Emil Wiesel
Encyclopedia
Emíl Wíesel – a painter, museum curator and a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts
, Russia (since 1914), organizer of international art exhibitions, councilor of Hermitage
and Russian museum
, Legion of Honor holder; during soviet times he was an expert in Russian and Western fine arts and sculpture in Glavnauka (central administrative board of science, science-artistic and museum institutions) museum department.
Father – Oskar Borisovich Wiesel (Wiesel Oscar, Sigismund) was born in Russia in 1826, he graduated from Prince Bezborodko's Gymnasium of Higher Learning in Nizhyn (nowadays Nizhyn Gogol State University), worked in the Russian Ministry of Finance, repeatedly visited Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris on behalf of their Majesties tsars Alexander II
and Alexander III
.
Mother – Marie Christine Pointin (Pointin, Marie, Christine) was born in 1835. Her father Fransois Pointin from French province Picardy was notable for building the silver iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg) and was awarded the Order of St. Anna
by graf Yuliy Pompeevich Litte (ital., Giulio Renato de Litta Visconti Arese).
Brother – Oskar Oskarovich Wiesel (Wiesel Oscar) was born in Russia in 1864. Graduated as a lawyer, worked in Spitsbergen and in Switzerland as a Russian consul, later as a general consul in Italy (Napoli) in rank of acting state councilor.
Wife – Alexandra Emilievna Straus (Straus Alexandra, Hermina) (1866–1939) studied in Kiev gymnasium and passed a course of applied art at the Imperator’s artists encouragement society in St.Petersburg in the fields of “china-ware painting” and “wood carving”.
, the physics and mathematics faculty. His interest in drawing and painting induced him at the same time to attend evening lessons at school of the Imperator’s artists encouragement society, which was followed by the entering the Imperial Academy of Arts. Subsequently proceeded his education in Munich at Alexander von Wagner’s
studio. There he mastered the drawing technique typical for this school, which includes the well-defined outline and highly detailed image.
Later, together with his friend, also an artist, Ivan Endogurov, moved to Paris. There they were admitted to Fernand Cormon’s
studio, which was famous and popular during that period. It was the place where academism could contest with strengthening impressionism. Cormon’s classes were attended by such distinctive artists as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
and Vincent van Gogh
. It was Cormon who showed Wiesel new graphic methods that became a basis of his impressionistic picture technique that relied not on the outline but on treatment of light and shade.
, academician Alexander Karpinsky, astronomer Sergey Glazenap, artist Ilya Repin, physician Gundobin N.P., singer Leonid Sobinov, ballet dancers Marie Petipa
and Galina Ulanova
, composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
, Ilya Glazunov
and others. On demand he created portraits of the presidents of the Academy of Arts, tsar’s family members, and later Lenin. A particular place in his heritage is given to numerous pictures performed in his impressionistic manner reflecting his love for St.Petersturg and its surroundings: impressions on the events, journeys and meetings with various people.
The portraits in oil paint and a huge series of pictures of Vladimir Sofronitsky are run through with lyricism. Wiesel worked in painting and graphic arts using oil, watercolor, gouache, Indian ink, Italian and lead pencils. He proved himself as a master in portrait genre, landscape, interior imaging, so as a scenic artist.
Wiesel’s pictures are stored and exhibited in museums of Moscow, St.Petersbug, Saratov
and Kazan
. Theatre museum in St.Petersburg keeps his watercolor and pencil scenes and actors sketches. A part of Wiesel’s documents, correspondence and pictures are kept by the Academy of Arts, the Bibliotheca named after Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, the St.Petersburg History Museum. The first personal exhibition was held at the date of 100th anniversary in 1966 in the Academy of Arts Museum. More than 160 Wiesel’s pictures were exhibited in 1998 in Kazan Museum of Fine Arts together with other pictures of the members of Wiesel dynasty.
In 1900 Wiesel went to Paris as a representative of Russia to run the Russian department of fine arts at international exhibition. French government appreciated his activities and granted him with a Legion of Honor. Later he organized Russian departments of fine arts at the international exhibitions in Munich (1901), Brussels (1910), Rome (1911), and Turin (1913). In 1914 Emil Wiesel was chosen to become a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He worked as a Russian and Western fine arts and sculpture expert in the committee in Glavnauka (central administrative board of science, science-artistic and museum institutions) museum department, so as a councilor of Hermitage and Russian museums.
