Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (June 8 (O.S. May 27), 1837, Ostrogozhsk – April 6 (O.S. March 24), 1887, Saint Petersburg; Russian: Ива́н Никола́евич Крамско́й) was a Russian painter and art critic. He was an intellectual leader of the Russian democratic art movement in 1860-1880.
Kramskoi came from a poor petty-bourgeois family. From 1857 to 1863 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts; he reacted against academic art and was an initiator of the "revolt of fourteen" which ended with the expulsion from the Academy of a group of its graduates, who organized the Artel of Artists ("Артель художников").
Influenced by the ideas of the Russian revolutionary democrats, Kramskoi asserted the high public duty of the artist, principles of realism, and the moral substance and nationality of art. He became one of the main founders and ideologists of the Company of Itinerant Art Exhibitions (or Peredvizhniki). In 1863–1868 he taught at the drawing school of a society for the promotion of applied arts. He created a gallery of portraits of important Russian writers, scientists, artists and public figures (Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 1873, Ivan Shishkin, 1873, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879, Sergei Botkin, 1880) in which expressive simplicity of composition and clarity of depiction emphasize profound psychological elements of character. Kramskoi's democratic ideals found their brightest expression in his portraits of peasants, which portrayed a wealth of character-details in representatives of the common people.
Vladimir Andreyevich Atlantov (born 19 February 1939) is a Russian operatic tenor.
Born in Leningrad, Atlantov is the son of bass Andrey Petrovich (1906–1971) who sang in both the Kirov and Maly opera theaters of Leningrad. His mother, Maria Aleksandrovna Yelizarova, wasca lyric soprano who performed in the same opera theaters, taught, and later was a vocal consultant in the Kirov theater. She had been awarded the title of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR. His wife Tamara Andreyevna Milashkina (b. 1934) a soprano, is also an opera singer. She had been awarded the title the People's Artist of the USSR as well as the State Award of the Russian SSR. They have a daughter Lada (b. 1963)
Atlantov grew up in the wings of the opera theater. At the age of 6 he joined the Glinka choir school and in 1957 he was accepted in the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1962, while still a student, he was hired as an intern in the Kirov theater. The same year he was awarded the silver medal at the Glinka vocal competition and was allowed to go to Milan, Italy to practice in La Scala. Together with other Russian singers he studied with E. Barra and E Piazza. In two years at La Scala Atlantov learned the parts of the Duke in Rigoletto, Rodolfo in La boheme, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, and Cavaradossi in Tosca.
Todd Norman Russell (born December 22, 1966) is a Canadian politician and was the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador from 2005 to 2011.
Russell was born in William's Harbour, Labrador. He is of Inuit descent and was the president of Nunatukavut until his by-election win. He was educated at Memorial University in St. John's.
On May 24, 2005, Russell won a by-election in the riding of Labrador, vacated by the death of Liberal MP Lawrence O'Brien. His victory consolidated the standing of the federal Liberals in the minority parliament, which made it easier for the Liberals to pass budget legislation. He was re-elected in the 2006 and 2008 elections and served as the Critic for Aboriginal Affairs in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet.
In the 2011 election, Russell was defeated by Conservative Peter Penashue.