Whistler and Russia

Many people do not know that the American artist James Abbot McNeill Whistler spent part of his early life in Russia. His father played a role in the design of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railroad, so at the age of 9, Whistler was sent to study at the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts.

You can see the influence that the early Russian training had on him at the “Whistler in Russia” exhibition that is currently showing at the Old Tretyakov Gallery from Dec. 6-Feb. 15. The Gallery is showing his works along those of his Russian contemporaries, thus illustrating the Russian influence on his art. Whistler himself considered the country to be the birthplace of his talent and even claimed Russia as his birthplace during the Ruskin libel trial.

The exhibition features paintings, sketches and etchings from different periods in Whistler’s life. They are from 20 different American, Russian and British museums. They will be shown alongside some outstanding Russian artists like Karl Briullov, who was known for his work that bridged the gap from Neo-Classicism to Romanticism and Ilya Repin, the Social Realist artist. Additionally the exhibit features the landscape painter Vasily Polenov, a landscape painter and the impressionist Konstantin Korovin.

Art exhibits and museums are excellent choices for a date if you are looking for opportunities to take out a beautiful Russian girl or maybe meet some real Russian women in the Moscow area.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 7:34 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.