Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (, 25 March 1871 – 16 May 1960) was a Russian
Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...
painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy
Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by
Ilya Repin
Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and by
Anton Ažbe
Anton Ažbe (30 May 1862 – 5 or 6 August 1905) was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting.
Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of eight, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienn ...
in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. He reached his peak in painting in 1903–1907 and was notable for a peculiar
divisionist painting technique bordering on
pointillism
Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...
and his rendition of
snow
Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
.
By the end of 1890s, Grabar had established himself as an art critic. In 1902, he joined
Mir Iskusstva
''Mir iskusstva'' ( rus, «Мир искусства», p=ˈmʲir ɪˈskustvə, ''World of Art'') was both a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it fostered, playing a significant role in shaping the Russian avant-garde. The movement was d ...
, although his relations with its leaders
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...
and
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky (, ; August 14, 1875, Novgorod – November 20, 1957, New York City) was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early 20th-century city ...
were far from friendly. In 1910–1915, Grabar edited and published his ''
opus magnum'', the ''History of Russian Art''.
[ The ''History'' employed the finest artists and critics of the period; Grabar personally wrote the issues on ]architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
that set an unsurpassed standard of understanding and presenting the subject.[ Concurrently, he wrote and published a series of books on contemporary and historic Russian painters. In 1913, he was appointed executive director of the ]Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
and launched an ambitious reform program that continued until 1926. Grabar diversified the Tretyakov collection into modern art and in 1917 published its first comprehensive catalogue. In 1921 Grabar became the first professor of ''Art restoration'' at the Moscow State University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
.
An experienced politician, Grabar stayed at the top of the Soviet art establishment until his death, excluding a brief voluntary retirement in 1933–1937. He managed art-restoration workshops (present-day Grabar Centre) during 1918–1930 and from 1944 to 1960. Grabar took active part in redistribution of former church art nationalized by the Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
and established new museums for the confiscated treasures. In 1943, he formulated the Soviet doctrine of compensating World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
losses with art looted in Germany. After the war, he personally advised Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
on the preservation of architectural heritage.
Biography
Family roots
Emmanuil Hrabar (1830–1910), father of Igor Grabar and his older brothers Bela[ and ]Vladimir
Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria ().
Etymology
...
(the future law scholar, 1865–1956), was an ethnic Rusyn lawyer and a politician of pro-Russian orientation.[ He was elected to the ]Hungarian Parliament
The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member ...
in 1869, at the same time, maintaining ties with slavophiles
Slavophilia () was a movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavophiles opposed the influences of Western Europe in Rus ...
in Moscow and the Russian Embassy.[ Olga Hrabar (1843–1930), mother of Igor and Vladimir, was a daughter of Rusyn pro-Russian, anti-]Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
politician Adolph Dobryansky (1817–1901).[ According to Igor Grabar's memoirs, Dobryansky ran an underground network of obedient followers.][ Dobryansky and his group, unaware of the realities of living in the ]Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
, leaned to its official doctrine of ''Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality
Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality (; Transliteration, transliterated: Pravoslávie, samoderzhávie, naródnost'), also known as Official Nationalism,Riasanovsky, p. 132 was the dominant Imperial ideological doctrine of Russian Emperor Nichol ...
''; Dobryansky, a man of wealth and pedigree,[ even imitated the lifestyle of a Russian landlord in minute details;][ two of his sons joined Imperial Russian service.][ Dobryansky praised the suppression of the ]Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
by Russian troops, dreaded by his own Rusyn peasants.[
In the early 1870s, the Hungarian government forced Emmanuil Hrabar to leave the country.][ Olga with children stayed under police surveillance at the Dobryansky manor in ]Čertižné
Čertižné (; ) is a village and municipality in the Medzilaborce District in the Prešov Region of far north-eastern Slovakia.
History
In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1431. Before the establishment of independent Czech ...
(now in Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
).[ In 1880, the Hrabars temporarily reunited in Russia. Emmanuil passed a qualification test to teach German and French][ and settled with Igor and Vladimir in ]Yegoryevsk
Yegoryevsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Yegoryevsky District, Moscow Oblast, Yegoryevsk Urban Settlement in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Guslitsa River southeast of ...
