St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry named after A. L. Stieglitz- higher art educational institution, located in St. Petersburg.
The main building of the academy is located in a building designed by the first director of this educational institution, the architect M. E. Mesmacher.
From 1953 to 1994 the institute was called Leningrad Higher School of Industrial Art named after V. I. Mukhina, which is why it is often referred to in the media as " Mukhinsky school", or simply " Fly».
Story
In 1873, the "Regulations on drawing schools and classes in the provinces" were approved. Many craft schools carried out production orders according to the projects of famous artists, mainly in the "Russian style".
In 1876, wishing to promote the training of specialists for the art industry in Russia, the financier and textile manufacturer Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz (1814-1884) donated one million rubles to the creation of the School of Technical Drawing in St. Petersburg. In 1878-1881. in the Salt Town, a special building was erected according to the project of architects R. A. Gedike and A. I. Krakau. On the second floor of the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stieglitz, solemnly opened on December 29, 1881, there was a small educational museum and a library. Stieglitz was persuaded to create a museum at the School by the outstanding philanthropist Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov (1832-1909). Member of the State Council, Secretary of State, initiator of the creation of the Russian Historical Society in Russia (1866), publisher of the famous Russian Biographical Dictionary, Polovtsov, married to the adopted daughter of Baron Stieglitz, in 1891-1909. was chairman of the Council of the School, acquired works of art, rare books, engravings at his own expense. Works of art were donated to the museum by Prince S. S. Gagarin, collector M. P. Botkin, princes N. S. Trubetskoy, A. B. Lobanov-Rostovsky, Count A. V. Bobrinsky and many others. In 1879-1880. Heinrich Schliemann, who is closely associated with commercial activities in Russia, donated to the museum a collection of antique gold and ceramics, discovered by him during excavations of the Hisarlyk hill in Asia Minor.
In 1885-1896. the new building of the museum was erected according to his project by Maximilian Egorovich Messmacher (1842-1906). Earlier, from 1874, Mesmacher taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Architect, draftsman, watercolorist, Messmacher, according to the worldview of the period of Historicism, paid special attention to the study of the "history of styles", which he taught at the Stieglitz School along with decorative drawing and watercolor. From 1879 he was the director of the School. Taking as a basis the Venetian architecture of J. Sansovino and the Basilica in Vicenza A. Palladio (see vol. 2, fig. 598), Messmacher created a huge exhibition hall with overhead light, the rest of the halls he designed in "historical styles": Medici Hall, Heinrich Hall II, Hall of Henry IV, Flemish Hall, Hall of Louis XIII, Hall of Louis XIV, Hall of Tiepolo... For each hall, appropriate objects were selected for the study of their students. The principle of exposition "according to styles" and the architectural stylization of interiors were known in Europe at that time and were a visible embodiment of the ideology of Historicism. Mesmacher, with his inherent pedantry and attention to detail, brought this principle to the absolute.
In 1885-1886. Polovtsov made trips abroad to acquire new art objects. As a result of this activity, a unique collection of espaliers, Italian majolica, Limoges enamels, Sevres, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, galvanocopies from precious metal products, and ornamental engravings have developed in the School Museum as a result of this activity. By the end of 1913, the collection included about 21 thousand exhibits. In the halls of the museum, classes were held on the history of styles and ornaments, the students copied the exhibits in pen drawings, watercolors and ink washing.
The training program was based on the experience of the Stroganov School in Moscow and art and industrial schools in France, England, Germany. The main subject was drawing, which was divided into "general" and "special". After two classes of general artistic training, the students moved on to special ones: a class of drawing with a pen and washing in ink, "shooting artistic and industrial objects" (meaning graphic copying), "a class of drawing from natural flowers." The general drawing course also ended with special sections: drawing "multicolor ornaments with relief", "composition of ornaments", engraving and lithography.
