Artists of past and present ARTISTS OF PAST AND PRESENT | Page 138

Vasily Perov
Vasily Perov was born on January 2, 1834 in Tobolsk, Russian Empire.
After completing a course at Arzamas uyezd school, Perov was transferred to the Alexander
Stupin art school also located in Arzamas. In 1853, Perov was admitted to the Moscow School of
Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow, where he learned from several renowned
artists. In 1856, Perov was awarded with a minor silver medal for his sketch of a boy's head,
presented to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Later the Academy gave him many other awards: in
1857 a major silver medal for Commissary of Rural Police Investigating, a minor golden medal for
the Scene on a Grave and the Son of a Dyak Promoted to First Rank, and in 1861 a major golden
medal for Sermon in a Village.
In 1862, after receiving the right to a state-paid trip abroad together with a golden medal, Perov
travelled to Western Europe, visiting several German cities, and then Paris. During this time he
created paintings depicting scenes from European streetlife, such as the Vendor of statuettes,
the Savoyard, the Organ-Grinder in Paris, the Musicians and the Bystanders, and the Paris
Ragpickers. Returning to Moscow early, from 1865 to 1871 Perov created his best known
pieces, The Queue at The Fountain, A Meal in the Monastery, Last Journey, Troika, the Lent
Monday, Arrival of a New Governess in a Merchant House, the Drawing Teacher, A Scene at the
Railroad, the Last Tavern at Town Gate, the Birdcatcher, the Fisherman, and the Hunters at Rest.
In 1866, Perov received the title of an academician, and in 1871 the position of a Professor at
Moscow School of Arts, Sculpture and Architecture. It was around this period that Perov joined
the Peredvizhniki, a collective of Russian realist painters formed as an artists cooperative in
protest of academic restrictions.