Vasily.

I like art… I’ll post some pleasant art… Since I mentioned Dmitri in my last post, I’ll move on to another Russian favorite: Vasily Vereshchagin.

Brief biography.
Vasily Vereshchagin (1842 – 1904) started off studying at naval school, but after graduating he heeded his true calling; painting. He began his art studies in S:t Petersburg and further developed his craft in Paris. In 1867 he participated in a Russian military expedition in Turkestan, during which he was awarded for his heroism at the siege of Samarkand. After returning, and establishing himself as a promising artist, he decided to travel the orient. Upon his return two years later, the Russo-Turkish war broke out, in which he once again fought for the Imperial Russian army. These experiences would prove to have a great impact on his art and on his return he became a renowned and appreciated, but also controversial, painter. During the Russo-Japanese war he was invited to board the Russian flagship Petropavlovsk, that unfortunately hit a minefield sunk, taking Vereshchagin with it.

Vereshchagins oriental paintings provide a doorway to a lost era, much like Albert Kahns photographs did years later. Many of his paintings were provocative and controversial, providing a record of his travels and experiences, without shying away from the horrors and injustices he had witnessed.