The system of education at the Stieglitz School was not progressive, moreover, in comparison with the advanced schools of Western Europe, the pedagogical system of G. Semper and H. Cole, and even the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, it was "yesterday", a conservative educational institution "in German way" (Germans dominated among the teachers, immigrants from the Baltic States and Finland dominated among the students). Nevertheless, the activities of the School, and above all M. E. Mesmacher, were of great importance for the development of the "art industry" in Russia.
School of technical drawing
School of Artistic Culture of Latvia
From the first years of creation Central School of Technical Drawing, this educational institution has become very popular among the youth of Latvia who want to get.
AT CUTR about 130 ethnic Latvian students were educated. Some of them later became teachers of this school, among them: Gustav Shkilter - a specialist in decorative finishing of buildings (1905-1918), Karl Brenzen - taught the artistic processing of glass and stained glass (1907-1920), Jacob Belzen - a teacher in drawing and painting (1905 -1917), Julius Jaunkalnynsh - on porcelain painting (1896-1918).
Masters of art, who were educated at the Central School of Technical Drawing, subsequently laid the foundation for the artistic culture of Latvia and became the creators of art education in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic:
State art and industrial workshops
LVHPU named after V. I. Mukhina
Academy of Art and Industry
In LVHPU them. V. I. Mukhina was transformed into the St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry.
The university has 1500 students and 220 teachers.
Alexey Rybnikov.
I continue my story about visiting St. Petersburg, the previous part was devoted to
Today there will be a story about visiting the building of the former Stieglitz School, now it is the St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry named after A. L. Stieglitz.
Immediately I apologize for the quality of the photo, it is dark in the museum, you can only take pictures without a flash, and my weak soap dish can hardly pull out in such situations.
The building was designed by the first director of this educational institution - the architect M. E. Messmacher.
In 1876, by decree of Alexander II, the Central School of Technical Drawing was founded with funds donated by the banker and industrialist Baron Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz (1814-1884).
In front of the entrance to the museum there are two bronze floor lamps, they are decorated with figures of the way, busy with creativity.
The school existed on interest from the capital bequeathed by A. L. Stieglitz in 1884 (about 7 million rubles) and trained artists of decorative and applied arts for industry, as well as teachers of drawing and drawing for secondary art and industrial schools.
A prominent statesman, son-in-law of Baron Stieglitz, Alexander Aleksandrovich Polovtsov (1832 - 1909), played an important role in the development of this educational institution.
In 1885, according to the project of M.E. Messmacher, the construction of a special museum building begins. At international auctions, with well-known foreign and Russian antique dealers and collectors, with the active participation of A.A. Polovtsov acquired collections of objects of applied art. A unique museum collection is gradually taking shape, distinguished by the diversity and high artistic level of the monuments of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and including works of Western European, Eastern and Russian applied art of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Since its opening, the museum has been at the center of the cultural life of St. Petersburg. Brilliant exhibitions of the World of Art Association (1898), Historical Exhibition of Art Objects (1904), Exhibition of Church Antiquities (1915) and many others were held in its Great Hall. The museum becomes one of the most important elements of the aesthetic education of future artists. In 1892, 200 people studied at the school; there were departments: general art, majolica, decorative painting and carving, embossing, woodcuts and etching, painting on porcelain, weaving and stuffing.
Pupils of the Stieglitz School fruitfully worked in various areas of the art industry: at the Imperial porcelain and glass factories, in the jewelry firm of Carl Faberge, and at the workshops of the Imperial Theaters. Their skill and inspired work created genuine masterpieces that made the glory of the Russian applied art of the Silver Age.
Anteroom.
The calm creative activity of the School and its museum was interrupted in 1915: the World War made drastic adjustments to the life of Russia and its capital, completely subordinating it to the laws of wartime. In August 1915, the Council of the School decides to temporarily provide the premises of the museum to the Russian Red Cross Society for the establishment of workshops for the manufacture of gas masks for the army in the field and dressings for 900 workers, as well as storage facilities.
Events at the fronts were not going well, and it was decided to prepare the museum's collection for evacuation to Vyatka. 257 boxes with the museum collection and 55 boxes with the School library (the rarest editions, manuscripts, engravings) were prepared for transportation. They were temporarily placed on the first floor of the building, in the Gothic and Russian halls, where they stood until the early 1920s.
