Savrasov, Shishkin and Levitan: Russian Landscape Heroes
My study focused on the interaction of realism with landscape and its depiction in nineteenth century Russian art. I was seeking to uncover the artistic milieus and cultural abodes from which the Russian masters of this tradition emerged, and discover the circumstances which led these artists on a search for a representation of nature which was truly their own, and which embodied the national aspirations and anxieties which permeated their age with uncommon potency.