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1878–1890 · Loopbaan

the Peredvizhniki

From 1878 he belonged to the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (the Peredvizhniki): he took part in its activity in 1878–1890 and exhibited with it until 1897; he was admitted for the realism and sharp social subjects of his genre paintings.

1884

His son Mikhail becomes the model for the Christ Child in the altar image

In 1884 his son Mikhail was born; he became the model for the infant in the Virgin’s arms in the altar image of St Vladimir’s Cathedral, and later was an astronomer and then a priest of the Russian emigration in Prague.

1884–1889

Friendship with Mikhail Vrubel in Kiev

While living in Kiev he became friends with Mikhail Vrubel, who was also working on the cathedral; while they worked together Vasnetsov taught the younger artist a great deal.

1885

Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Snow Maiden”: Berendey’s palace

In 1885 he created sets and costumes for Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Snow Maiden” at Savva Mamontov’s Private Opera — a three-dimensional design for Berendey’s palace, whose colours came from folk festivities in Vyatka and Moscow; in 1881 he had already prepared sketches and sets for a home production of Ostrovsky’s play.

1885–1895

The controversy over the Kiev frescoes: Stasov, Benois, Filosofov

Contemporaries disagreed: Dmitry Filosofov saw in the frescoes “the first bridge over the 200-year-old gulf” between classes of Russian society, Stasov a sacrilegious play with the religious feelings of the people, and Alexandre Benois a “sumptuous and frivolous féerie”; Vasnetsov himself saw the cathedral as a “Bible for the poor”.