The political and economic instability that struck Russian society, the anticipation of revolutionary events by representatives of the propertied strata of the population, forced them to part with their family values, family heirlooms and art collections. In Petrograd at that time, both official and illegal antique markets flourished, so a huge number of various works of art found new owners during this period. But not only the large offer of the antiques market explains the purchasing activity of the Museum of the School, but also the obvious senselessness of saving the school's money in a situation of catastrophic inflation. All this undoubtedly contributed to the fact that it was in the Museum of the School that a significant number of art treasures were accumulated.
Until 1919, the leadership of the School acquired for the museum both individual exhibits and entire rather expensive collections. So, for example, at the end of 1915, a collection of bronze items with cloisonne enamel, created in the Caucasus in the 13th century, was purchased from Count A.A. .E. Makovsky, in October 1918, a collection of products with enamel of the 18th century was purchased from the head of the library of the School, a well-known collector of Russian antiquities in the capital, architect I.A. 160 items.
In addition, the first post-revolutionary years were marked by replenishment of the museum’s collection and through donations: in July 1918, the famous researcher of Russian architecture V.V. Polovtsov Jr. donated a collection of Persian miniatures to the museum.
After the revolution, the Stieglitz School, like other educational institutions of that time, is going through a period of reforms. Not only does its name change (the educational institution becomes the Higher School of Decorative Arts) and the main directions of its activities are adjusted, but, finally, in 1918, together with the Academy of Arts, it is reorganized into the State Labor Educational Workshops of Decorative Arts.
Despite the political and economic difficulties of the first post-war years, the uncertainty of the legal status of the School Museum, it remained one of the main museum centers in Petrograd. It was in this museum that the largest private collections of the city were transferred for storage, which undoubtedly saved them from destruction and plunder. So, in August 1917, Princess E.G. of Saxe-Altenburg, apparently, before leaving for emigration, transferred her personal collection of art treasures, consisting of 1791 items (porcelain, crystal, bronze, enamels, furniture, tapestries) to the museum for storage.
In December of the same 1917, a collection of applied arts - porcelain, crystal, carved bone and stone, which included 2801 items. In 1918, A.A. Polovtsov transferred to the museum part of his personal art collection and property from his dacha on Kamenny Island, in 1919 and somewhat later, the museum received the collections of princes Gorchakov, Shakhovsky, Musin-Pushkin and others.
Hall "Teremok".
As a result, by the beginning of the 1920s, up to forty thousand unique works of applied art were collected in the Museum of the School, which needed to be stored in appropriate conditions. The building of the museum during the years of post-war devastation was in a catastrophic condition and required urgent overhaul. In March 1923, the Council for Museum Affairs of the Petrograd Department of Scientific and Artistic Institutions (PUNU) resolved the issue of transferring the Museum of the School from the jurisdiction of the Academy of Arts to the subordination of PUNU.
In the autumn of 1923, an act was signed to transfer the museum "with all the collections listed in the inventory books" to the State Hermitage. This forced action was a salvation for the museum, since only the Hermitage at that difficult time could guarantee the preservation of collections for national culture. Thus, a new museum appeared in Petrograd - the First Branch of the State Hermitage Museum (the former museum of the Stieglitz School), which existed as an independent institution until the early 1930s.
New trials fell to the lot of the museum during the Great Patriotic War. At the very beginning of the war, the glass dome of the Great Exhibition Hall crumbled from the blast wave, significant damage was caused to the building from direct hits by two shells and an air bomb. The Hermitage employees, in the spring of 1942, began to transport and transfer thousands of objects of applied art to the main building of the Hermitage on Palace Embankment in order to save them from death.
Immediately after the blockade was broken, in the winter of 1943, the city authorities decided to open a school for architectural decoration of buildings on the basis of the former Stieglitz School to train master restorers: marblers, sculptors, mosaicists, cabinetmakers, painters.