.[ Olga returned to Hungary to continue pro-Russian propaganda;][ in 1882 she and her father were, at last, arrested for ]treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
[ and brought to a trial that aroused public suspicion of a police provocation.][ She was acquitted for lack of evidence and emigrated to Russia for the rest of her life.][ In Russia, the Hrabars lived under ]nom de guerre
A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war.
In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...
''Hrabrov''; Igor Grabar restored his real surname (transliterated from Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
with a ''G'', unlike his brother Vladimir ''H''rabar) in the early 1890s.[
]
Education
Grabar (then Hrabrov) attended high school in Yegoryevsk, where his father taught foreign languages.[ The stream of magazine publications that followed the 1881 murder of ]Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...
gave him the first impetus to draw.[ In 1882, the Hrabars (Hrabrovs) relocated to ]Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, closer to the continuing trial of their mother and grandfather; later in the same year, Emmanuil Hrabar accepted an appointment to Izmail
Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...
.[ He sent Igor to ]Mikhail Katkov
Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Russian nationalism, an important figure in the creation of a fee ...
's boarding school in Moscow; the schoolmaster waived tuition fees for a fellow slavophile.[ Igor Grabar, interested in drawing, soon made contacts with the students of the ]Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (), also known by the acronym MUZHVZ, was one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow ...
and already established artists - Abram Arkhipov
Abram Efimovich Arkhipov (; – 25 September 1930) was a Russian realist artist, who was a member of the art collective The Wanderers as well as the Union of Russian Artists.
Biography
Born in the village of Yegorovo in the Ryazan Obla ...
, Vasily Polenov
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would call him the “Knight of Beauty” as he embodied both European a ...
and the Schukins, wealthy patrons of art.[ Strapped for cash, he painted portraits of fellow students for a fee.][
In 1889, Grabar was admitted to the Law Department of the Saint Petersburg University;][ he made a living by selling short stories to magazines][ and soon became the editor of ''Shut'',][ "the weakest of humour magazines" that nevertheless paid well.][ His illustrations to books by Nikolay Gogol, signed ''Igor Hrabrov'', inspired the young Aleksandr Gerasimov (born 1881),][ but Grabar generally stayed aside from drawing. He later complained that tabloid ]bohemianism
Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French ''bohème'' and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to ...
completely overwhelmed him.[ In his second year at the university, Grabar moved up to the respectable ''Niva'' magazine.][ He selected graphics for ''Niva'' and wrote essays on contemporary painters but did not yet have enough influence to change its policies.][ Law-department classes were uninspiring and Grabar spent more time attending history lectures][ and Pavel Chistyakov's school of painting,][ but he still managed to graduate in law, without delay, in April 1893.][
In the end of 1894, he enrolled in ]Ilya Repin
Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...
's class[ at the ]Imperial Academy of Arts
The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...
that had just been radically reformed.[ His classmates, the first "spendid" post-reform group, included ]Alexej von Jawlensky
Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (; 13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expressionist painter active in Germany. He was a key member of the New Munich Artist's Association ( Neue Künstlervereinigung ...
and Marianne von Werefkin
Marianne von Werefkin (born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina; , ; – 6 February 1938) was a Russian artist, whose work is celebrated as a central part of German Expressionism.
Life and career In Russia 1860–1896
Werefkin was born to ...
who introduced him to French Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, Konstantin Bogaevsky, Oleksandr Murashko, Nicholas Roerich
Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (), better known as Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth he was influenced by Russ ...
and Arkady Rylov
Arkady Alexandrovich Rylov (; – 22 June 1939) was a Russian and Soviet Symbolist painter.
Biography
Rylov was born in the village of Istobensk, in the Vyatka Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kirov Oblast, Russia). He was brough ...
.[ Filipp Malyavin, ]Konstantin Somov
Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (; – 6 May 1939) was a Russian artist associated with the ''Mir iskusstva'' ("World of Art") movement that began in the last decade of the 19th century. After the Russian Revolution, he eventually emigrated to Pa ...
