Admiralty 1869

Ilya Repin’s ‘Admiralty’ was made in 1869, using oil paints on what looks to be a canvas support. The relative ease with which paint can be blended on a canvas surface is evident in the atmospheric haziness that Repin has achieved. Oil paint, of course, is a deeply implicated material; it involves the extraction of raw materials from the earth, complex industrial processing, and specialized distribution networks. This gives it an inherently capitalist dimension, as does canvas, made of woven linen or cotton. The materiality of oil paint also allowed for a gestural application, visible in the strokes that define the water and the architectural details. This was crucial for the Impressionist painters who followed Repin. With this approach, they could achieve a sense of immediacy and capture fleeting moments in time. The labor and resources involved in making these materials are often invisible. It’s worth considering how these factors contribute to the work's meaning and how they connect to broader issues of labor, politics, and consumption.