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An important role in the formation of the
new trend and its propagation was played by Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov,
1824-1906, the distinguished art and music critic and staunch supporter of the
"Neo Russian school." His father was a prominent architect in St.
Petersburg, who among other things, designed the Moscow Triumphal Arch. Most of
his life Stasov dedicated to the work in the St. Petersburg Public Library of
which he was the librarian. From his early days Stasov was very much interested
in music and art; he knew and was friendly with major contemporary composers
and painters. His knowledge of art was not limited to Russia only. He made
several trips abroad and spoke seven languages. The information that we have
about many Russian artists comes for a large part from Stasov's biographies,
essays and a large number of articles which made him become the first Russian
modern art critic. His understanding of art and its mission was formed under
the influence of the ideas of Belinskii, Chernishevskii and Dobroliubov. As
formulated by Stasov, Russian art should be first Russian, then realistic and
finally, show the people in their true perspective. He was strongly opposed to
any embellishment of the reality but at the same time he favored that the art
should be used to expose negative sides of the society. For this later part,
the advocates of theory "Art for the sake of art," accused Stasov of
being unable to appreciate the beauty of artistic forms and of committing an
infringement of the complete freedom of artistic creativeness. At the same time
Stasov wanted Russian art to be nationalistic and to realistically express
"Russian character, morals, manners and ways." Many of his articles
were aimed against the Academy, though he was a member of it, and also later
against a group of painters and writers around "The Art of World"
("Mir Iskustva") who wanted to repudiate realism and favored modern
western trends, including symbolism, mysticism and "pure art." Strong
words he directed against decadents calling the leaders "Owls that bathe
in darkness," and he even went so far as to scold the Academy when at one
moment it looked as if it was ready to exhibit "Paralysed people,
epileptics, victims of infectious diseases," painted by decadents. Painter
Vrubel and composer Chaikovskii often received a cold shoulder from Stasov. His
intolerance of any form of religious painting was well known and probably was a
part of his atheistic attitude towards the Church. For years he argued with
Tolstoy about the existence of God and despite admiration for the famous
writer, whom he called "Lion (Leo) the Great," he never accepted his
convictions. Soviet critics generally praise Stasov and often use his views to
defend their "Socialist realism."
Stasov was physically too an imposing figure and his moustache and the long and
large pre-Petrine beard strengthened the respect of his opinions. It was not
surprising that many young painters, particularly those belonging t the group
of Itinerants, whom Stasov very much supported and defended, followed his
teachings. With Stasov the number of painters exposing injustice and the
backwardness of the Russian society started increasing. A new trend called
critical realism came into existence. Anti-clerical and sometimes atheistic
themes were quite fashionable at that time. The monks and some high clergy were
the prime target. Far from the official St. Petersburg and the control of the
Academy, the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which was
founded in 1832, took the lead from the beginning in the un-embellished
realistic painting and gave Russia her best genre painters, among whom Perov
was first to distinguish himself.
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