A new stage in the life of the museum began on February 5, 1945, when the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution on the re-establishment of an art-industrial school in Leningrad. In 1949 it became a higher educational institution, and in 1953 it was named after the People's Artist of the USSR, sculptor V.I. Mukhina.
The museum, recreated at the same time as the school, was returned part of its collection from the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, where the exhibits got in the 1930s, and objects of applied art were transferred from other museum organizations: the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, the State Research Museum architecture them. A.V. Shchusev, Museum of the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts.
In 1994, LVHPU them. V. I. Mukhina was transformed into the St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry. December 27, 2006 the Academy was named after A. L. Stieglitz.
Today, the museum exposition is located on the first floor of the building. The museum's collection contains samples of Russian and Western European arts and crafts of the 16th and early 20th centuries, Soviet applied art, and industrial design. In the museum you can see rare collections of Russian tiled stoves of the 18th century, Soviet fabrics of the 1920s-1940s, artistic furniture, porcelain, metal, ceramics, fabrics, glass, costumes of the 16th and early 20th centuries.
M.E. Messmacher. Decorations of the southern wall of the Roman stairs with the image of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. end of 1885
Raphael (Papal Gallery).
If you climb the stairs, you can get to the sculpture workshop.
View from the stairs.
The huge main hall is an "atrium" covered with a double iron-glass dome. It is executed in the form of a majestic two-tiered arcade, similar to the courtyards of Italian Renaissance palazzos. A striking contrast to this traditional theme is the floating structure of the ceiling, made according to the type of lattice construction trusses of the French engineer C. Polonso. This is one of the most daring and perfect examples of the new "iron and glass" architecture in St. Petersburg construction at the end of the 19th century.
The factories of F.C. San Galli made the metal base of the double glass ceiling of the Great Hall of the Museum. The painted glass to cover this dome was produced by the well-known Munich firm Zettler.
View of the Great Exhibition Hall of the School and the Italian stairs from the gallery.
The Large Exhibition Hall, two floors high, dominates the volumetric and spatial solution of the building and is the compositional center of the entire building. In the architectural design of the hall, Messmacher used the traditional scheme of the courtyard of an Italian palazzo with a two-tiered arcade, made in the forms characteristic of Italian Renaissance architecture. The space of the hall is covered with a huge glass dome.
We climb the luxurious marble staircase, on the upper platform of which there is a sculpture of A.L. Stieglitz by M.M. Antokolsky,
Even on the approaches to the school from the Fontanka, a huge glass dome is visible from afar, blocking the space of the Great Exhibition Hall. This is not visible from the outside, but in fact there are two domes - external and internal.
In the very first “Mesmakher edition”, the inner dome was entirely stained glass, and a greenhouse was located in the space between the domes. The climate is perfect for this! But during the war, a bomb hit the hall and the dome was destroyed. Restored at the end of the forties of the twentieth century, for more than half a century it again fell into a deplorable state. But on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the School of Construction and the glazing of the dome was restored again.
It turned out as always chaotically and probably a bit too much information.
I am very sorry that I wandered around the building of the school myself and there was no one to show and tell me everything, it is a pity that I did not see most of the beauties of this wonderful building.
But on the other hand, I have something to come to St. Petersburg again.
Previous parts of the report.
Even many native Petersburgers do not know the full name of this educational institution, although its unofficial nickname is well known to every city dweller. "St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry?" Does this phrase mean anything to anyone? And what about the Mukhinsky School or just "Flies"?
The appearance of this illustrious educational institution is associated with the activities of the famous entrepreneur and philanthropist, Baron Alexander Stieglitz. Although the working conditions at the Stieglitz enterprises themselves were close to those of a slave, Alexander Ludwigovich himself often felt the desire to “pay his debt to society”, allocating funds for various social projects.
In 1876, Alexander Ludwigovich allocated 5 million rubles in gold (a fabulous amount for those times) for the creation of the School of Technical Drawing. This educational institution was supposed to train applied artists: blacksmiths, designers, glassblowers, furniture makers, fashion designers. For the construction of the school building, a place was chosen near the Fontanka, where salt "shops" - warehouses - were once located. These warehouse buildings gave the name to the nearest alley - Salt.
