Landscape and Free Realism
in the circle of Syerov, Korovin, and Levitan—and utter dilettanteism. Besides, it is hard to form a clear estimate of this artist who is so highly valued in Moscow, for only a very limited number of his works are known, mostly sketches and rough draughts.
Arkhipov (born in 1862) is a gifted artist, a keen draughtsman and a skilful painter. Unfortunately, he has been praised to death, as it were, by Moscow, which is so lavish of applause, and long since he ceased developing, subsisting on the repetition of hackneyed motives, in which a deft stroke and faded grey colours play the part of "modern" painting. Formerly, on the contrary, Arkhipov seemed to be an artist endowed with a gift of observation. His "Old Women on the Church Porch," and his "Troyka," are among the fine pictures of the nineties, and their success was deserved.
What has been said about Braz can be repeated, with a few reservations, about Pasternak. He, too, is able to "wrap up" his picture, and to lend his drawings an air of smartness and exquisiteness. At the same time Pasternak often succeeds in creating works which are attractive, or have an historical interest. To the first group belong his children scenes, to the second his curious pictures, representing Leo Tolstoy's "intérieur," and also a pastel, depicting one of the meetings of the "Union of Russian Artists." On the right sits the un-
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