poetry, the image of Vitebsk appears as an ancient city, a native home, a spiritual place, a city of creativity, art and inspiration. The study of a local text is a topical interdisciplinary problem that allows not only to outline the conceptually significant features of the semantic complex of a particular locus, but also to establish its etiological and teleological significance for an ethnic group. After analyzing the corpus of texts of Belarusian poets, we came to the conclusion that the image of Vitebsk is attributed to such semantic characteristics as “nurse city”, “protector”, “wise woman”. The paradox lies in the fact that a city with a masculine toponym absorbs alternative gender parameters, which expands the previously explored virgin cities and harlot cities by introducing the features of a beloved city.

Образотворчі портрети нації: «свій» і «чужий» Іллі Рєпіна

The article examines the problem of representing the collective portrait of the nation in the language of painting. The relevance of such a study is determined by the need for identification, which is especially acute in war conditions: the distinction between "own" and "foreign" is a necessary condition for national self-identity and the unity of the human community as a nation. Ilya Repin's painting work was chosen as the object of analysis. The goal is to determine the typological features of the collective portrait of the nation based on Repin's canvases. Achieving the set goal is realized in the following tasks: outline in dotted lines how the tradition of the collective portrait of the nation was formed; consider pictorial versions of Repin's portrait of the nation; compare the portraits of "own" and "other" ("alien") nations. The novelty of the study is determined by the proposed view of Repin's masterpieces as symbolic portraits of the Ukrainian and Russian nations, created according to the principle of contrast. For the first time, features characteristic of the author's interpretation of the image of the nation were considered in the context of the formation of this tradition in painting. The article uses the historical-cultural and comparative methods of research, the method of commented reading of the pictorial "text". It is determined that the genre of the portrait of the nation began to form in the era of romanticism. Its authors sought to reproduce events, exterior, and interior with national marking. Emphasis was placed on them as "typical", or "characteristic" of a certain nation or country. We consider Repin's paintings "Zaporozhians writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan" and "Hopak" as pictorial portraits of the Ukrainian nation. They have in common an idealized romantic past. Events and phenomena associated with the concepts of "heroic" and "spiritual" are reproduced. The depicted characters are archetypes but endowed with individual traits that form a mosaic national portrait. We compare "Zaporozhians writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan" with the portrait of France in E. Delacroix's painting "Freedom on the Barricades." Common to both paintings is the concept of freedom, which must be chosen. At the same time, Repin complements the idea of freedom with a trait typical of the Ukrainian character. We are talking about laughter as a manifestation of inner freedom. Therefore, the artist offers a kind of formula according to which only those who are free inside can win freedom. Instead, Repin's national portrait of the "stranger" is represented in the paintings "Burlaks on the Volga" and "Crusade in the Kursk Province." Their modern plots are interpreted realistically. In the center are depicted events or phenomena associated with the struggle for survival, silent obedience, and external and internal slavery. The characters are emphatically unaesthetic, merging into a "faceless" portrait of the scumbag. Thus, the pictorial portraits of Ukraine and Russia in Repin's work are directly opposite in terms of their ideological content and stylistic content. For the artist, a collective portrait of Ukrainians is also an attempt to declare one's own identity in the conditions of an inferiority complex imposed by the empire.

Art Nouveau in the context of realism: Ilya Repin at the turn of two centuries

The main subject of this research is the specificity of I. E. Repin's perception of the dynamics of artistic-aesthetic tasks formed under the influence of changing modernity. In view of this, one of the compositional centers of the research is the history of relationship that developed between I. E. Repin and the artists of the “first wave of symbolism” – members of the association “The World of Art” (primarily, the editor-in-chief of the eponymous journal S. P. Diaghilev, A. N. Benois, K. A. Somov, Y. Y. Lanceray). Special attention is given to the question of perception of I. E. Repin by certain representatives of the avant-garde in 1910s. Developing in the range “attraction – negation”, full of dramatic and comic moments, the dialogue between Repin and younger generation indicates the hastiness of univocal view of realism and Art Nouveau as opposing imagery systems. For the first time, on the current level of scientific comprehension of the aesthetics of symbolism and neo-romanticism, the article analyzes the attitude of I. E. Repin towards the innovative imagery pursuits of the Art Nouveau artists. At the same time, the very concept of Art Nouveau is interpreted in two dimensions: as a certain milestone in the context of the development of the history of art of the late XIX – early XX century; and as an inner dynamic potential embedded by I. E. Repin in his works since the beginning of his creative path. Based on systematization of the artistic and documentary sources and  the method of complex reconstruction of the views of Peredvizhniki and symbolist artists upon the objectives and nature of art, the author concludes that the poetics of art of Ilya Repin, synthesizing the ideas of time, tends to reflect a complicated and distinctive artistic image formed by realistic and idealistic principles.