, Dmitry Kardovsky also studied alongside Grabar but were admitted earlier.[ Grabar remained "a fervent admirer"][ of Repin for life but became quickly dissatisfied with academic studies and in July 1895 left for a brief study tour of Western Europe financed by ''Niva'' magazine.][
]
Munich
His return to Saint Petersburg finally persuaded him to drop out of the Academy; in May 1896, he and Kardovsky left for Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
via Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
; Jawlensky and Werefkin joined them later in summer.[ They enrolled at a private school of painting run by ]Anton Ažbe
Anton Ažbe (30 May 1862 – 5 or 6 August 1905) was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting.
Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of eight, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienn ...
. Grabar, who soon became assistant to Ažbe, rated him as "a poorly gifted painter, a superb draftsman and an outstanding teacher".[ Two years later, when Grabar was ready to leave Ažbe, he was offered an opportunity to open his own, competing, school;][ Ažbe made a counter-offer, making Grabar his equal partner.][ The partnership existed for less than a year, from June 1899 until spring of 1900, when Grabar accepted a lucrative offer from Prince Shcherbatov and left Munich.][
Grabar kept close ties with Saint Petersburg artists and publishers. In January–February 1897, Grabar, obliged to write for ''Niva'', published an article defending ]avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
art against Vladimir Stasov
Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; ; 14 January O.S. 2 January">Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe">O.S. 2 January/small> 1824 – 23 October .S. 10 October/small> 1906), was a Russian critic of music and art. ...
, making a bombshell effect and inadvertently provoking Stasov's campaign against Repin as the dean of the Academy.[ Another article published in 1899 caused a conflict between ]Ilya Repin
Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...
and ''Mir iskusstva
''Mir iskusstva'' ( rus, «Мир искусства», p=ˈmʲir ɪˈskustvə, ''World of Art'') was both a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it fostered, playing a significant role in shaping the Russian avant-garde. The movement was d ...
''.[
Life in Munich also aroused Grabar's interest in architecture, and its history, that soon became his second profession.][ By 1901, Grabar completed architect's training at the Munich Polytechnicum but did not take the final exams.][
]
''Mir Iskusstva''
In 1901–1902, Grabar presented twelve of his paintings at an exhibition hosted by ''Mir Iskusstva
''Mir iskusstva'' ( rus, «Мир искусства», p=ˈmʲir ɪˈskustvə, ''World of Art'') was both a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it fostered, playing a significant role in shaping the Russian avant-garde. The movement was d ...
''; these were the first "truly French" impressionist works displayed in Russia by a Russian painter.[ One painting went straight to ]Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
, others were auctioned to private collections.[
1903–1907 became Grabar's highest point in painting;][ according to Grabar's ''Autobiography'', the summit (February–April 1904) coincided with the beginning of the ]Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
.[ In this season, he practiced moderate divisionism with elements of pointillist technique.][ Three paintings of this period that Grabar himself considered seminal ('' February Azure'', ''March Snow'' and ''Piles of Snow'')][ garnered wide and generally positive critical response. wrote that, had it not been for ]linear perspective
Linear or point-projection perspective () is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, generally on a flat surface, of ...
that Grabar preserved in his ''March Snow'' "as a remnant of narrative from the nineteenth century", the whole picture would blend in "a uniform painterly texture" without clearly defined front and middle planes.[ In 1905, Grabar travelled to Paris to study the new works of French postimpressionists and changed his technique in favor of complete separation of colours.][ Incidentally, although Grabar appreciated and studied Cézanne, ]Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...
and Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
, he himself ranked "the king of painters" Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...
above them all.[
At the end of 1905 and the beginning of 1906, when Moscow was burning from riots and shellfire, Grabar tackled another challenging subject, ]frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
, at the same time investing more and more time into writing and editing.[ Snow, and winter in general, remained his favorite subjects for life.][
Relations between Grabar and the founders of ''Mir Iskusstva'' were strained. ]Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...
tolerated Grabar as a business asset but feared and distrusted him as a potential new leader of the movement;[ Grabar' financial backing provided by Shcherbatov seemed especially menacing.][ Diaghilev's ]sycophant
In modern English, sycophant denotes an "insincere flatterer" and is used to refer to someone practising sycophancy (i.e., insincere flattery to gain advantage).
