The exhibition “Polenov and his disciples”, opened in the rooms of the Suzdal Kremlin, is the result of friendship and joint cooperation of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and the VD Museum-Reserve. Polenova.
The exhibition does not appear to be comprehensive or complete in its subject matter; rather, it has the charm of a thoughtful sketch, in which mood and intonation are captured and the contours of the whole are clear. The exhibition's architecture with transparent metal structures turns walls and walkways into 3D drawings. And it is easy to imagine that under the dome of the quadrangle of the Kremlin there is an alley or a sketch of the old estate plan. Like the scene that can be seen in the background of the painting “Grandma's Garden” by Vasily Polenov. The flicker between sketches of the future and drawings of reconstruction constitutes the cognitive optics of the exhibition.
The structure of the exhibition also emphasizes duality. The first part “Introduction” is located in the lower hall, single column. And it's all not so much about professors, teachers, Polenov scholars, but about that inner circle, mainly family and friends, in which the formation and development of the artist himself took place. Of course, here you can see a manuscript discussing linear perspective, which Polenov wrote when he was preparing a lecture for students. But another slim book made a strong impression. This is a manuscript of “Anne of Brittany” with drawings and notes from 1913. Vasily Dmitrievich translated the French story into a five-act play and wrote its musical score. In addition, I also drew illustrations, depicting costumes and a version of the landscape. He came up with all this to… produce a children's product at home. In essence, this is a true work of art. But Polenov himself, who worked on this book for several days with great dedication, clearly saw it first of all as an opportunity to please the children and … himself.
Looking at this manuscript, you realize that you have in vain missed the beginning of the “Prologue,” which contains pencil portraits of children, a small still life, and a family portrait by Polenov's mother, Maria Alekseevna. Her children also inherited her love of art. By the way, a little further you can see Maria Alekseevna in the photo of the members of the Mamontov circle in the courtyard of the Tolstoy house. Maria Alekseevna there was already an old woman, but her appearance in the photo next to Antakolsky, Serov, Ostroukhov, Savva Ivanovich Mamontov and his wife Elizaveta Grigorievna looked completely natural. She was one of the first children's writers in Russia, and a student of Karl Bryullov taught painting to “amateur artists”. In addition, Maria Alekseevna is the granddaughter of famous architect Nikolai Lvov. And her mother, after the death of her parents, was brought up in the house of Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin. And for her, a little girl, Derzhavin even wrote a poem.
In a word, Vasily Dmitrievich, like his parents, grew up in very noble homes that we often associate with the image of a “superfluous person”. But Polenov is a living refutation of literary clichés. He is not only an active person who knows how to complete his plans, he firmly believes that the creative joy that lives in his soul, in his family can be shared, can prove that everyone can live like this.
It is surprising that the letter that a recent graduate of the Academy of Arts, who won a gold medal and took a trip to Italy as an academy pensioner, sent to his superiors in St. Petersburg.
PF Polenov in 1874. Iseyev.
When Vasily Dmitrievich himself began teaching painting, sculpture and architecture at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1882, he, on the contrary, seemed to be doing everything to give life to the “art movement”. And teaching brings the joy of a sense of aliveness. This pleasure was associated with working with students outdoors, with painting evenings on Thursdays at the Polenovs' house, as well as with theatrical performances at the Mamontovs' in Abramtsevo.
Polenov's works are adjacent to the works of Levitan, Ostroukhov, Golovin, Korovin…
Art is like joy. This is what attracted students like a magnet to the Polenovs' painting evenings. However, it's not just students who draw in the evening. Vrubel, for example, visited them. Evidence of this is the pencil portrait of Polenov's wife, Natalya Vasilievna, made by Vrubel. Natalya Vasilievna is sitting in an oriental veil, seemingly leaving the artist with a choice – to paint the veil or the face. In general, there are always patterns. At the exhibition you can see up to four portraits of Isaac Levitan in Bedouin costume, made in 1887 “in one sitting” by Mikhail Nesterov, Sergei Ivanov and Sergei Vinogradov and the owner of the house, Polenov. But more often, there may have been a sitter invited.
In the evening there are sometimes up to 30 people. Sometimes the circle is almost family. It was one of the evenings depicted in Korovin's picturesque sketch “Artists in the Evening of Painting”, where you can spot Polenov's sister Elena Dmitrievna and Maria Yakunchikova…
Today, every drawing, sketch from such an evening, where, as Vinogradov recalled, Levitan, Serov, Arkhipov, Korovin, Pasternak, Apollinary Vasnetsov, Golovin, Ivanov, and sometimes Ostroukhov and Surikov could draw, is a treasure for the museum. But then everything was seen more simply. Elena Dmitrievna can easily see in a letter to a friend: “What I and others draw and write when we gather with us and the Mamontovs cannot be called work. In fact, the beauty and benefit of these meetings lies not in what is created at them, but precisely in the fact that people of the same profession gather together. The exchange of impressions and thoughts is more important than the work itself. At Mamontovs, the natural class is replaced by the promising class – brother read…”
The comment about “charms and interests, the exchange of impressions and thoughts” is very important. It seems to bring comfort to studying and pursuing a career within the home. But the tasks set are not domestic in nature. It is difficult to escape the thought that somewhere here, in the evenings of painting at the Polenovs and Mamontovs, a prototype of the Free Art Workshop would appear. Obviously there were private academies in Paris, private artist schools in St. Petersburg, Moscow… But it seems that the Polenov house still became the place where the free spirit of the disappearing noble estates and the flickering future of the “Free Workshop” of another era met.
Perhaps the reason is that Polenov did not create a “school”. In his words, he gave talents the opportunity to “fully develop”. It is this “awakening” of talent that is demonstrated in the second part of the exhibition, where Vasily Polenov's works stand alongside those of his students, including Isaac Levitan, Ilya Ostroukhov, Sergei Vinogradov, Yegishe Tatevosyan, Alexander Golovin, Konstantin Korovin…
Direct speech
Ekaterina Pronicheva, general director of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve:
– This is our second project related to Russian art of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Last year we opened an exhibition by Boris Kustodiev, which also included works from different museums. For the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, these projects also provide an opportunity to showcase the diversity of our collections. At the exhibition “Polenov and his disciples”, carried out in cooperation with VD Polenov, Tretyanov Gallery and other museums, we display paintings by Korovin and Zhukovsky from our collection.
