A picturesque riot: How the 14 best graduates of the Imperial Academy of Arts refused a gold medal, and what came of it

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Rebellions, riots, revolutions have always brought about changes, sometimes global, vital and historically necessary. So the rebellion of painters at the end of the second half of the 19th century radically changed the history of Russian painting. Fourteen graduate academics who rebelled against the idea of "art for art's sake" and disrupted the competition for the 100th anniversary of the Imperial Academy of Arts, laid the foundation for an association of free artists, which later became known as Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

Real art opposed to academism

Since its foundation, the Academy of Arts has had a great influence on artists and their creative activities, everything was under the control of its leadership. However, over time, many students began to express dissatisfaction with the teaching methods in the educational institution, although before the "Riot" few people said this openly.

In November 1863, something unimaginable happened within the walls of the Imperial Academy - a grandiose scandal erupted, which a little later would be called the "Riot of the Fourteen", which served as a prerequisite for the creation of a new direction and history of Russian painting. So, during the graduation work, fourteen of the best graduates of the Academy officially announced that they refused to participate in the competition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the educational institution, at which there was a large gold medal and a first degree diploma.

The leadership of the Academy proposed the theme of the competition work - "Feast in Valhalla" on the German-Scandinavian mythological subject. Graduates who applied for participation in the competition, led by Ivan Kramskoy, considered the topic completely meaningless and divorced from real life. And their demands to change the assignment and the request for an independent choice of the plot were categorically ignored by the examination committee. And the young artists had no choice but to leave the audience, thereby failing the anniversary competition. All fourteen asked the vice-president of the Academy, Prince Gagarin, to order them to issue diplomas "corresponding to the medals that were awarded earlier."

The rebels were immediately reported to Emperor Alexander II, who gave the order to hand, according to the demand of the strikers, diplomas of class artists of the second degree and secretly establish unofficial police supervision over them.

Art for people

The rebellious academicians, who went beyond the walls of the academy, zealously advocated realism and a social direction in Russian painting. And having severed all relations with the Academy, adherents of Kramskoy's ideas organized the first independent creative group of like-minded people in the history of Russian art called the Artel of Artists. Democratic ideas and dreams of universal freedom, of the accessibility of art to representatives of all strata of society were united by a single goal of Russian painters.

Some seven years will pass and the artel will be reborn into the "Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions" or, as we used to hear, the Itinerant movement. And if the Artel was only the first attempt to create a community of artists independent of the tutelage, control and pressure of the Academy, then the Partnership has successfully implemented these ideas.

In prioritizing, I would like to note that it was the Wanderers who made Russian painting accessible to residents of many cities of the Russian Empire. Before that, everything that was associated with Russian culture and art was concentrated mainly only in St. Petersburg, within the walls of the Academy of Arts and in private collections of aristocrats.

A furor of traveling exhibitions

And already at the end of 1871, the Itinerants set off with their creations “to the people”. The first exposition of their canvases traveled around cities and towns for about two months. It was also presented in Moscow, Kiev and Kharkov. Among the painters who submitted their canvases to the provincial public were Myasoedov, Perov, Shishkin, Ge, Pryanishnikov, Kramskoy and Savrasov.

This event caused an unprecedented sensation among the Itinerants themselves, as well. After all, the total income from the exhibitions held amounted to almost 4400 rubles, which were fairly divided among all the participants of the partnership, which was already a grandiose event. For comparison, it should be noted that the average annual income from all exhibitions held by the Academy of Arts has never exceeded 5,000 rubles. And for all that, the artists who provided their canvases did not have a ruble from the sale of their creations - all the money went to the state treasury.

"People's exhibitions", of which there were about fifty in their entire history, traveled around many cities of Russia, bringing culture and enlightenment to the masses. So it is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of these events.

Read also: Unknown pages of the personal life of the Russian genius - Vasily Polenov.

The existing financial discipline in the Partnership and strict requirements for the creativity of exhibitors (as the members of the organization were called) - served the Itinerant movement a good service, their business began to flourish rapidly. And by the middle of the 70s, many painters who wrote their canvases for traveling exhibitions, gained not only material wealth, but also nationwide fame and recognition.

However, this alignment of affairs did not suit the leadership of the Imperial Academy at all, it sounded the alarm and officially announced that this had led to a long-term confrontation between the Association of Artists and the leadership of the educational institution.

The well-known collector and philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov has repeatedly tried to act as a peacemaker in this confrontation, he said.

Read also: Little-known facts from the biography of Pavel Tretyakov.

And in fairness, it should be noted that Tretyakov had special feelings for the Wanderers, as evidenced by his material and moral support of many artists, for whom he was the main customer. For example, a special place in the work of Vasily Perov belongs to the magnificent portrait gallery of famous personalities of Russia, created under the order of Pavel Tretyakov.

Read also: Little-known pages of Vasily Perov's life: Why the artist had to live under a fictitious name all his life.

Disagreements and breakup in TPVV

By the end of the 19th century, the struggle for influence in art gradually faded away. The then leadership of the Academy took a cunning step that cost the unification of the rapid decline. Namely, some representatives of the Partnership were officially invited to become teachers of the Academy in order to introduce new trends and new directions in its educational process.

So, paradoxical was fact in the life of itinerant Arkhip Kuindzhi: at first they did not want to be admitted to the academy as a student, and after years the Academy considered it an honor to invite the famous artist to the ranks of the teachers.

As a result, a group of peredvizhniki mentors organized one of the most influential branches of the Academy, while taking as a basis from the old system what was once fought against, namely, monopolistic tendencies. And again, as well as many years ago, the confrontation of generations began: the venerable, deserved founders of the Partnership, standing at the origins, against the beginning young artists - exhibitors.

So, for example, novice artists who no longer have the right to vote were strictly forbidden to exhibit their works anywhere, except in the community. And now it was not easy to become a candidate for membership in the Fellowship.

It is also worth noting that by the end of the century, eight of the fourteen participants in the "riot", including Ivan Kramskoy, were awarded honorary titles of academicians of the Imperial Academy of Arts. And by 1923 the Association of the Itinerants ceased to exist officially.

Iconic canvases and little-known creations of TPHV artists

For more than half a century, the Wanderers have been creating the history of Russian art, acquainting the inhabitants of the provinces with modern Russian painting and at the same time selling their works. This was its most progressive period, revealing the vices of society, showing the hard life of ordinary people.

And as we can see, the realism of the Itinerants was dramatic and incriminating. The plots often reflected acute social problems - class inequality, injustice and poverty.