The Recipe for Success: Repin’s Painting Barge-Haulers on the Volga and Stasov’s Conception of Russian Art

Barge-Haulers on the Volga is one of the most famous works of the Russian realist painter Ilya Repin. As I demonstrate in this article, on the one hand, it brought Repin resounding success and, on the other, it molded his creative conception. The Russian art critic Vladimir Stasov outlined the artist’s success. In March 1873, Stasov’s poetic depiction of Repin’s painting, where he expressed his admiration for Repin’s talent, focusing on specific aspects that he contended had to be included in a perfect work of Russian art, was published in the daily newspaper Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. I attempt to show that Stasov’s praise had a devastating effect on Repin’s creative process. By examining Repin’s post Barge-Haulers successful works for this pattern, I show how the painter tried to incorporate every one of the “ingredients” that Stasov outlined and ultimately created a typified group of paintings documenting life on the periphery of the Russian Empire with those features, which marked his entire career.

Витальность как фактор обретения произведением искусства вневременной значимости

The article is devoted to the vitality of historical painting. The purpose of the article is to identify those characteristic features of a historical work that contribute to the fact that the picture, while remaining a product of the epoch that created it, acquires a timeless character. The emphasis is placed on the content aspect of the historical picture; its allusiveness, iconography, dialogism; external aspects of the perception of the picture (politicization, laughing and playing aspects). The author also analyzes such a complex aspects of perception of a picture as its transformation into a “living organism” with which one can “conduct a conversation” or “argue”. These aspects are considered on the example of the painting Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581 by Ilya Repin (1885).

Эстетическая высота произведения искусства и рынок: о художественном качестве подлинном и мнимом

A problem of perfection at art is analyzed in the article according to paradigm of the art market as a system of cultural, economic and social interactions of the art world. The author finds out the vitality of the artwork not only as its essential value but also defines the idea of its imaginary vitality. The latter is created by the art market participants, and it causes the commercial value of the artwork. The article makes an assumption about the division of art, at least of the Modern and Contemporary history, into two spheres — the art of “aesthetic experience” and the art of “commercial success”. While the art of “aesthetic experience” is aimed at finding and creating a new artistic language (the embodiment of new creative ideas, complex ethical and aesthetic problems), the art of “commercial success” follows artistic stereotypes, uses creative innovations in an adapted form, which is included in the cultural and aesthetic system familiar to the audience of art. This antithesis is analyzed in the article by the example of comparing a number of works by two artists of the same time. One is Mikhail Larionov, a prominent artist of the Russian Avant-Garde, and the other is Vladislav Izmailovitch, a typical representative of Salon and Late Academic art. Considering the specific historical aspects of vitality in art, the author analyzes several examples. Firstly, the late oeuvre of the Russian artist Ilya Repin as a metaphor for the “joy of the risen”. Secondly, the Easter rarities of the House of Faberge, which have changed their status over the past century from a home memorabilia to a cultural myth and became an object of the art market nowadays. Thirdly, the exposition of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2019, where authors and curators exploited the vitality of Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th century as the personification of contemporary creative pursuits.

Ilya Repin – the Myth of the Russian “Muzhik” (Peasant)

The article analyzes Repin’s art. Two conclusions are drawn on the basis of this analysis. First, the difference between contemporary and classical art is exaggerated. In the author’s opinion, any art, both realistic and abstract, makes the invisible visible. Secondly, Repin’s paintings depict the premonition of the catastrophe of Russian peasantry. Ruining of peasantry leads to what can be called the collapse of Russian soul. In essence, this idea is evident when comparing portraits by Repin. In the article the author compares portraits of Andreev, Gorky and Musorgsky painted by Repin and, examines the contrast between Russian “muzhik” (peasant) and intelligentsia in his paintings «The Unexpected Visitor» and «The Arrest of the Propagandist». The author also compares the portraits of the peasants by Perov and Kramskoy with the paintings of Repin.