The word has its origin in the legal system of Classical Athens, where it had a d ...
s Nurok and Nouvelle led the opposition,[ Eugene Lansere and ]Konstantin Somov
Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (; – 6 May 1939) was a Russian artist associated with the ''Mir iskusstva'' ("World of Art") movement that began in the last decade of the 19th century. After the Russian Revolution, he eventually emigrated to Pa ...
followed suit; Valentin Serov
Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (; – 5 December 1911) was a Russian painter and one of the premier portrait artists of his era.
Life and work
Youth and education
Serov was born in Saint Petersburg, son of the Russian composer and music crit ...
was perhaps the only member who treated Grabar with sympathy.[ Grabar, indeed, used funds of Shcherbatov and ]Nadezhda von Meck
Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (; 13 January 1894) was a Russian businesswoman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, supporting him fin ...
to launch his own short-lived art society[ that failed to shake ''Mir Iskusstva'' and soon fell apart. Memoirs of the period, although biased, indicate that Grabar himself was a difficult person. According to ]Alexander Benois
Alexandre (Alexander) Nikolayevich Benois (; Salmina-Haskell, Larissa. ''Russian Paintings and Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum''. pp. 15, 23-24. Published by Ashmolean Museum, 19899 February 1960) was a Russian artist, art critic, historian, ...
, Grabar practiced an unacceptably patronizing tone and at the same time, had absolutely no sense of humour.[ No one questioned his talent and encyclopedic knowledge, but Grabar was unable to persuade people or barely coexist with them in small communities like ''Mir Iskusstva''.][ As a result, in 1908 Grabar broke with the movement completely and tried, in vain, to launch his own art magazine.][
]
Grabar's ''History''
In the same 1908, Grabar abandoned painting in favor of writing; he became chief editor and writer for Joseph Knebel's series of books on Russian artists and Russian towns.[ He quickly amassed a wealth of historic evidence and settled on publishing a comprehensive ''History of Russian Art''.][ Grabar initially concentrated on project management alone, leaving principal writing to ]Alexander Benois
Alexandre (Alexander) Nikolayevich Benois (; Salmina-Haskell, Larissa. ''Russian Paintings and Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum''. pp. 15, 23-24. Published by Ashmolean Museum, 19899 February 1960) was a Russian artist, art critic, historian, ...
,[ but when the latter stepped aside in May,][ Grabar was compelled to pick up the writing task.][ He now concentrated on architecture;][ only then did he realize that ]Russian architecture
The architecture of Russia refers to the architecture of modern Russia as well as the architecture of both the original Kievan Rus', the Russian principalities, and Imperial Russia. Due to the geographical size of modern and Imperial Russia, i ...
of the 18th century and earlier periods had never been properly studied.[ Grabar locked himself in the archives to study the subject for a year; in July 1909 he took a short leave from writing and designed the ]Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
Zakharyin Hospital in present-day Khimki
Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...
, which was completed by the onset of World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and operates to date.[
The first issue of ''History'' was printed in 1910; publication ceased with the 23rd issue in the beginning of 1915 when Knebel's printshop and Grabar's archive stored there were burnt in an anti-German ]pogrom
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
.[ Of 2,630 pages in ''History'', 650—the issues on ]architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
—were written by Grabar.[ ''History'' amalgamated works by the leading architects, artists and critics of the period. ]Ivan Bilibin
Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (, ; – 7 February 1942) was a Russian illustrator and stage designer who took part in the '' Mir iskusstva'' ("World of Art"), contributed to the Ballets Russes, co-founded the Union of Russian Artists, and from 1937 ...
, who contributed photography of vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...
