Book excerpt: The 1860s were marked by a strong realistic movement in Russian painting. Artists became interested in depicting the lives and customs of their fellow countrymen. This new art form was mostly the work of the Itinerants group, who wanted to take art to the people and paint the outdoors. Mikhail Guerman traces the converging lines of Russian and French art in the immensely fertile period of the late 19th and early 20th century.