Ilya Repin: From Raising to Resurrection

The diversity of topics and ideas in the art of Ilya Repin (1844–1930) has long been seen as a result of the artist’s changeability, the inconsistency of his views and the suddenness of his creative talent. Therefore, it is important to show the integrity of Repin’s artistic world and to discover a certain foundation for his professional activity. This article traces the artist’s path from the early academician work “The raising of Jairus’ daughter” to one of his late paintings, “The Golgotha”. If you try to assess a vast number of Repin’s picture motifs you’ll see that over the whole course of his professional career he was working step by step on the subject of life and death, demonstrating interest in the meanings of human existence. These aspects worried the painter in connection not only with Gospel subjects but also with historical pictures and portraits.

Italy in the life and work of Vassily Surikov and Jan Matejko, outstanding historical painters

Ilya Repin wrote, “Matejko had a great national soul, he could as a painter express his love to his compatriots boldly and just to the point”. This statement can be attached to Surikov’s creative activity as well. Unfortunately, the researchers of Surikov’s works have to realize that painter’s secluded lifestyle obviously led to an insufficient number of letters and memoirs. The information on the Polish artist Jan Matejko is more extensive though he also was a recluse in his life. The author of the article pays special attention to Italy, and its role in private and artistic life of Surikov and Matejko. Both represented Slavonic culture, both were adherents to historical painting, and, moreover, had much in common as for their tempers, existential and creative principles.

Ilya Repin: The 175th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth

Founded in 2002, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide is a scholarly, refereed e-journal devoted to the study of nineteenth-century painting, sculpture, graphic arts, photography, architecture, and decorative arts across the globe.

Образы русских писателей-классиков в живописи и графике XIX–XX веков (на примере Н.В. Гоголя и Ф.М. Достоевского)

The article examines the portrait image of the writer in the context of his biography and work on the example of N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky. Various methods of visual representation, traditional methods of image and the latest portrait formats in the Russian and European painting and graphics of the 19th–20th centuries become the subject of the author’s attention. Artistic works by Alexander Ivanov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Perov, Mikhail Klodt, Duncan Grant, Emile Filla, Hugo Mora and other artists are involved in the analysis. The article also reveals (on the example of studying biography and oeuvre, analyzing individual works of N.V. Gogol’s and F.M. Dostoevsky’s) the methodological potential and didactic orientation of these works. The author provides art criticism interpretations and philosophical commentaries that allow using these works in the practice of teaching literature. Based on the analysis and generalization of pedagogical experience, the article postulates the urgent need to expand the means of visualization in the literary education of schoolchildren. The article also problematizes the need to update visual materials to increase the effectiveness of studying literary classics, stimulating the schoolchildren’s interest in reading and further acquaintance and study of oeuvre of the writers included in the school curricula. The author of the article offers special questions and tasks that direct teachers to the study of traditional and innovative portrait art and its use in literature lessons in high school and considers the potential opportunities for its involvement in research project activities of students’.

Creative heritage of Lev Alperovich (1874–1913): from realism toward symbolism

The article presents Lev Alperovich, a little-known to general public Belarusian painter of the beginning of the 20th century, who was Ivan Trutnev’s student in Vilnius Drawing School and a student of Ilya Repin in the Emperor’s Arts Academy in St. Petersburg. The works of Lev Alperovich that survived after the World War II are kept in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus. The analysis of the painter’s biography and creative heritage reveals a new vector which was gradually emerging in Minsk at the beginning of the 20th century, i.e remoteness from the academic late “peredvizhniki” realism and the ambition to find a niche in the evolving Russian modern style or the European Art Nouveau style and symbolism. Relatively sparse artistic heritage of Alperovich – single and group portraits, genrepainting, everyday life scenes and staffage landscapes – allows the author to single out this painter as a Belarusian painting phenomenon of the 20th century.

