The Itinerants are a community of young Russian painters of the 19th century who played an exceptionally important role in the artistic life of Russia. The founders of the association, Ivan Kramskoy, Vasily Perov, and Alexey Savrasov, possessed enormous talent and, together with less gifted painters, successfully resisted the Academy of Arts with its outdated views. Thanks to the work of the Itinerants, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Russian hinterland learned about and loved the new realistic fine art.

The Itinerants relied on progressive social circles and democratically minded intelligentsia. Thanks to mutual support, a whole galaxy of artists managed to achieve independence from the Academy and the whims of patrons, which gave them complete freedom in their work. The artists set a goal of creating truthful and lifelike works capable of awakening the consciousness of the masses.

The Itinerants covered all genres of painting in their work. Among them were many masters of portraiture, genre painting, and historical painting. Artists of the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” raised the art of landscape to an unprecedented height. Arkhip Kuindzhi, Alexey Savrasov, Isaac Levitan, Konstantin Korovin – each of them had their own unique style and manner of painting, but they were united by their love for Russia, which they conveyed in their works.

How the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” came into being

In 1859, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts introduced a new charter, which raised the age limit for applicants. According to the amended rules, young people aged 16-20 could enter the educational institution. Most of them were from the raznochintsy, which led to the widespread spread of democratic sentiments among students. The reforms at the Academy were quite progressive. The Council encouraged painting scenes of everyday life, but traditionally submitted antique and mythological subjects to the competition for the award of the large gold medal. A group of fourteen talented artists approached the management of the educational institution with a request for a free choice of the topic of the competition work, which was refused. After this, the artists decided to take an extreme step and left the Academy. The protest movement was headed by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy.

The association of rebels was named “Artel”. Over time, some of the artists broke away, and the rest focused on craft orders. Therefore, the idea of ​​​​creating a common traveling exhibition, outlined in the letter of Moscow colleagues, was initially met by St. Petersburg painters without enthusiasm. The draft charter of the new association of artists was supported by only seven “artel members” led by Ivan Kramskoy. The document was approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in November 1870, and a month later the first meeting of the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” was held. The charter of the organization obliged participants to annually present new works to the board. This condition encouraged the Itinerants to creativity and did not allow them to focus only on commercial orders. At first, the Academy criticized the enthusiasts, but then agreed to provide premises for the exhibition.

Exhibitions of Russian Itinerants

The first traveling exhibition opened in the halls of the Academy on November 28, 1878, and in the first days the entire capital was talking about it. Each work amazed the viewers with the novelty of its presentation and became a reason for heated discussions. Simple and lifelike plots evoked emotional experiences, despite the fact that the compositional solutions were devoid of classical elements intended to give the painting drama.

In total, about thirty thousand people visited the exhibition. The event brought the Association its first commercial success – many paintings were sold, eight works were purchased by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection. Thanks to enthusiastic reviews in the newspapers, the fame of the Itinerants spread far beyond the borders of the Northern capital.

Famous Itinerant artists

Ivan Kramskoy remained the inspirer of the Association. At the first exhibition, the artist presented several portraits, which slightly faded against the background of Nikolai Ge’s work “Peter I Interrogates Tsarevich Alexei” and Alexei Savrasov’s masterpiece “The Rooks Have Come Back”.

Ivan Kramskoy’s painting “Christ in the Desert” became the centerpiece of the second exhibition, which opened in December 1872. The canvas caused a mixed reaction due to the unusual interpretation of the divine image, in which the artist saw a contemporary reflecting on the choice of his life path.

Konstantin Savitsky conveyed scenes from the life of the people in his works with great skill. His heroes are yesterday’s peasants looking for work on the railroad, indifferent and cynical priests, soldiers before being sent to the front. The artist never repeated himself in his motives and types; his work was nourished by a sincere interest in people, continuous observation and study of life.

Ivan Shishkin, who was a member of the Society from the moment of its creation, left a bright mark on the history of Russian landscape. The hero of his works is the Russian “dark forest”, the northern nature untouched by man. The artist carefully conveyed the form and color of each detail, noticed the features of winter and summer lighting.

The works of Arkhip Kuindzhi delighted his contemporaries. The artist worked hard on the technique of conveying light and was constantly looking for new expressive methods. The paintings were regarded by viewers as a revelation from above, and at exhibitions they were constantly surrounded by crowds.

The decline of the Itinerants At the end of the 19th century, against the backdrop of the growing labor movement, the ideas of the Narodniks became less relevant, and serious changes occurred in the spiritual life of Russia. The best of the Society gradually began to fade – Ivan Kramskoy died, Alexei Savrasov fell seriously ill, and Arkhip Kuindzhi locked himself in his studio and was reluctant to make contact with the outside world.

The older generation of the Itinerants did not feel the new demands of the times, their works lost their former sharpness. Young artists nevertheless sought to join the organization, but the board was very conservative in accepting new members. Often, when preparing an exhibition, the management rejected talented and later famous works, giving preference to trivial and simple works. Over time, the confrontation within the ranks of the Itinerants reached its peak, and in 1901, eleven artists left the organization. But despite all the conflicts, the creative life of the Association did not die down.

The last decades of the association’s work were productive for a whole galaxy of painters, which included: Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942); Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939); Valentin Serov (1865-1911); Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915); Vladimir Makovsky (1846-1920); Kiriak Kostandi (1852-1921). A year after the October Revolution, the new leadership attempted to revive the former interest in exhibitions, but the efforts were unsuccessful. In 1923, the association ceased to exist.