Catalog of the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Arts

Apollo, November – December 1916 No. 9-10

New books. Catalogue of the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Russian painting. Publishing I.A.H. Printing hood.- Count. Institutions "Union", P.1915.

The need for a new catalogue of the academic museum was felt for a very, very long time. Until recent years, the visitor of this forgotten by the public and the administration, and nevertheless extremely valuable collection of Russian paintings offered the oldest catalog, compiled by A.I. Somov in 1872.sic! Besides, in Somovsky The list included only an insignificant part of the present composition of the gallery, it described a number of paintings.  no   b you're in  in the museum, and transferred in 1897 to the Russian Museum. So we have to congratulate ours.alma materIt is not a catalogue because it  I had to do it, and I had to do it long ago, but with the fact that she had at last destroyed one of the sad signs of her official negligence. Since 1872, to be satisfied with a single catalogue for a museum that is constantly growing and changing in individual parts is a classic example. However, in recent years, the Academy of Arts began to publish books (which it had previously decidedly not tolerated) and, surprisingly, publish well. Good hour!

This book was also well published, although for the sake of consistency of the general tone (brown tone of printing and yellowish paper), the reproduction paint was taken purely asphalt, to the detriment of the clarity of the image. In the press, a whole controversy has already arisen around this catalog and its compiler S.K.Isakov. Namely: not moderately sensitive to the memory of his patron - the Kuindzhi Society found offensive some information in thecurriculum vitaeA.I. Kuindzhi, attached to the description of the paintings of our glorious landscape painter available in the museum. Meanwhile, in our opinion, the report that Kuindzhi, although he painted the Aivazovsky fence in his youth, was not accepted as a pupil, or that he failed twice in the exams for the Academy, only indicates the tenacity with which Kuindzhi, despite the fact that he was a student, was not accepted.  difficult conditions, achieving a cherished goal. However, the “resentment” of the Quingiists is given by us only as an example of those obstacles, often having nothing to do with art, which everyone who works under the shadow of the Academy of Arts has to overcome. The very idea, which was guided by S.K. Isayev during his work, is very good: “The Academic Museum is the Museum of the Academy of Hoodges”.Hence, the role of the gallery and the task of its catalogue are quite definitely outlined: to collect material to characterize the role that the higher art school existing at the Academy plays in the general course of Russian artistic life. By limiting its role in this way, the Museum of the Academy of Arts not only does not devalue itself, but, on the contrary, only finds out and determines its true and significant value.It is only necessary to wish that, as cleverly as an academic museum eliminates any possibility of rivalry with such art repositories as the Russian Museum or the Tretyakov Gallery, these latter museums have clarified their relationship. Then we would see the rich and systematic work of all four of them.  The Rumyantsev Museum) of our state storage facilities, which can be   I'm in the middle of   Competitiveness complements one another perfectly. If only the task of each was clearly defined, as the Museum of the Academy of Arts perfectly figured it out!

In addition to the main task - to be a museum of the Academy of Arts - the named gallery takes on another, also very interesting: to collect works of artists, although no longer directly related to the Academy of Arts, but also to collect works of artists.  "of particular interest to students of the Higher Art School." This gathering has started so far very successfully. We now have the opportunity to see   That's why I'm here.   watercolor "All cholera is to blame", in the case of    sketch "Scene from Roman life"; very keenly selected at recent exhibitions   (Two drawings to the fables and the sketch "Navzikai"), R e p and n ("Gogol and O. Matvey"), R I b u s s s s s and n  Finally, an extremely important acquisition of the museum is the excellent program work purchased in 1903.   I don't know.    And in a-- "Joseph in prison."

The initiative made by the Academy to revive public attention to its forgotten but significant museum, was successful. I just wish it didn’t stop halfway. The museum now seems to be hidden somewhere in the bowels of the huge building of the Academy. Not done to alert the public the simplest thing -  n  n   With the appropriate instructions at the front door from the street! This is another reason why the general public  She is little acquainted with the academic museum in general and with the collection of the Russian school of painting, in particular, except for the constant filling of the museum hall with periodic exhibitions specified by S.K. Isakov.

                      Vs.Dm.