About this artwork
In the 1870s Carrick travelled to the Russian interior, visiting Simbirsk on the banks of the Volga, some seven hundred miles from St Petersburg. Here, in Russia's agricultural heartland, he encountered rural communities whose situation had improved little since the abolition of serfdom - a form of feudal bonding - in 1861. Carrick photographed the peasants at rest and in the fields, emphasising what he perceived to be the dignified and virtuous aspects of their labour.
Updated before 2020
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artist:William Carrick (31-12-1826 - 1878) Scottish
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title:Boatmen, River Volga
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date created:1875
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materials:Albumen print
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measurements:9.90 x 13.80 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1984
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accession number:PGP 44.1
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gallery:
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subject:
William Carrick
William Carrick
Born in Edinburgh, Carrick spent most of his life in Russia, where his family had been timber merchants since the previous century. After studying architecture at the St Petersburg Academy of Art, he went to Italy, returning to St Petersburg in 1856, only to discover the collapse of the timber...