For the construction of the school, the German architect Maximilian Egorovich Messmacher was invited, who later became the first director of the new educational institution. Stieglitz and Mesmacher believed that students should learn from the best examples of world art, so the interiors of the building were decorated with royal luxury in the style of the Italian Renaissance. As a gift to his educational institution, Stieglitz also presented a collection of paintings, glass and carpets. The salaries of professors and the current expenses of the school were financed by interest on the capital of one million rubles.
Since Stieglitz himself was a native of Livonia, one should not be surprised that in the first decades of the existence of the School of Technical Drawing, a significant part of its students were from the Baltic states, especially from present-day Latvia. So, for example, Rihards Zarins, the creator of the coat of arms and banknotes of Latvia, studied there; the author of the national flag of Latvia and its first postage stamp Ansis Cīrulis; the founders of professional Latvian sculpture are Teodors Zalkalns, Gustavs Skilter, Burkards Dzenis and others.
After 1917, the school was transformed and became the State Art and Industrial Workshops. In 1922, together with the museum and the library, they merged into the Petrograd VKHUTEIN, and two years later the State Art and Industrial Workshops ceased to exist as an independent educational institution. The museum became a branch of the State Hermitage.
Only in 1945, on its basis, the Leningrad Art and Industrial School named after Mukhina V.I. was opened, which soon became one of the most famous educational institutions in the city. Among the graduates of the Mukhinsky School were M. Shemyakin, spouses Olga and Alexander Florensky, Dmitry Shagin.
Many myths and legends are associated with the Mukhinsky School. So, before exams, students bring flowers to the angels who decorate the lanterns before entering the building. According to legend, this is the local representation of the city's guardian angel, whose headquarters is located on the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Another legend is connected with the front staircase of the Mukha. First-year students have the right to walk only on its left side, since the Muse walks on the right side of the stairs, nervously reacting to those who beat off her heels. For undergraduates, this rule, for mysterious and mysterious reasons, no longer applies.
Another attraction is the school's glass dome, which allows students to sketch the building's interiors while in class. In Soviet times, students, protesting against totalitarianism, often drunkenly climbed this dome and lay naked on it, shocking the draftsmen below. The legend says that the glass of the dome sometimes could not withstand the weight of naked bodies and the case was not without casualties ...
was in the museum and Medici hall dedicated to the masters of arts and crafts who made Florence famous, and their patrons. The plafond of the hall is decorated with four medallions with portraits of representatives of the Medici dynasty and other figures. Under Messmacher, the hall contained showcases with Italian and German plaquettes of the 15th-17th centuries, mainly depicting ancient mythological and Christian subjects. Medici Hall in 1896 (photo source:):
The second floor, which, except through the Great Hall, could be reached along a wide Roman stairs, was assigned to the halls of English, Italian, Flemish and French art of the XVI-XVIII centuries. Thus, the exposition of Italian art occupied five halls, including a spacious tiepolo hall, dedicated to the art of the Venetian Republic of the 18th century and sometimes called Venetian hall(photo source:).
The design of this hall with a picturesque ceiling and stucco resembled the decoration of the library in the Venetian Doge's Palace. Unique Venetian art glass vessels, Delft faience, French Baroque chests of drawers, fabrics, lace, fans and, most importantly, five magnificent paintings by the brush were exhibited here. Tiepolo(c. 1725), acquired by Messmacher specifically for his museum (now they are in the Hermitage). Venetian Hall in 1896 (photo source:):
The decoration of the Venetian Hall has not survived to this day.
