This site is dedicated to art critic Vsevolod Alexandrovich Dmitriev.
He published his main works in the literary and art magazine Apollo from 1912 to 1917 (when the magazine ceased to exist). Vsevolod Dmitriev is the author of extensive monograph articles about P. A. Fedotov, Alexander Ivanov, N. N. Ge, Valentin Serov, studies about Konstantin Somov, Mikhail Vrubel, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin and many other artists.In all his works, including small notes, reviews of books and exhibitions, and disputes about the problems of the day, he followed a single main plan: to trace in individual destinies and various talents the line of organic development of Russian painting. After 1919, the name of the critic disappeared without a trace. Who was this man who created a fundamental project of the history of Russian art in six years?Did he leave revolutionary Russia, die of disease, be destroyed by the authorities, or die with a gun in his hands during the Civil War? Why hasn't his work been republished since his first publication? Was he accidentally forgotten (in Soviet times as a person hostile to ideology) or rejected by experts because of incorrect judgment?
During my student years in Vgikov, I first read a few pages of an unknown author in Apollo and was surprised that I had never heard of him before: the names of other figures of the Silver Age were easily remembered. As we got acquainted, admiration grew with perplexity. I began to look for V. Dmitriev’s works (as he signed his articles), asked questions to art critics.It turned out that professionals know and appreciate this critic, but references to him are extremely rare and, as a rule, do not reflect the essence of his ideas. Searching libraries and archives has gradually become an important part of my life. I worked in cinema (editor at the Gorky Film Studio), then became the author of programs on Radio Liberty. Cycle"Russia as a Civilization"He gave me the opportunity to test some of V. Dmitriev’s thoughts not only on the material of the history of art, but also in a broader sense. I hope to publish on this site the findings and observations made over the years.
I want to thank the people whose participation helped to prepare this publication. In the early 1980s, the famous cultural historian, founder of the "Literary Heritage" I. S. Silberstein brought from France the archive of the former chief editor of "Apollo" S. K. Makovsky. Not being personally acquainted with Ilya Samoilovich, I still decided to call him.Hearing the name of Vsevolod Dmitriev, he immediately invited me to his home, brought from the next room an inventory of the Makovsky archive and offered to look with him. It was done so naturally and simply that only later, after the death of Ilya Samoilovich, was I able to appreciate what a lofty, unfortunately vanishing culture was present in this gesture. Sergei Konstantinovich Makovsky was a mentor and friend of the young critic.The absence of traces of correspondence in the Paris collection of documents was evidence that V. Dmitriev did not emigrate.
Film dramatist Vladimir Firstov helped me find documents related to the gymnasium childhood and youth of Vsevolod Dmitriev. Writer and critic Valentin Kurbatov noticed in the journal "Our Heritage" excerpts from the memoirs of art critic V.N. Petrov - so clarified some of the circumstances of the tragic death of V. Dmitriev in 1919. Sergey Chernoutsan made the first photocopies of texts in Paris, which I could not copy in Moscow.Professor of Moscow State University Maria Mikhailova published in the collection, one of the editors of which she was, a biographical essay on criticism - "The Disappeared Name. Vsevolod Dmitriev" and an article from the magazine Apollo - "Chinese Reality" (see "Russian Culture of the Twentieth Century at Home and in Emigration). Names, Problems, Facts, Issue 2, 2002, pp. 260-278.
Thank you to my family, who took care of the website:
A computer set of texts by S.M. Rubinstein. The artist is Elizaveta Olshanskaya. Technical design and support – Mikhail Bogunov. Abstracts in English by Mikhail Subbotin.
Elena Olshanskaya, January 19, 2006
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