Lot 468 : Ilya Efimovich Repin , 1844-1930 portrait of a worker oil on canvas

Ilya Repin - 1844-1930

Auction Location: United Kingdom - 2008
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Title:

Ilya Efimovich Repin , 1844-1930 portrait of a worker oil on canvas

Description:

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1919 l.r; further indistinctly signed t.r. oil on canvas

Dimensions:

80.5 by 62.3cm., 31 3/4 by 24 1/2 in.

Provenance:

Acquired by the aunt of the present owner in the 1940s
Thence by descent

Published:

I.Grabar, Repin, 2 vols, Moscow, 1963-1964, vol.II, p.215
?. ?., Ilya Efimovich Repin, Zhizn' i tvorchestvo, 1844-1930, Moscow, 1982, p.217
Ilya Repin 1844-1930, catalogue, Retretti, 21 May-3 September 1989, Helsinki 1989, ?.47

Notes:

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, ENGLAND
Whilst Repin made his name and reputation with what later became iconic images of Russia's rural peasantry, it was seldom and not until later in his career that he turned his attention to the life of the urban industrial worker. This is perhaps not surprising given the relatively slow and late development of industrialisation in tsarist Russia compared to other European countries and that the highpoint of Repin's mature career coincided with a period when only a small fraction of the peasant population resided in large conurbations or worked in industry. In this respect his output was no different to that of his realist contemporaries, with perhaps only Kastakin and Yaroshenko showing any consistency in addressing this increasingly socially-relevant subject. Such images were, additionally, potentially contentious since the urban worker, considered politically astute and a burgeoning member of the revolutionary pantheon, carried a greater degree of political charge - a reason perhaps that the offered work was completed in 1919? In the wake of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 Repin reengaged with political themes and became increasingly interested in the urban worker, though typically, as with his peasant paintings, his interest resided chiefly with individuals: their lives and work, and above all their personalities. Apart from rare large canvasses such as The Demonstration of 17 October 1905, seen recently at the Royal Academy's From Russia show, he also produced more intimate portraits such as Trudovik (1906; a member of the Labour group in the 1906-17 Duma) and A Worker's Wife (1907).υ1 Such interests filtered into his private life as well. After his resignation from the Academy in 1907 Repin settled permanently on his small estate Penaty on the Finnish Gulf, which became the fulcrum for a variety of artistic and social activities. Amongst these were open air concerts as well as lectures on such diverse subjects as the establishment of co-operatives, vegetarianism, animal rights and the support of orphans, delivered to illustrious guests and local workers alike. This laconic, pensive and humanitarianly sympathetic image of an industrial worker in Repin's late but distinctive impasto style of expressive brushwork, is therefore a relatively rare phenomenon within his oeuvre, but adheres nevertheless to his lifelong fascination with the authentic face and genuine character of the ordinary Russian. We are grateful to David Jackson, Professor of Russian and Scandinavian Art Histories, University of Leeds, for providing this note.