Vasily Grigoryevich Perov

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Wanderers (or Itinerants) (Russian: Peredvizhniki). Association of Russian painters active from 1870 to 1923. The formal name of the organization was ‘Association of Travelling [or Wandering] Art Exhibitions’, the word ‘travelling’ referring to the fact that its exhibitions were shown successively in various Russian towns (including Astrakhan, Kharkov, Kiev, Kursk, Odessa, and Saratov), not just in the country's two elite art centres, Moscow and St Petersburg. This desire to reach a wide public was inspired by democratic social ideals; like other members of the Russian intelligentsia at this time, the Wanderers wanted to bring culture to the common people, to help educate and inspire them.

The nucleus of the association was formed by a number of art students—led by Kramskoi—who had left the St Petersburg Academy in 1863 because of its rigid traditionalism. They had refused to accept ‘The Feast of the Gods in Valhalla’ as a competition subject because it was so irrelevant to contemporary social needs. In contrast to such rarefied subjects, the Wanderers not only wanted to depict ordinary people, but also to show such people a vision of moral worth and hope in the future. Consequently their paintings were realistic and easily intelligible. Sometimes they were overtly political, dealing with issues such as rural poverty or corruption in the Church, but many pictures shown in the exhibitions were unpolemical; there were, for example, numerous landscapes and portraits.

The first Wanderers' exhibition was held in 1871; it was highly successful and 47 more followed, held virtually every year until 1923. Many of the outstanding Russian painters of the late 19th century were members. Among them were Nikolai Ghe (1831–94), whose work included some starkly powerful scenes of Christ's Passion; Isaak Levitan (1860–1900), one of the leading landscapists of the time; Vasily Perov (1834–82), whose scenes of rural and urban poverty perhaps best illustrate the social conscience of the Wanderers in their early days; Ilya Repin; Ivan Shishkin (1832–98), a landscapist particularly renowned for forest scenes; Vasily Surikov (1848–1916), best known for depicting events from his country's history; and Viktor Vasnetsov. By the turn of the century the association had passed its peak as a major force in the country's cultural life and in its later years it was regarded as upholding conservative rather than radical values. In 1923 it merged with the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, which had been founded the previous year. After the imposition of Socialist Realism in the 1930s, the Wanderers were extolled as its precursors.

Wanderers (or Itinerants) (Russ., ‘Peredvizhniki’). Association of Russian painters active from 1870 to 1923. The formal name of the organization was ‘Association of Travelling [or Wandering] Art Exhibitions’, the word ‘travelling’ referring to the fact that its exhibitions were shown successively in various Russian towns (including Astrakhan, Kharkov, Kiev, Kursk, Odessa, and Saratov), not just in the country's two elite art centres, Moscow and St Petersburg. This desire to reach a wide public was inspired by democratic social ideals; like other members of the Russian intelligentsia at this time, the Wanderers wanted to bring culture to the common people, to help educate and inspire them. The nucleus of the association was formed by a number of art students—led by Kramskoi—who had left the St Petersburg Academy in 1863 because of its rigid traditionalism. They had refused to accept ‘The Feast of the Gods in Valhalla’ as a competition subject because it was so irrelevant to contemporary social needs. In contrast to such rarefied subjects, the Wanderers not only wanted to depict ordinary people, but also to show such people a vision of moral worth and hope in the future. Consequently their paintings were realistic and easily intelligible. Sometimes they were overtly political, dealing with issues such as rural poverty or corruption in the Church, but many pictures shown in the exhibitions were unpolemical; there were, for example, numerous landscapes and portraits. The first Wanderers' exhibition was held in 1871; it was highly successful and 47 more followed, held virtually every year until 1923. Many of the outstanding Russian painters of the late 19th century were members. Among them were Nikolai Ghe (1831–94), whose work included some starkly powerful scenes of Christ's Passion; Isaak Levitan (1860–1900), one of the leading Russian landscapists of the time; Vasily Perov (1834–82), whose scenes of rural and urban poverty perhaps best illustrate the social conscience of the Wanderers in their early days; Ilya Repin; Vasily Surikov (1848–1916), best known for depicting events from his country's history; and Viktor Vasnetsov. By the turn of the century the association had passed its peak as a major force in the country's cultural life and in its later years it was regarded as upholding conservative rather than radical values. In 1923 it merged with the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, which had been founded the previous year. After the imposition of Socialist Realism in the 1930s, the Wanderers were extolled as its precursors.

Vasily Grigoryevich Perov , 1833–82, Russian historical, genre, and portrait painter. He was the leader of the realist school in Russia. His early work was satirical, but he is best known for his sympathetic treatment of scenes of peasant life. Among his outstanding works are A Village Funeral and The Arrival of the Governess. His best-known portraits include those of Turgenev and Dostoyevsky.