Repair Work on the Railway is a painting by Russian artist Konstantin Savitsky (1844–1905), completed in 1874. It is held in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (Inventory 590). The dimensions of the painting are 103 × 180.8 cm (100 × 175 cm, according to other sources). The titles Railway Repair, Railway Workers and Repair on the Railway are also used.
The idea for the painting came to Savitsky in the summer of 1873, when he was observing the work of repairing the tracks of the Moscow-Kursk railway near the station of Kozlova Zaseka in the Tula Governorate, where he lived with the artists Ivan Shishkin and Ivan Kramskoi. Savitsky continued to work on the painting until the end of 1873, making the final revisions in January 1874.
The painting Repair Work on the Railway, was presented at the third exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki), which opened in St Petersburg in January 1874 and subsequently relocated to Moscow in April of the same year. Savitsky's work was well received and subsequently purchased by Pavel Tretyakov. In 1878, the painting Repair Work on the Railway was included in the Russian exposition at the World's Fair held in Paris.
The artist and critic Alexandre Benois wrote that Savitsky became "an important pillar of the Peredvizhniki" with the creation of the painting Repair Work on the Railway in 1874, and noted that this canvas was "homogeneous in spirit and theme" with Ilya Repin's Burlaks on the Volga. According to art historian Sofia Goldstein, Savitsky's Repair Work constituted "the first significant work by the novice master, which brought him well-deserved recognition." In the opinion of art historian Dmitry Sarabianov, the works Burlaks on the Volga and Repair Work are "a significant milestone in the history of Russian art, in the development of the theme of the people in Russian painting."
History
Background
In 1862–1873 (with interruptions), Konstantin Savitsky studied at the Academy of Arts in the class of historical painting, where his mentors were Fyodor Bruni, Alexey Markov and Pavel Chistyakov. In the period between 1868 and 1870, Savitsky was awarded several small silver medals, including one for his work The Sharman Man and another for his sketch The Crucifixion of Christ. In the following period, between 1869 and 1870, he was awarded two big silver medals, one for a study and the other for a drawing. Finally, in 1871, he was awarded a small gold medal of the Academy of Arts for his program Cain and Abel. From 1871 onwards Savitsky was a stipend holder of Emperor Alexander II.
Concurrently, in the early 1870s, Savitsky began his rapprochement with the Peredvizhniki, members of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions, whose first exhibition opened at the Academy of Arts in January 1871. At the second exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions, which opened in December 1872, two paintings by Savitsky were exhibited: Children and Official, or Visit to the bosses (the current location of both canvases is unknown). The success of the travelling exhibitions caused irritation and concern within the Academy of Arts. In order to deter potential dissenters, at a meeting of the Academy Council on 26 January 1873, Konstantin Savitsky was expelled from the Academy. As a result, he was deprived of the right to compete for the first gold medal and also lost the opportunity for a pensioner's trip abroad. Savitsky himself commented on the event: "I was expelled suddenly, without being given the opportunity to justify myself, if I was guilty of anything, and several years of my work at the Academy were irrevocably lost to me."
Creation The idea for the painting Repair Work on the Railway came to Savitsky in the summer of 1873, which he spent with the artists Ivan Shishkin and Ivan Kramskoi in the Tula Governorate. They lived near the Kozlovka Zaseka railway station (the name Kozlovka-Zaseka is used in a number of publications), where Savitsky observed the work of reinforcing the tracks. He spent entire days by the railway and worked on studies for the future painting. At the same time, in neighbouring Yasnaya Polyana, Ivan Kramskoi was working on a portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
At that time, Kozlova Zaseka (now Yasnaya Polyana station) constituted part of the Moscow-Kursk railway, constructed between 1864 and 1868 at the expense of the state treasury. In 1871, the railway was sold to a private company, namely a consortium of capitalists from Moscow, headed by industrialist Fyodor Chizhov. From 1873 onwards, the company that owned the railway carried out works to reinforce the embankment and enhance the track structure, with the objective of increasing the railway's capacity. In particular, the works comprised ballast replenishment and the replacement of light rails.
In a letter to the artist Ilya Repin dated 3 August 1873, Ivan Kramskoi wrote: "Savitsky begins to write 'Zemlekopy', found the plot here on the railway and ignited." Repin replied in a letter dated 2 September 1873, calling Savitsky by his patronymic: "I wish a brilliant ending to Apollonich, the idea is glorious." In a letter to the collector and patron of the arts Pavel Tretyakov, dated 11 August 1873, Kramskoi wrote: "Savitsky is working on a picture of 'Zemlekopy' on the railway, the sketch is good, what will come out – it is impossible to say."
Savitsky continued to work on the painting throughout the autumn and winter. In a letter dated 25 December 1873, addressed to Repin, who was in Paris at the time, Kramskoi reported that Savitsky "finished [his canvas] not bad, even good." Savitsky made the final revisions in January 1874, concurrently altering the date on the painting. The number ‘4’ in the year ‘1874’ is written over the number ‘3’.