,[ used to say that "we started appreciating old architecture only after Grabar's book."][ Grabar's own memoirs, however, focus on the failures of his co-authors: of all contributors only Fyodor Gornostayev was commended for doing his part.][
Grabar's predecessors did not elaborate how art, and especially architecture fitted "into the grand historical scheme"; his ''History'' became the first comprehensive work that attempted to solve the task.][ Grabar, accepting now-standard periodization of Russian history, applied the same scheme to history of architecture][ and emphasized the role of individual monarchs in it.][ His view of the transition from ]Naryshkin Baroque
Naryshkin Baroque, also referred to as Moscow Baroque or Muscovite Baroque, is a particular style of Baroque architecture and decoration that was fashionable in Moscow from the late 17th century into the early 18th century. In the late 17th centur ...
, the summit of Muscovite architecture, into loaned European Petrine Baroque
Petrine Baroque (Russian: Петровское барокко) is a style of 17th and 18th century Baroque architecture and decoration favoured by Peter the Great and employed to design buildings in the newly founded Russian capital, Saint Peters ...
as an organic process, however, was contentious from the start, and, according to James Cracraft, could not account for an abrupt demise of national architecture under Peter I and his successors.[ His own concept of "Moscow Baroque", probably influenced by ]Heinrich Wölfflin
Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles (" painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in ...
,[ is "not entirely consistent or clear".][ Soviet historians retained Grabar's overall scheme, sealing the "persistent lack of a clear and consistent, architecturally configured periodization of Russian architectural history.".][ Grabar's concept of Moscow Baroque was challenged,][ his ]Ukrainian Baroque
Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an style (visual arts), artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and Europea ...
was trashed,[ yet Belarusian Baroque became "a fixture of Soviet scholarship."][
Grabar's understanding of lesser phenomena has been, at times, erroneous and his attributions were later dismissed. For example, he based the description of the 1591 '' Ambassadors' Prikaz'' building on a "fanciful and grossly distorted" sketch by a Swede who visited Moscow ''after'' the building was torn down and replaced with a new one.][ His attribution and periodization of Menshikov Tower is also challenged.][ Nevertheless, James Cracraft ranked Grabar the first "in the whole field of Russian art history",][ Dmitry Shvidkovsky wrote that Grabar's ''History'' in whole "remains unsurpassed",][ and William Craft Brumfield noted its "immense importance" for the preservation of medieval heritage.][
]
Tretyakov Gallery
On 2 April 1913, the Board of the Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
elected Grabar its trustee and executive director.[ He accepted the appointment on condition that the trustees give him unlimited authority in reforming the gallery.][ Later, he wrote that had he known the weight of this burden beforehand he would step back, but, inexperienced in public politics, he grabbed the opportunity of "being there", among the subject of his ''History''.][ Grabar planned to expand the former private collection into a comprehensive showcase of national art, including the controversial Russian and French ]modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
paintings.[ He laid out a program of artistic, scientific, educational-enlightening and social changes and eventually converted the gallery into a European museum.][
Grabar started with rearranging the paintings in public display; when the gallery reopened in December 1913, the main ]enfilade
Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...
of its second floor was prominently terminated with Vasily Surikov
Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realism (arts), realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illustrations.
Biography
He was born to an ...
's epic '' Feodosia Morozova''. The first floor was now filled with completely new material - contemporary French painters and young Russians like Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Martiros Saryan.[ In the beginning of 1915, Grabar's purchasing decisions stirred a public scandal that involved practically all publicly known artists;][ Victor Vasnetsov, ]Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (; – 18 October 1942) was a Russian and Soviet painter; associated with the Peredvizhniki and Mir iskusstva. He was one of the first exponents of Symbolist art in Russia.
Biography
He was born to a strong ...
