Wanderers (or Itinerants)


Group of Russian painters associated with the Society of Wandering (Travelling) Exhibitions, a body founded in 1870 with the aim of bringing art to the people. The nucleus of the group was formed by a number of artists-led by Kramskoi--who had left the St Petersburg Academy in 1863 because of its rigid traditionalism. The rebels had refused to accept 'The Feast of the Gods in Valhalla' as a competition subject because it was so irrelevant to contemporary social needs. They were united by their belief that art should express humanitarian ideals and encourage social reforms. Thus they painted realistic pictures of peasant and middle-class life, often scenes arousing pity or inspiring the oppressed to better themselves. Their exhibitions travelled about the country, bringing art to a new public. The Wanderers (in Russian Peredvizhniki) eventually included most of the leading Russian painters of the last quarter of the 19th cent., notably Vasily Perov (1834-82), Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov (1848-1916), and Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926). The society lasted until 1923, but by then the once radical group had become conservative.

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