During the revolution Emil Wiesel evacuated the Academy of Arts Museum’s collections to Moscow in order to save the masterpieces, and later returned them back to Pertograd (St.Petersburg).
Emil Wiesel also performed the scientific work: he performed reports and wrote articles in mass media on the topic of museums activities. He participated in cataloguing the exhibits of Academy of Arts Museum (1915). There survived his fundamental scientific work “The interrelation of visual perceptions and fine arts attitude” (1930).
The Siege of Leningrad happened to be the last challenge to Emil Wiesel. He died at the age of 77 years in 1943.
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...
, Russia (since 1914), organizer of international art exhibitions, councilor of Hermitage
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
and Russian museum
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg....
, Legion of Honor holder; during soviet times he was an expert in Russian and Western fine arts and sculpture in Glavnauka (central administrative board of science, science-artistic and museum institutions) museum department.
Family
Emil Oskarovich Wiesel (Wiesel Emil, Anton, Joseph) – baron, the son of Acting State Councilor (rank in civil service in pre-1917 Russia), descended from German-Austrian Wiesel family.Father – Oskar Borisovich Wiesel (Wiesel Oscar, Sigismund) was born in Russia in 1826, he graduated from Prince Bezborodko's Gymnasium of Higher Learning in Nizhyn (nowadays Nizhyn Gogol State University), worked in the Russian Ministry of Finance, repeatedly visited Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris on behalf of their Majesties tsars Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
and Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
.
Mother – Marie Christine Pointin (Pointin, Marie, Christine) was born in 1835. Her father Fransois Pointin from French province Picardy was notable for building the silver iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg) and was awarded the Order of St. Anna
Order of St. Anna
The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
by graf Yuliy Pompeevich Litte (ital., Giulio Renato de Litta Visconti Arese).
Brother – Oskar Oskarovich Wiesel (Wiesel Oscar) was born in Russia in 1864. Graduated as a lawyer, worked in Spitsbergen and in Switzerland as a Russian consul, later as a general consul in Italy (Napoli) in rank of acting state councilor.
Wife – Alexandra Emilievna Straus (Straus Alexandra, Hermina) (1866–1939) studied in Kiev gymnasium and passed a course of applied art at the Imperator’s artists encouragement society in St.Petersburg in the fields of “china-ware painting” and “wood carving”.
Education
Emil Wiesel graduated from St.Petersburg UniversitySaint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
, the physics and mathematics faculty. His interest in drawing and painting induced him at the same time to attend evening lessons at school of the Imperator’s artists encouragement society, which was followed by the entering the Imperial Academy of Arts. Subsequently proceeded his education in Munich at Alexander von Wagner’s
Alexander von Wagner
Alexander originally Sándor von Wagner was a Hungarian painter.- Biography :Wagner was born in Pesth. After graduating from the Real-Gymnasium in his hometown at the age of nineteen, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna, where he was a student of Henrik Weber...
studio. There he mastered the drawing technique typical for this school, which includes the well-defined outline and highly detailed image.
Later, together with his friend, also an artist, Ivan Endogurov, moved to Paris. There they were admitted to Fernand Cormon’s
Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France....
studio, which was famous and popular during that period. It was the place where academism could contest with strengthening impressionism. Cormon’s classes were attended by such distinctive artists as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
and Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
. It was Cormon who showed Wiesel new graphic methods that became a basis of his impressionistic picture technique that relied not on the outline but on treatment of light and shade.
Creative work
Wiesel was recognized as a mature artist after his and Endoguriv’s paintings were started to exhibit in Paris Salons (1894, 1901). At the beginning of the 20th century Emil Wiesel performed a portrait series of his eminent contemporaries: graf Vladimir KokovtsevVladimir Kokovtsov
Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov was a Russian prime minister during the reign of Nicholas II of Russia.- Biography :...
, academician Alexander Karpinsky, astronomer Sergey Glazenap, artist Ilya Repin, physician Gundobin N.P., singer Leonid Sobinov, ballet dancers Marie Petipa
Marie Petipa
Marie Mariusovna Petipa was a noted Russian ballerina. She was the daughter of Marius Petipa and Maria Petipa. Her debut was at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1875 in Le Dahlia bleu and danced until 1911, mainly in the character dance repertoire...
and Galina Ulanova
Galina Ulanova
Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....
, composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, Ilya Glazunov
Ilya Glazunov
Ilya Glazunov , contemporary Russian artist from Saint Petersburg, born in 1930. He holds the title of People's Artist of Russia, and serves as a rector at the Fine Arts Academy in Moscow...
and others. On demand he created portraits of the presidents of the Academy of Arts, tsar’s family members, and later Lenin. A particular place in his heritage is given to numerous pictures performed in his impressionistic manner reflecting his love for St.Petersturg and its surroundings: impressions on the events, journeys and meetings with various people.
The portraits in oil paint and a huge series of pictures of Vladimir Sofronitsky are run through with lyricism. Wiesel worked in painting and graphic arts using oil, watercolor, gouache, Indian ink, Italian and lead pencils. He proved himself as a master in portrait genre, landscape, interior imaging, so as a scenic artist.
Wiesel’s pictures are stored and exhibited in museums of Moscow, St.Petersbug, Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
and Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
. Theatre museum in St.Petersburg keeps his watercolor and pencil scenes and actors sketches. A part of Wiesel’s documents, correspondence and pictures are kept by the Academy of Arts, the Bibliotheca named after Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, the St.Petersburg History Museum. The first personal exhibition was held at the date of 100th anniversary in 1966 in the Academy of Arts Museum. More than 160 Wiesel’s pictures were exhibited in 1998 in Kazan Museum of Fine Arts together with other pictures of the members of Wiesel dynasty.
Activities: museums, exhibitions, organizational and science work
In 1894 Emil Wiesel was invited to become an assistant of Academy of Arts Museum curator. That was a Wiesel’s initiative to found new departments in Academy of Arts Museum. He took part in Russian Museum’s collection development (1898). He reissued a new charter, held reorganization, supported provincial museums launches and controlled their activities.In 1900 Wiesel went to Paris as a representative of Russia to run the Russian department of fine arts at international exhibition. French government appreciated his activities and granted him with a Legion of Honor. Later he organized Russian departments of fine arts at the international exhibitions in Munich (1901), Brussels (1910), Rome (1911), and Turin (1913). In 1914 Emil Wiesel was chosen to become a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He worked as a Russian and Western fine arts and sculpture expert in the committee in Glavnauka (central administrative board of science, science-artistic and museum institutions) museum department, so as a councilor of Hermitage and Russian museums.
During the revolution Emil Wiesel evacuated the Academy of Arts Museum’s collections to Moscow in order to save the masterpieces, and later returned them back to Pertograd (St.Petersburg).
Emil Wiesel also performed the scientific work: he performed reports and wrote articles in mass media on the topic of museums activities. He participated in cataloguing the exhibits of Academy of Arts Museum (1915). There survived his fundamental scientific work “The interrelation of visual perceptions and fine arts attitude” (1930).
Exile to Kazakhstan and Siege of Leningrad (Leningrad Blockade)
During the period of Stalin’s repressions Emil Wiesel, his wife, his son Oscar Wiesel (ethno-linguist, professor of Institute of Oriental Studies in Leningrad (St.Petersburg)) with his wife Vera Sholpo, and Emil’s grandson Andrey Wiesel were sent to Kazakhstan, to village Chelkar (1935). Despite financial and living difficulties, Emil Wiesel and Vera Sholpo, both artists, continued creating portraits and landscapes, now on the Central Asian plot.Emil Wiesel and his wife managed to return to Leningrad in 2 years thanks to close family friend Vladimir Sofronitsky. One year later his son Oscar Wiesel with family also left Kazakhstan. Since they were not allowed to settle in Moscow or Leningrad, they chose Kazan as a place of living, a city with the university, rich with museums, theaters and intellectual and artistic life, where both an artist and a linguist could find a job.The Siege of Leningrad happened to be the last challenge to Emil Wiesel. He died at the age of 77 years in 1943.
External links
- Biograthy at artru.info (in Russian)
- Irina Lobasheva. Fine Art collection of Wiesel denasty at museum.ru(in Russian)
- Kabuki Tour in Russia 1928: Sketches of Costumes by Emile Wiesel and Tatyana Wiesel