Masterfully original drawing of a Russian peasant executed in 1878 by most important Russian painter Ilya Repin. Probably, this pencil drawing is a study to the one of most famous Repin's works " Religion procession in Kursk gubernia", which Repin begun two years later, in 1880 and finished it 1882. Ilya Yefimovich Repin( 5 August [OS 24 July] 1844 - 29 September 1930, Kuokkala, Viipuri Province, Finland) was a leading Russian painter and sculptor of the Peredvizhniki artistic school. An important part of his work is dedicated to his native country, Ukraine. His realistic works often expressed great psychological depth and exposed the tensions within the existing social order. Beginning in the late 1920s, detailed works on him were published in the Soviet Union, where a Repin cult developed about a decade later. He was held up as a model "progressive" and "realist" to be imitated by "Socialist Realist" artists in the USSR.

Literature: in Russian: Kondakov II, 1914, 49 ; "Áåëûé ãîðîä". 1000 ðóññêèõ õóäîæíèêîâ; ; in German: "General artist lexicon(AKL)" by Saur, XXXII,p.275; H.Ottomeyer u.a. (Ed.), Thieme/Becker "General dictionary of the artists", Leipzig, 1999.

Inscription: signed and dated in Russian: 1878 I.Repin", lower right.

Technique: drawing on paper. Original period matt and frame.

Measurements: visiable image w 5 1/8 " x 7 " (13 x 17,5 cm); framed w 15 3/8" x 18 7/8" (39 x 48 cm).

Condition: in good original condition.