After creation The painting Repair Work on the Railway was exhibited at the 3rd exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki), which opened in St Petersburg on 21 January 1874 and subsequently relocated to Moscow in April of the same year. Savitsky's work was included in the exhibition catalogue under the title 'Repair of the Railway'. The canvas made a good impression. According to Kramskoi, Savitsky "stood out very favourably." On 29 January 1874, Savitsky wrote to the artist Vasily Polenov, who was in Paris at the time: "I[,] your humble servant[,] also published my brainchild, I am not a judge myself. But in general I seem to like it, I will send or bring you a photograph... Against what you have seen, there have been many changes, most importantly in regard to lighting." Shortly before the opening of the exhibition, on 30 December 1873, Savitsky approached the board of the Peredvizhniki with a request to be accepted as a member of the Society. His request was granted at a meeting of the Society held after the opening of the exhibition, on 2 February 1874.
Ilya Repin tried to support Savitsky in every way he could. In a letter to the art critic Vladimir Stasov, dated 20 January 1874, commenting on the forthcoming showing of the painting Repair Work at the travelling exhibition, Repin wrote: "How happy I am for Savitsky! You cannot imagine! With all my heart I wish him to be a hero." In the same letter, Repin expressed his ironic stance on the Academy of Arts' unfair actions: "I also rejoice for the Academy. It is cursed, offended a man (Savitsky), and it itself seems to be in trouble." Repin perceived Savitsky's triumph as a public indictment of the Academy's decision to exclude Savitsky from its student body and deny him the chance to compete for the first gold medal. In a letter to Kramskoi, dated 17 February 1874, Repin wrote: "For Savitsky [I am] also terribly happy. Polenov saw his painting, not yet finished, and told me a lot, and I see that everything is true."
In letters to Nikolai Ge and Ivan Kramskoi, dated 3 March 1874, Pavel Tretyakov asked them to tell Savitsky that he was interested in buying the painting for his gallery. The patron of the arts wrote: "Having examined it once again, I decided to offer 1000 roubles for it, <...> for this price I will be very happy to buy it because in it, despite the dull general tone, there is a lot of great dignity." In a letter to Tretyakov, Savitsky thanked him and agreed to sell his painting on the condition that Tretyakov would not object to its display in other cities through which the route of the 3rd travelling exhibition passed. In correspondence with Tretyakov, Savitsky referred to his painting as 'Workers on the railway', a title that more accurately reflected the painting's content. Tretyakov accepted the artist's condition, and the painting was exhibited in Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv and Riga. With the money received from the sale of the painting, Savitsky was able to organise his trip to France.
Savitsky's work Rest at Work (canvas, oil, 33 × 53.2 cm, formerly in the collection of G.P. Belyakov, then in the collection of N.S. Arzhanikov, Moscow) from 1875 belongs to the same theme as Repair Work. This painting is also known as Digger's Rest. The canvas Rest at Work depicts an episode in the life of repair workers and is "kind of a completion of the painting 'Repair Work on the Railway'". On occasion, Rest at Work is considered to be one of the variant sketches for Savitsky's painting Harvesting Hay (1875), the whereabouts of which are unknown.
A number of canvases from Pavel Tretyakov's collection, including the painting Repair Work on the Railway, were proposed for display at the 1878 World's Fair, which was to be held in Paris. In order for Savitsky's painting to be included in the Russian section, it was necessary for it to prevail against the opposition of Andrey Somov, the chairman of the selection committee. In particular, Savitsky's supporters had to respond to criticism that had appeared in the press, including from the journalist and publisher Aleksey Suvorin. Ilya Repin wrote to Kramskoi about one of these reviews: "I regret that he [Savitsky] was so humiliated by the Stranger [Suvorin], saying that it [the painting] resembles 'burlaks'. Polenov says that it is absolute nonsense; and the main thing that I am annoyed about is that this is a great nuisance to Savitsky; they always do this – very fond of putting down, so that a young man does not become conceited." In spite of these obstacles, the painting Repair Work was sent to the exhibition in Paris, where it was well received by the critics. In particular, the author of the article in the collection Les chefs-d'oeuvre d'art à l'exposition universelle ("Masterpieces of Art at the Universal Exhibition") among the exhibits presented in the Russian exposition placed particular emphasis on Kuindzhi's Ukrainian Night, Repin's Burlaks on the Volga and Savitsky's Repair Works. In the catalogue of the Paris exhibition, Savitsky's canvas was listed under the French title Travaux de terrassement sur une ligne de chemin de fer (C. A. Savitzki).
Subsequently, the painting Repair Work on the Railway was exhibited at a number of exhibitions, including the 1923, 1955 and 1971–1972 exhibitions held at the State Tretyakov Gallery (Savitsky's personal exhibition, organised in 1955, was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the artist's death). The canvas also participated in several exhibitions outside the former USSR.
Description
The painting depicts the hard work of the labourers carrying earth and stones to repair the railway. Most of them appear to be seasonal labourers recruited from the peasantry. The workers are exhausted by the gruelling work, watched over by the overseer in the background. He is a foreman, whose image is reminiscent of the contractor in Nikolay Nekrasov's poem The Railway. However, there are no direct analogies to Nekrasov's characters.