, Vladimir Makovsky and Grabar's former sponsor Shcherbatov called for immediate termination of his tenure.[ Debates continued until January 1916, when Moscow City Hall approved Grabar's reform in full.][ Grabar summarized his achievements in the 1917 catalogue of the Gallery, the first of its kind.][
The Russian Revolution of 1917 had dual effect on the gallery. Collapse of the monetary system and city utilities brought the gallery to a "really catastrophic condition" that was barely improved by nationalization in June 1918.][ At the same time the gallery collection rapidly grew, absorbing nationalized private and church collections and formerly independent small museums.][ One by one its own exhibition halls were converted into art warehouses and closed to the public.][ By 1924, the gallery operated four affiliate halls, in 1925 it disposed with foreign masters, but these measures could not offset the inflow of new stock.][ Physical expansion of the building became a first priority, and in 1926 Grabar was replaced with architect Aleksey Shchusev.][
]
Thriving under the Bolsheviks
In 1918, Grabar took the lead of the Museums and Preservation Section of the Soviet Government,[ the Museum Fund][ and the Moscow-based state restoration workshops,][ becoming de facto chief curator of arts and architectural heritage for the whole Moscow region. As prescribed by the Bolsheviks in December 1918, Grabar's institutions catalogued all known heritage, "an action tantamount to confiscation",][ and despite continuing war many nationalized landmarks were actually restored.][ Grabar's group, like the contemporary Maxim Gorky, Gorky Commission, was torn by a conflict of preservationists (Grabar, ]Alexander Benois
Alexandre (Alexander) Nikolayevich Benois (; Salmina-Haskell, Larissa. ''Russian Paintings and Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum''. pp. 15, 23-24. Published by Ashmolean Museum, 19899 February 1960) was a Russian artist, art critic, historian, ...
, Alexander Chayanov,[ Pyotr Baranovsky][) and "destroyers" (David Shterenberg, Vladimir Tatlin)][ and Grabar later complained that he had to offset two extremes, destruction of heritage and obstruction of ]avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
artists[ (he was himself the "main exponent of conservation"][). Grabar successfully exploited whatever allies he could recruit amongst the ambivalence, ambivalent][ Soviet bureaucracy, starting with the Commissar for Education Anatoly Lunacharsky,][ and even managed to retain his affluent lifestyle of the past.][
From 1919, Grabar directed his commission into documenting and preserving Orthodox church murals and icons.][ The first 1919 expedition to Yaroslavl located and restored previously unknown works of the 12th and 13th centuries.][ Restorers Fyodor Modorov, Grigory Chirikov and photographer A. V. Lyadov continued studies of northern church art throughout the 1920s][ and by 1926 produced the first comprehensive study of icons and an assessment of wooden churches that housed them.][ Grabar's icon restoration workshop became internationally known; Alfred H. Barr, Jr. who visited Moscow in 1927–1928, wrote of Grabar's technology "with great enthusiasm".][ "It is to Grabar, more than to any other single scholar, that Russia owes the rediscovery of his icons."][
These appointments inevitably placed Grabar near the top of the Soviet machine of confiscating church and, to a lesser extent, privately held art treasures. Benois, who left the country, scorned Grabar for "ripping Princess Mescherskaya of her Botticelli."][ Grabar accepted the fact of Bolshevik expropriation and concentrated on preservation of the treasures and setting up local museums to display them in public. His and Roman Klein's][ proposal to convert the whole Moscow Kremlin into a public museum failed, and the Kremlin was quickly taken over by the sprawling Red government.][ Among the masterpieces found during these campaigns was ''The Madonna of Nizhny Tagil, Tagil'' (''Madonna del Popolo'') taken from the Demidov house and attributed by Grabar to Raphael.][ Most, however, ended up at overseas auctions. Less formal attempts of individual artists to raise money in the United States failed: the 1924 show in New York City attracted 17 thousand visitors but raised only $30,000][ and Grabar admitted "We do not know what to do".][
]
1930s