Effective Learning Strategies in the Homes of Famous Artists and Writers Converted to Museums

<p class="Normal1"><em>Homes of writers and artists that have been converted into museums are powerful frameworks for a wide range of both individual and group learning experiences. The museums have a unique ability to engage the learners on a deeper level by piquing their curiosity, and also by encouraging participative creative activities. The foundation is that of experiential learning, with an emphasis on authentic and content-based learning. Each visit to an artist’s home museum is a springboard for more universal learning experiences, particularly if the learner follows up and builds on memories of the visit, or to the museum’s website. Meta-cognitive development of analytical skills and creative techniques can enrich the learner, particularly when accompanied by both individual and collaborative online activities. Each artist or writer’s home provides a unique experience, which provides an opportunity for the museum’s educational and creative staff to be very creative. </em><em>The homes in this article include those of Pablo Neruda, Alexander Pushkin, Ilya Repin, Carson McCullers, Isak Dinesen, and Juan José Arreola.</em><em></em></p>

The History of Graphic Art and the Stages of its Development

This article analyzes the theoretical concepts of graphic art and its types, the history of early human unification, graphic art on the territory of Kazakhstan. Throughout the history of the survey, it is aimed at studying the appearance of graphics, studying and familiarizing with its various methods. Therefore, artistic graphics are closely related to calligraphy and writing. By the nineteenth century, the concepts of graphic and pattern were strictly differentiated. Graphics can be drawings of typographical origin, and drawing ‒ images of handwork: sketches, options and much more.The article deals with the laws of development of applied graphics from ancient prehistoric times to the present day. You can see the meaning of drawings, sketches and drawings in a person’s life, the role they played in the development of humanity. The development of graphics from prehistoric times to the present is analyzed. Drawing is the basis of all types of graphics and visual arts, in general. Typically, a graphic image is performed on a sheet of paper, and to create it the artist can use rather simple means – a pencil or a ballpoint pen. In other cases, he uses complex tools for creating his works: a printing press, lithographic stones, lashes for linoleum or wood, and much more. Graphics has a long history. Artists from Western Europe, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Orest Kiprensky,Karl Bryulekov, Vasily Perov, Ilya Repin, enrich the world of fine art with their graphic works. Graphic illustrations of the ancient (Paleolithic) era in Kazakhstan include Balkhash, Turkestan, Mangistau, and others. There are also rock paintings on the ground. Modern Kazakh graphic art was formed between 1930 and 50 years.

Arbeit und Müßiggang in der Romantik ed. by Claudia Lillge, Thorsten Unger, and Björn Weyand

Reviewed by: Arbeit und Müßiggang in der Romantik ed. by Claudia Lillge, Thorsten Unger, and Björn Weyand William H. Carter Claudia Lillge, Thorsten Unger, and Björn Weyand, eds. Arbeit und Müßiggang in der Romantik. Paderborn: Fink, 2017. 494 pp. Work has long served as the object of literary, philosophical, and artistic reflection. Its alternatives are also well represented, particularly in German Romanticism. Caspar David Friedrich's Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (1818) offers a celebrated example of the latter, and features prominently on the cover of Arbeit und Müßiggang in der Romantik. Above the fog and in view of the wanderer, we also see Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870–73) by the Russian realist Ilya Repin. Because explicit depictions of work are largely absent in German Romantic painting, this striking image of manual labor was selected to counter Friedrich's iconic image (11–12). The workers, in tattered clothes and wearing blank expressions, contrast sharply with the well-dressed observer transposed to witness the men (and boy) yoked to a heavy vessel. Barge Haulers on the Volga clearly depicts work, but to what extent does Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer represent idleness, leisure, or perhaps another form of work? The twenty-eight essays in this volume demonstrate that the questions surrounding work and its other depend on circumstance and perspective. The volume begins with a helpful introduction, which addresses work and idleness in Romantic painting, the contemporaneous understanding of key concepts, and a preview of the contributions. While the essays generally concentrate on works from the period, a few authors venture beyond the era but with due regard to the context. The collection is divided into five main sections. The first addresses various forms of Arbeit in Novalis (Franz-Jozef Deiters), Hölderlin (Sabine Doering), Chamisso (Christiane Weller), Heine (Dale Adams), and Büchner (Elke Brüns). The second shifts the focus to Muße and the related matters of Faulheit and Fleiß in Friedrich Schlegel's Idylle über den Müßiggang (Heide Volkening), Klingemann's Nachtwachen. Von Bonaventura (Mario Bosincu), Hölderlin's Hyperion (Leonhard Fuest), the Journal des Luxus und der Moden (Boris Roman Gibhardt), and Heine's Briefe aus Berlin and Lutezia (Robert Krause). The third section is dedicated to the arts and expands the scope of the volume; yet it remains heavily focused on literary texts with analyses of handcraft in Goethe and Heine (Michael Bies), the role of work and art in Klingemann's Nachtwachen (Tomasz Waszak), reflections on work and writing in Jean Paul (Monika Schmitz-Emans), and the work of poetry in Heinrich von Ofterdingen (James Hodkinson). The final essay here is the exception. It examines the work of art and the art of work in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Claudia Hillebrandt and Tom Kindt). The fourth section approaches work, idleness, and leisure through the lens of time and space. Klaus Vieweg draws on Hegel and Nietzsche to argue that the workday is sublimated on Sunday. Claudia Lillge explores the Mittagsruhe in Wordsworth, Eichendorff, and the French realist Courbet, whose paintings capture daytime naps and a few at work. Eichendorff returns in Fred Lönker's examination of time in Ahnung und Gegenwart and Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts. [End Page 332] The final essays in this section address city spaces (Uwe Hentschel), different facets of work in the forest (Erhard Schütz), multidimensional space in Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (Martin Jörg Schäfer), and an exploration of Kahnfahrten in Fouqué, Brentano, and Heine (Simon Bunke). Bunke's reading mentions Goethe's Auf dem See but, surprisingly, not the deadly boating accident in Die Wahlverwandtschaften. The final section of the collection focuses on literary figures and their historical, social, and political contexts. Ursula Regener reads Eichendorff's work in light of his official duties and Adam Müller's politicaleconomic theory. Patricia Czezior examines work as obsession in E. T. A. Hoffmann's Das Fräulein von Scuderi, and Lydia Mühlbach analyzes the work of women in the Grimms' Schneewittchen and its adaptations. The final two essays provide close readings of Wilhelm Hauff's Das kalte Herz...