M.E. Messmacher. Design project for the decoration of the ceiling of the Venetian Hall (Tiepolo Hall) (source:):
The exposition of the Italian Renaissance was also located in Hall Farnese, whose design was inspired by the luxurious decoration of the palace of Cardinal Farnese in Piacenza, built in the middle of the 16th century. Contemporaries considered the ceiling of this hall, decorated with deep gilded oak caissons, to be a true masterpiece of Messmacher. The hall exhibited marble Renaissance reliefs by the Venetian sculptor Lombardi, rock crystal vessels, caskets, miniature portraits, etc. View of the Farnese Hall in 1896 and in our time (now the hall does not belong to the museum, but belongs to the School) (photo sources: and ):
The display of the history of the development of Italian arts and crafts was completed by copies Loggia of Raphael (Pontifical Galleries). These galleries, decorated with grotesque ornaments, exhibited Italian furniture and fabrics of the 16th-17th centuries, as well as Flemish and French tapestries (now in the Hermitage). Fragment of the wall painting of the Papal Galleries, photo, 1896 (source:):
M.E. Messmacher. Design project for the Papal Gallery (source:):
The museum's French suite was conceived by Mesmacher to show the development of the residential interior of Renaissance France. For this, the halls of Henry II, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, etc. were created. Each elegantly decorated hall contained first-class works of art, specially selected by the architect.
So, Heinrich HallII It was decorated with carved panels, dark blue velvet with royal coats of arms and tapestries, and works of art of the French Renaissance were shown there, including faience from the first half of the 16th century. Samples of Italian majolica were also collected here. A notable decoration of the hall was an Italian fireplace of the 16th century (photo source:).
All this later ended up in the Hermitage. And of the entire decor of the hall, only the rich decoration of the ceiling with deep oak caissons, decorated with the royal coat of arms of France, has survived to our time (photo source:).
General view of the hall of Henry II in our time (photo source:):
Chamber, but very elegant louis hallXIII was decorated with painted beams, and the walls were paneled with wood and painted with arabesque ornaments. In the hall, an overview of the decorative and applied art of France in the first half of the 17th century was given.
The current view of the hall of Louis XIII (photo source:):
French art of the second half of the 17th century was dedicated to louis hallXIV, decorated with a series of tapestries "Months, or Royal Residences" based on sketches by Charles Le Brun (now tapestries in the Hermitage). The showcases were filled with Sèvres and Meissen porcelain. Also on display was a collection of antique French clocks plus artistic furniture by the royal master André Boulle (now, again, in the Hermitage). The Hall of Louis XIV looked like this at that time (photo source:):
M.E. Messmacher. Design for the Louis XIV Room (
The Stieglitz Academy is the most popular university in Russia, attracting applicants and tourists from all over the world. The Mukhinskoye School, as it was called at the Soviets, surprisingly combines creative talents with their practical application - this is a real "forge" of contemporary artists and restorers, architects and designers, sculptors and fashion designers, designers of all directions. The Academy of Baron Stieglitz attracts creative youth not only with specialties, but also with excellent teaching staff, the possibility of self-realization already in the learning process and a rich history.
The history of the emergence of the Stieglitz Academy in St. Petersburg
There is an opinion that when a person achieves everything - wealth, fame and power, he plunges into the depths of the search for the meaning of his own life. Baron Stieglitz, the richest businessman and banker, a brilliant industrialist and international figure, also faced this phenomenon. Admiring the talents of architects and artists, he was extremely sad about the poverty of most of them. Careful calculations of the financier showed that if creative thought is channeled into the mainstream of industry, then the income of craftsmen will increase by 7 times.
Guided by such good intentions, in 1876 he allocates a million rubles for the construction of the main building of the “technical drawing school”, another 5 million to attract the best teachers in the world and the same amount to purchase exhibits for the museum at the academy, clearly demonstrating to students the prospects for revealing their talents.
The design of the building, which later housed the Art and Industry Academy of A.L. Stieglitz, was entrusted to the German architect Maximilian Messmacher, who later became the first rector of the educational institution. The unique concept of combining all the stylistic directions of architecture still distinguishes the Stieglitz mansion, the main building and the museum building. A glass dome, white marble stairs and an abundance of stucco - the grandeur of the building makes it stand out against the backdrop of the Elizabethan baroque of St. Petersburg.