In 1930, Grabar left all his administrative, academic and editorial jobs, even that of an editor of the ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', and concentrated on painting.[ Grabar himself wrote: "I had to choose between the daily mounting administrative burden and creating ... I had no choice. A personal pension granted by Sovnarkom hastened my retirement."][ According to Baranovsky and Khlebnikova, the decision was influenced by his mother's death; Grabar the artist shifted his attention to problems of age, aging and death.][ According to Colton, the change followed a campaign of demolition inside the Kremlin (Chudov Monastery) and all over Moscow.][ The preservationist ''Old Moscow Society'', unable to influence the authorities any longer, voted itself out of existence, and Grabar's heritage commission was disbanded a few months later.][ Grabar's influence over impending demolitions was now reduced to writing pleas to Stalin, as was the case of the Sukharev Tower in 1933–1934.][
Grabar supervised another New York exhibition, this time of icon art, in 1931][ and painted a string of official "socialist realism epics" but it was the 1933 ''Portrait of Svetlana'' that gave him an enormous and unwanted exposure at home and abroad.][ Grabar himself rated this portrait, painted in one day, among its best.][ The public identified its title subject as none other than Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter][ (born in 1926, she could not have been Grabar's subject; the legend persisted into the 1960s][). Either this dangerous publicity, or his earlier association with Natalia Sedova and other Trotskyism, trotskyists compelled Grabar to retire to relative obscurity.][ He kept on painting and wrote his ''Autobiography'' that was ready for print in June 1935 but was barred from publication until March 1937.][ Contrary to the communist policy, ''Autobiography'' appreciated the "formalist" art of ''Mir Iskusstva'' and dismissed "some critics applying marxism, Marxist analysis" as utterly incompetent.][ In the same 1937 Grabar published ''Ilya Repin'' that earned him the USSR State Prize, State Prize four years later and began writing ''Serov''.][ By 1940, he was firmly back into the Soviet establishment and was featured in propagandist newsreels produced for distribution in Nazi Germany.][
]
World War II and beyond
In June 1943, Grabar proposed tit-for-tat compensation of Soviet art treasures destroyed in World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
with art to be taken from Germany. Compiling the target list of German treasures was easy, but estimating own losses was not: by March 1946, only nine out of forty major museums could provide an inventory of their losses.[ The government used Grabar's proposal as a smoke screen: while Grabar's deputy Victor Lazarev was discussing the legality of War reparations, equitable reparations with the Allies, Soviet "trophy brigades" had practically completed a wholesale campaign of organized looting.]
Grabar consulted Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
in preparation to Moscow's 800-years jubilee celebrated in 1947.[ He persuaded Stalin to return the former St. Andronik Monastery, once converted to a prison, if not to the church but to the artistic community.][ The remains of the monastery, restored by Pyotr Baranovsky,][ became the Andrey Rublyov Museum of Old Russian Art (Grabar upheld Baranovsky's dubious "discovery" of the alleged tomb of Andrey Rublyov). Grabar, as the senior in artistic community, retained some independence from the ideological pressure, as indicated by his 1945 obituary for the Émigré, emigre Leonid Pasternak printed in ''Soviet Art''.][
]
Things weren't always smooth: in 1948 Grabar was caught in another campaign against random targets in art and science.[ He retained his administrative and university jobs and in 1954 co-authored ''Russian architecture of the first half of the 18th century'',][ a revisionist][ study of the period that dismissed the knowledge collected by fellow historians before 1917.][ He made an exception, though, for his own works that allegedly "correctly understood" the subject.][ Contrary to Grabar's own understanding of East-West cultural relationship presented in ''History'' but in line with the rules of Soviet historiography, the new book claimed that Russians of the 18th century "yield nothing in their work to foreign contemporaries" and overstated the influence of folk tradition on polite architecture.][ These falsified theories, easily dismissed today, established the "provincial outlook" that governed the post-war generation of Soviet art historians.][
After Stalin's death, Grabar was the first to publicly denounce run-of-the-mill socialist realism and pay the dues to once banished Aristarkh Lentulov and Pyotr Konchalovsky.][ The "unsinkable" Grabar earned derogatory nicknames ''Ugor Obmanuilovich'' ("cheating eel") and ''Irod Graber'' ("Herod Antipas, Herod the Robber").][ Baranovsky and Khlebnikova noted that the reaction against Grabar was frequently provoked by his work at the helm of museum purchasing committees: mediocre artists inevitably had a grudge against his buying and pricing decisions.][
]
Notes
References
; Sources
* Akinsha, Konstantin; Kozlov, Grigorii; Hochfield, Sylvia (2006).
