1837 -1887 · Saint Petersburg, Ambulants and moral realism

Portraits of writers, imperial faces and meditation on Christ make Ivan Kramskoy a leader of Russian realism, attentive to conscience more than social rank.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy was born in 1837 in Ostrogojsk, in the province of Voronezh. After working as a retoucher for a traveling photographer, he entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1857. In 1863, he became the initiator of the Revolt of the Fourteen: fourteen students refused the mythological subject imposed for the final competition and left the Academy in order to defend greater artistic freedom. Kramskoy then directed the Artel des artistes de Saint-Petersburg, a work and life community which prepared a new organization of the profession. In 1870, he then led the Artel des artistes de Saint-Petersburg, a work and life community which prepared a new organization of the profession. Kramskoy then directed the Artel des artistes de Saint-Petersburg, a work and life community which prepared a new organization of the profession. In 1870, he participated in the founding of the Society of Traveling Artistic Exhibitions and in becomes one of the main theoretical consciousnesses. The Ambulants want to take art to several cities and treat contemporary society, national history and moral life seriously. Kramskoy is above all a portrait painter. He paints artists, scientists, writers and members of the imperial family without applying a single formula. Leo Tolstoy's Portrait combines simple clothing, direct gaze and intellectual presence. His self-portraits show the same analytical sobriety. Christ in the Desert, presented in 1872, transforms simple clothing, direct gaze and intellectual presence. His self-portraits show the same analytical sobriety. Christ in the Desert, presented in 1872, transforms the religious subject into an inner crisis: sitting before dawn, Christ performs no miracles, but faces moral decision alone. Portrait of an Unknown Woman, painted in 1883, remains one of his most famous images. The elegant young woman dominates a street in St. Petersburg from her car; identity, rank and social judgment remain open, which explains the contradictory interpretations of the work. Kramskoy also practices drawing and engraving, teaches and writes about the social function of art. He died in 1887 in Saint Petersburg while working on a portrait. He died in 1887 in Saint Petersburg while working on a portrait. He died in 1887 in Saint Petersburg while working on a portrait. The "Ivan Kramskoi" selection notably compared Christ in the Desert and Portrait of Leo Tolstoy. His reading favors composition.

Kramskoy paints the status less than the inner decision: the face remains calm, but the whole picture asks what the model thinks, refuses or is about to do.