Book review: Ilya Repin Great Collection

It feels like I can't get enough of Repin. Here is a review of the book I've bought recently - Ilya Repin Great Collection (published in 2007).
The books comes in a case and has a paper cover.

The front of the box, the back and the front of the cover (it has the same illustrations as the back):

Happy me with a book

What I like about this book: 

+ A large number of works.
I mean, LARGE. (I've just checked for you - 448 illustrations)

+ There are studies and sketches for the most famous paintings.

The painting "Religious Procession in Kursk Province"

Next page is dedicated to studies for this painting (Sorry, the photo is flipped)

+ Names of the paintings are given in both russian and english languages.

What I don't like:

- Colors
Some illustrations are too dark. Not a lot of them, of course, but I have one question - How could they print some of the most famous works in such a bad quality? Did they think that we've already seen all these masterpieces a million times, so there is no need to take care of them?!

Here is how the portrait of Mussorgsky (left) looks in the book

Here is how it looks at the Google Art Project 

- Not bilingual
There is a biography of Repin in english, however, it's not a bilingual book - 90 pages of russian text vs 2 pages of summary in english.

- No close-ups
One of the reviewer (on russian website) mentioned that there are a lot of details of the main features, the exact parts you would like to see closer. I was intrigued, because I'm one of those people who like to see the brushwork as close as possible. However, there are NO close-ups. I guess, the reviewer confused portrait studies (etudes) with details.

Here is how I imagine the details should look like
(from Taschen's book Caravaggio. The complete Works).

There are no similar close-ups in the Repin's book
(it's still the Taschen's book - Caravaggio. The complete Works)

- The price
At first, this point was in pros, but then I convert rubles into dollars and it turned out that for this amount of money you can buy Caravaggio: Complete Works on Amazon (oh, I want this book so badly).
The price for Ilya Repin Great Collection is around 65 dollars. I've bought it on the Black Friday sale with a special discount, so it was only 40 dollars.

- Availability
I didn't find this book on amazon.

- The size
The book doesn't fit in shelves, it's way too tall.

Photos:

Summary: 

It's not a book from Taschen and it feels, but Ilya Repin Great Collection book is still awesome.
I've mentioned a lot of negatives, but there is one point that turns the cons into dust - the number of works. It's called Great Collection and it really is.

This book is a perfect gift to every Repin's admirer.

Repin, my study and his paintings

I have to admit - I'm absolutely in love with Repin, as an artist and as a person. Here is a quick study of his portrait of Mussorgsky I did recently.

I could talk about him for a long time, so I'll better show a few of his paintings.

Portrait of Tretyakov (1883)

When I see this painting, I can't stop staring at the hand - it's done so masterfully, it has a character.

Portrait of Tretyakov (1901)

Mudrogel in the pose of Pavel Tretyakov in halls of the gallery (1904)

Aleksander III receiving rural district elders in the yard of Petrovsky Palace in Moscow (1885-1886)

The painting at the Tretyakov gallery

Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1883)

I remember that this post is about Repin, but here is a very similar painting by Illarion Pryanishnikov, he was also (like Repin) a member of group called Peredvizhniki (The Itinerants, The Wanderers).

Religious Procession (1893) by Illarion Pryanishnikov

And finally, yesterday I saw a book called "Tretyakov gallery", the quality of it was outstanding. Sounds like a perfect Christmas present to myself!