Nikolai Gogol’s literary characters in the Ilya Repin’s graphic and pictorial works. To the question about morphological problem at the Russian artistic culture in the late XIX — beginning XX century

This article is dedicated to the cultural heritage of two prominent Russian creative figures: Ilya Repin and Nikolai Gogol. The objective of this study is to show the artistic relationship between the aforementioned figures while drawing on their artistic oeuvre for examples. A comparative analysis of Gogol and Repin’s work has been carried out and a multitude of links between the artist and the great writer’s body of work have been researched. By analysing Repin’s paintings, graphics and theatrical works related to Gogol, the artist’s lesser known works have been studied and new aspects of his artistic life have been examined. The common subject matter of I. Repin and N. Gogol’s works indicate not only the influence of the tendentious ‘literary’ democratic line of 19th century Russian painting, but also the artists’ shared ideological and aesthetic roots, in particular Ukrainian folk epic poems, which are inherent to both their satiric talent and the unity of their philosophical-religious views.

The Aesthetics of the Volga and National Narratives in Russia

Abstract Simon Schama's provocative work, Landscape and Memory , reveals the role that nature has historically played in shaping culture. Although much of Schama's focus predates the twentieth century, this essay on the historical development of the Volga River extends up to the present. The thesis, however, of demonstrating the continuity of earlier nature myths with the present, is an ongoing theme in this recounting of the effects of modernisation on the Volga while a nationalist rhetoric touts its aesthetic qualities. These aesthetics - symbolised through literary and artistic representations of Mother Volga - contributed to an emerging national narrative in Russia in the nineteenth century. This national identity is articulated through a rich visual culture that includes the work of Russian artists such as Isaac Levitan and Ilya Repin with their landscape portrayals of the Volga. As a result, the river assumed an iconic status which enhanced the story of its transformation. By the 1930s, the Volga underwent a major engineering project that rerouted part of the river into the Moscow Volga Canal. Construction of the project took four years, during which an array of journals, photographic essays and newspaper articles chronicled progress, celebrating this symbolic foray into the modern nation-state. Overlooking the beginning of the project were two towering statues of Lenin and Stalin, reinforcing the nationalist attributes of the project. In the 1930s Soviet Union, literature is rife with references to the conquest of nature in service of socialism. Harnessing rivers was especially attractive to Stalin in his push to modernise. But the Moscow Volga Canal was not just a showpiece - although in some instances the architecture rivaled the newly built metro stations - as it connected Moscow to the Caspian Sea, provided hydropower and supplied drinking water to Moscow. In conclusion, this essay will expand on nature's integral role in shaping culture with twentieth-century examples of how the Volga River continued to serve a nationalist discourse for a country in the throes of modernisation. The story of the Moscow Volga Canal is also a reminder that nature is often the repository to which nations look when crafting their identity.