The Russian Canvas: Painting in Imperial Russia, 1757-1881

The Russian Canvas charts the remarkable rise of Russian painting in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the nature of its relationship with other European schools. Starting with the foundation of the Imperial Academy of the Arts in 1757 and culminating with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, it details the professionalization and wide-ranging activities of painters against a backdrop of dramatic social and political change. The Imperial Academy formalized artistic training but later became a foil for dissent, as successive generations of painters negotiated their own positions between pan-European engagement and local and national identities. Drawing on original archival research, this groundbreaking book recontextualizes the work of major artists, revives the reputations of others, and explores the complex developments that took Russian painters from provincial anonymity to international acclaim.

• Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky
• Russian Art: From Neoclassism to the Avant Garde 1800-1917 : Painting Sculpture Architecture
• The Russian Experiment in Art 1863-1922 (Revised Edition) (World of Art)
• Moscow & St. Petersburg 1900-1920: Art, Life, & Culture of the Russian Silver Age
• Russian Realisms: Literature and Painting, 1840–1890
• Imperial Crimea: Estates, Enchantments and the Last of the Romanovs
• Russian Splendor: Sumptuous Fashions of the Russian Court
• The Country House Library
• The Russian Vision: The Art of Ilya Repin