First literary attempts by artist I. Repin

In the second half of the 1880s a circle gathered in Petersburg at the initiative of Ilya Repin that seriously affected not only the literary taste of the artist, but also gave rise to his own literary activity. If I. Repin was the most representative figure among the painters in this company, young poet Konstantin Fofanov was the literary center there, Fofanov was an unusual person. Writer Vsevolod Garshin was another unusual person in Repin's circle. The artist helped both of these writers and saw lines of new folk art in their works. Repin intuitively felt need of changes in art, he could feel the appearing progressive phenomena. And "the barbarous" in art was such a phenomenon for him. In 1893 I. Repin published "Letters on Art" and "Notes by an Artist", which reflected his new ideas. The style of the verbal expression of the artist is original. He did not write draft copies, but created semantic improvisations, like picturesque sketches. "Notes by an Artist" is the logical continuation of "Letters on Art". These letters are not addressed to anyone particular; they are written by impressions of a trip abroad. The first articles by I. Repin had distinctive features. At first sight, he states thoughts inconsistently, chaotically and ineptly. It is colloquial speech with all its features. We listen to a very emotional story, all personal features of the story-teller are traced well. At the same time, the style of his writing has very deep roots. Articles by I. Repin cannot be attributed to a certain genre of literature. There are features of Russian folklore ''skaz'', ''hozhdeniye'' (travel), traveling notes and letters to a friend. In contemporary literature I.Repin looked for the features of "the barbarous", special, sensual, a little wild, strange, and still national. Therefore, he particularly appreciated the works of Nikolay Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Lev Tolstoy, Alexander Fet, Vsevolod Garshin and Konstantin Fofanov. The literary heritage of the artist from the philological point of view is studied considerably to a lesser extent than his paintings, but represents undoubted interest not only as a source of information on the life of the artist, but also as works of literary art.

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