Beautiful loot: the Soviet plunder of Europe's art treasures
'. Random House. .
* Akinsha, Konstantin; Kozlov, Grigorii (2000, in Russian).
'. Cultural Map of Europe: Proceedings of the conference, 10–11 April 2000, Moscow.
* Baranovsky, Victor; Khlebnikova, Irina (2001) (in Russian). ''Anton Ažbe i hudozhniki Rossii (Антон Ажбе и художники России).'' Moscow State University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
. .
* Barnes, Christopher (2004).
Boris Pasternak: A Literary Biography
'. Cambridge University Press. .
* Brown, Matthew Cullerne; Taylor, Brandon (1993).
Art of the Soviets: painting, sculpture, and architecture in a one-party state, 1917-1992
'. Manchester University Press ND.
* William Craft Brumfield, Brumfield, William Craft (1991).
The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture
'. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* William Craft Brumfield, Brumfield, William Craft (1995).
Lost Russia: photographing the ruins of Russian architecture
'. Duke University Press. .
*
*
*
* Crone, Rainer; Moos, David (2004).
Kazimir Malevich: The Climax of Disclosure
'. Reaktion Books. .
* Sergey Eisenstein, Eisenstein, Sergey. ''Yermolova'', in: Efimova, Alla; Manovich, Lev (editors) (1993).
Tekstura: Russian essays on visual culture
'. University of Chicago Press. . pp. 10–36. The publication is an excerpt from Eisenstein's draft of ''Montage'', written in the 1930s and first printed in English in 1991.
* Feldbrugge, Ferdinand Joseph Maria; Berg, Gerard Pieter van den Berg; Simons, William B. (1985).
Encyclopedia of Soviet law
'. BRILL. .
* Grabar, Igor (2001).
Autobiography
' (Автомонография) (in Russian). Respublika, Moscow. . The book was originally published in 1937.
* Golenkevich, Nina (2007, in Russian).
Iz istorii restravratsionnogo dela v Yaroslavle (Из истории реставрационного дела в Ярославле (1920-е годы))
'. Yaroslavl Museum of Art.
*
History of the Tretyakov Gallery. Ch. IV: The Gallery after Tretyakov: 1898-1918
'. Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
*
History of the Tretyakov Gallery. Ch. V: Treasure of the Republic: 1918-1941
'. Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
*
History of the Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar (in Russian)
'. Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
* Kantor, Sybil Gordon (2003).
Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and the Intellectual Origins of the Museum of Modern Art
'. MIT Press. .
* Kelley, Stephen J. (2000).
Wood structures: a global forum on the treatment, conservation, and repair of cultural heritage
'. ASTM International. .
* Magocsi, Paul R.; Pop, Ivan (2002).
Encyclopedia of Rusyn history and culture
'' University of Toronto Press. . Article credit: Ivan Pop.
* Pyman, Avril (1994).
A history of Russian symbolism
'. Cambridge University Press. .
* Dmitry Shvidkovsky, Shvidkovsky, Dmitry (2007).
Russian architecture and the West
'' Yale University Press. .
* Sternin, Grigory. ''Public and artist in Russia at the turn of the century'', in: Efimova, Alla; Manovich, Lev (editors) (1993).
Tekstura: Russian essays on visual culture
'. University of Chicago Press. . pp. 89–103. Sternin's article was originally published in Russian in 1984.
* Stites, Richard (1991).
Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution
'. Oxford University Press US. .
External links
*
Igor Grabar
at the Russian Academy of Sciences' database
Igor Grabar
at the Russian Academy of Arts' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabar, Igor
1871 births
1960 deaths
Musicians from Budapest
Painters from the Russian Empire
Soviet Impressionist painters
Post-impressionist painters
Conservator-restorers
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts)
Recipients of the Stalin Prize
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Academic staff of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
Rusyn painters
Mir iskusstva artists