Union of Russian Artists

Union of Russian Artists

 

an association of Russian artists that existed from 1903 to 1923. The Union of Russian Artists was founded by former peredvizhniki (seePEREDVIZHNIKI) and former members of the World of Art (seeWORLD OF ART) who exhibited together in 1901 at the Exhibition of 36 Artists. Its original members included the Moscow painters A. E. Arkhipov, A. M. Vasnetsov, S. A. Vinogradov, S. Iu. Zhukovskii, S. V. Ivanov, K. A. Korovin, S. V. Maliutin, V. V. Perepletchikov, P. I. Petrovichev, A. A. Rylov, A. S. Stepanov, L. V. Turzhan-skii, and K. F. Iuon, as well as the St. Petersburg painters A. N. Benois, M. V. Dobuzhinskii, and K. A. Somov.

The Union of Russian Artists acquired a stylistic unity after the departure in 1910 of a group of St. Petersburg artists, owing to artistic differences. Its members primarily painted landscapes and genre scenes characterized by a democratic tendency and an interest in the landscape and distinctly original features of Russian life. The paintings are also distinguished by a certain ornamentation derived from specific plein-air observations of light and air, sometimes tending toward impressionism.

The Union of Russian Artists organized 18 exhibitions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Kazan. Several members of the association subsequently joined the Association of Realist Artists and the Association of Artists of the Russian Revolution.

REFERENCE

Lapshin, V. P. Soiuz russkikh khudozhnikov. Leningrad, 1974.