Aleksandr Benua's critical articles devoted to the seventh exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists, published in the newspaper Rech' (Speech), acknowledge the leading position of the Union in Russian art, but accuse young artists associated with Zolotoe Runo, such as Larionov, Kuznetsov and Iakulov, of being 'possessed by epidemic madness' and of imitating the Fauves. His articles contribute to the break-up of the Union and the secession from it of those artists associated with World of Art.