History and Fairy-Tale
sentimentally humanitarian ideals of the sixties, which were so alien to the true problems of art.
We are not inclined to overlook the merits of the "idealistic realism" of Gay and Kramskoy, nor do we deny that Repin played an important part in the struggle with and the final defeat of the art of the sixties. Then, too, the change from painting subservient to social interests to a freer art did not occur without the influence of external circumstances, such as the political reaction under Alexander III, which stifled the progressive propaganda. But none of these factors was more significant or was of a more far-reaching influence than Surikov's pictures. They made the same stirring impression on our painters as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy did in literature. It was as though the door was flung open, and fresh air rushed in.
We are not going to analyse Surikov's works. The depth of their tragical mood, their purely æsthetic import, their freedom, their convincing power, their historical value are sufficiently known. Nor is it proper to
repeat here what we have pointed out several times: the "superb ugliness" of his execution, the "beautiful muddiness" of his colours, the passionate, unsystematic technique of his painting, which upsets all traditions. It is more important here, it seems to us, to indicate
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