Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1832, and the Palace School of Architecture, established in 1749 by Dmitry Ukhtomsky
Dmitry Ukhtomsky
Prince Dmitry Vasilyevich Ukhtomsky, Дмитрий Васильевич Ухтомский was the chief architect of Moscow, Russia during the reign of Empress Elizabeth.-Biography:...
. By the end of 19th century, it vied with the state-run St. Petersburg Academy of Arts for the title of the largest art school in the country. In the 20th century, art and architecture separated again, into the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow (Московский Художественный Институт имени Сурикова) and the Moscow Architectural Institute (Московский Архитектурный Институт); the latter occupies the historical School buildings in Rozhdestvenka Street.
History
The Palace School of Architecture goes back to the classes of Dmitry UkhtomskyDmitry Ukhtomsky
Prince Dmitry Vasilyevich Ukhtomsky, Дмитрий Васильевич Ухтомский was the chief architect of Moscow, Russia during the reign of Empress Elizabeth.-Biography:...
that operated in 1749-1764. Twenty years, the classes were reinstated by Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Kazakov
Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov was a Russian Neoclassical architect. Kazakov was one of the most influential Muscovite architects during the reign of Catherine II, completing numerous private residences, two royal palaces, two hospitals, Moscow University, and the Kremlin Senate...
, and in 1804 acquired the title of Kremlin College, later Palace School of Architecture. Graduates were awarded the title of Architect's Assistant and had to earn their own licenses through later work.
Art Classes. The private art college was established in 1832 by Egor Makovsky and A.S. Yastrebilov as Classes of Nature, and renamed Art Classes in 1833. In 1843 the classes were incorporated as the School of Painting and Sculpture of the Moscow Art Society.
In 1865, the Palace School was incorporated into School of Painting and Sculpture; next year, the expanded institution was renamed Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. The School was unique in Imperial Russia, being a private college in a country were education was primarily state-managed. Its diplomas (excluding the few highest-ranking graduates) were ranked inferior to those of the Academy of Arts; probably unimportant in fine arts, this division was a serious burden for graduates in architecture. The School tried to close the gap through acquiring a state charter in 1896, but failed.
After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
of 1917, the school was transformed in 1918 into the Second Free State Art Workshop (Svomas
Svomas
Svomas or SVOMAS , an abbreviation for Svobodnye gosudarstvennye khudozhestvennye masterskiye , was the name of a series of art schools founded in several Russian cities after the October Revolution....
). Art workshops eventually disintegrated. In 1939, Igor Grabar
Igor Grabar
Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar was a Russian post-impressionist painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich...
launched the new college of fine arts, which acquired the name of Surikov
Vasily Surikov
Vasily Ivanovich Surikov was the foremost Russian painter of large-scale historical subjects...
Institute in 1948. Architectural education initially concentrated around VKhUTEMAS
VKhUTEMAS
Vkhutemas ) was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas. The workshops were established by a decree from Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet government, "to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications for...
and MVTU and was organized into the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1933.
Arts
More democratic in comparison with the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, the school played an important role in developing RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n national realistic
Realism (visual arts)
Realism in the visual arts is a style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. The term is used in different senses in art history; it may mean the same as illusionism, the representation of subjects with visual mimesis or verisimilitude, or may mean an emphasis on the actuality of...
art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Admissions were based primarily on artistic merits, allowing students without formal high school diplomas. For example, Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
joined the School at the age of 15, having only two years of primary education; his class of 11 was chosen from 270 applicants. Melnikov completed a diploma in Arts after 9 years of training (1905–1914) and a diploma in Architecture three years later (Khan-Magomedov).
One of the leader instructors of sculpture was Sergei Volnukhin
Sergei Volnukhin
Sergei Mikhailovich Volnukhin was a Russian sculptor, best known for his instruction to a generation of Russian artists at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, teaching alongside Prince Paolo Troubetzkoy....
. Notable alumni of the school include Léopold Survage
Léopold Survage
Léopold Survage was an important French painter of Russian-Danish-Finnish descent born in Vilmanstrand, Finland .-Biography:At a young age, Survage was...
, Igor Babailov
Igor Babailov
Igor Valerievich Babailov is a Russian-born American portrait artist, known for his commissioned portraits of global leaders, celebrities and distinguished individuals. Some of his notable portraits include those of: Pope Benedict XVI, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, United States Supreme...
, Vasily Perov
Vasily Perov
Vasily Grigorevich Perov ; 2 January 1834 – 10 June 1882) was a Russian painter and one of the founding members of Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist painters....
, Alexei Savrasov
Alexei Savrasov
Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov was a Russian landscape painter and creator of the lyrical landscape style.-Biography:Savrasov was born into the family of a merchant...
, Illarion Pryanishnikov
Illarion Pryanishnikov
Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Peredvizhniki artistic cooperative.Illarion Pryanishnikov was born in the village of Timashovo in a family of merchants...
, Vladimir Makovsky
Vladimir Makovsky
Vladimir Yegorovich Makovsky 1846, Moscow - 21 February 1920, Petrograd) was a Russian painter, art collector, and teacher.Makovsky was the son of collector, Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky, who was one of the founders of the Moscow Art School. Vladimir had two brothers, Nikolai Makovsky and Konstantin...
, Isaac Levitan
Isaac Levitan
Isaac Ilyich Levitan was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape".-Youth:...
, S.A. and K.A. Korovin
Konstantin Korovin
Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was a leading Russian Impressionist painter.-Biography:Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as "peasants of Vladimir Gubernia". His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts...
, Abram Arkhipov
Abram Arkhipov
Abram Efimovich Arkhipov was a Russian realist artist, who was a member of the art collective The Wanderers as well as the Union of Russian Artists....
, Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov was a major representative of religious Symbolism in Russian art. He was a pupil of Pavel Tchistyakov at the Imperial Academy of Arts, but later allied himself with the group of artists known as the Peredvizhniki...
, Anna Golubkina
Anna Golubkina
Anna Semyonovna Golubkina was a Russian impressionist sculptor. As the first Russian sculptor to receive the Paris Salon prize, she is regarded as the first female Russian sculptor of note. Golubkina also had an exhibition at the prestigious Alexander III Museum...
, Sergey Konenkov
Sergey Konenkov
Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov was a famous Russian and Soviet sculptor. He was often called "the Russian Rodin".-Early life:...
, Boris Korolev
Boris Korolev
-General facts:Korolév , Borís Danílovich – a great Soviet sculptor-monumentalist, teacher and an outstanding public figure. As an artist Korolyóv stood at the origins of the Soviet school of sculpture, its mainstream, but he also was one of the leading figures in the avant-garde movement...
, Feodor Rojankovsky
Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky
Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky , also known as Rojan, was a Russian émigré illustrator. He is best known for his illustrations for children's books, and conversely, for his erotic illustrations.-Biography:...
, and Alexandru Plămădeală
Alexandru Plamadeala
Alexandru Plamădeală was a Moldovan sculptor. He was the artist responsible for the creation of the Stephen the Great Monument in Chişinău .He graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture....
.
Architecture
A study of 100 architects working in Moscow in 1890s-1910s by Maria Naschokina shows that more than half of them graduated from the School. The fact that most School graduates lacked a full state diploma was a major drawback in state employment, but irrelevant for the private clients that dominated construction market in Moscow (Naschokina, p. 43). Thus, architectural profession in Moscow and Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
were clearly divided between graduates of the Moscow School and the Saint Petersburg schools (Imperial Academy of Arts
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...
and Institute of Civil Engineers).
The students had to demonstrate professional achievement during their education and were rated according to their graduate assignment. The best, earning a Large Silver medal, were rewarded with an official title of an Architect, sufficient for private order and state employment. The next tier, with a Small Silver medal, received a construction management license, sufficient for taking private orders but not state jobs. The rest did not qualify and had to return with new graduate projects (Naschokina, pp. 44–45). As an alternative, they could apply to the Imperial Academy and complete the courses at Saint Petersburg; the Academy awarded construction management licenses to all graduates. There were few moves in the opposite direction (Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
was expelled from the Academy and completed his license exams in Moscow). Some, like Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky
Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Oltarzhevsky was a Russian Soviet architect. He was one of the first Soviet experts in skyscraper construction, notable for his collaboration with Arkady Mordvinov on Hotel Ukraina...
or Ilya Bondarenko
Ilya Bondarenko
Ilya Yevgrafovich Bondarenko was a Russian-Soviet architect, historian and preservationist, notable for developing a particular style of Old Believers architecture in 1905-1917, blending Northern Russian revival with Art Nouveau.-Education and early works:...
, completed training overseas. Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....
was expelled from the School in 1878 and acquired the license only in 1894.
These difficulties extended architectural training, from admission to professional license, to 10–15 years and even more; graduates were typically mature men in their thirties, with a decade of practical experience. There were, however, rare exceptions like Ivan Mashkov
Ivan Mashkov
Ivan Pavlovich Mashkov was a Russian architect and preservationist, notable for surveying and restoration of Dormition Cathedral of Moscow Kremlin, Novodevichy Convent and other medieval buildings. His best known extant building is Sokol luxury Art Nouveau apartment building in Kuznetsky Most...
, who earned a license at the age of 19 and completed his first projects at the age of 23 (Naschokina, p. 330-335).
Other notable alumni include: Ilya
Ilya Golosov
Ilya Alexandrovich Golosov was a Russian Soviet architect. A leader of Constructivism in 1925-1931, Ilya Golosov later developed his own style of early stalinist architecture known as postconstructivism...
and Panteleimon Golosov
Panteleimon Golosov
Panteleimon Alexandrovich Golosov was a Russian Constructivist architect and brother of Ilya Golosov.-Career:Golosov graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1911. From 1918 he taught at the State Free Artist Studios , then at VKhUTEMAS and at the Moscow...
, Roman Klein
Roman Klein
Roman Ivanovich Klein , born Robert Julius Klein, was a Russian architect and educator, best known for his Neoclassical Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Klein, an eclectic, was one of the most prolific architects of his period, second only to Fyodor Schechtel...
, Nikolai Ladovsky
Nikolai Ladovsky
Nikolai Alexandrovich Ladovsky was a Russian avant-garde architect and educator, leader of the rationalist movement in 1920s architecture, an approach emphasizing human perception of space and shape...
, Alexander Pomerantsev
Alexander Pomerantsev
Alexander Nikanorovich Pomerantsev was a Russian architect and educator responsible for some of the most ambitious architectural projects realized in Imperial Russia and Bulgaria at the turn of the 20th century...
, Anatoli Efimoff
Anatoli Efimoff
- Early Years in Russia :The artist Anatole Alexandrovich Efimoff, Anatolii Aleksandrovich Efimov 1897 - 1981, was born November 21, 1897 to well-to-do parents in the Russian city of Ufa in the Urals. Anatole’s artistic and musical talents were recognized at a young age, and in 1906 he entered the...
, and Vladimir Sherwood
Vladimir Vladimirovich Sherwood
Vladimir Vladimirovich Sherwood , was a Russian architect who worked in Moscow in 1895-1914 in Art Nouveau style and modernized classics variant of Russian neoclassical revival that predated modernist architecture of 1920s.-Biography:...
Jr.