Chistyakov School of Russian Realism
Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov(1832-1919) an outstanding Russian artist and educator, was the founder of the artistic school of Russian realism. The most famous of Russia’s artists of the 19th century; Repin, Polenov, Surikov, Vasnetsov, Vrubel, Serov and Savinsky, were all taught by Chistyakov.
Pavel Chistyakov was born in the Tver province (north of Moscow) in a family of peasant serfs, but was granted freedom from the moment of his birth. At the age of seventeen he enrolled in the Imperial Academy of the Arts in St Petersburg and devoted his next twelve years to studying the arts. As a bursary grantee of the Academy from 1862 to 1870 Chistyakov travelled abroad and worked in Rome and Paris. While living in Rome, Chistyakov took an interest in theoretical aspects of art. In studying the work of the great Renaissance masters, Chistyakov also studied the subjects and methods they used to teach their students. In his notes on the theory of teaching art, Chistyakov repeatedly cites Leonardo Da Vinci.
During his absence from Russia, significant changes occurred in the Imperial Academy; thirteen of its members voluntarily resigned from the Academy. It was their protest against conservative methods of teaching art to students.
Returning to his lecturer’s duties at the Academy in 1870, Chistyakov began to successfully apply his newly developed teaching system. The primary objective of this methodology is to give students a foundation in the realistic school of art, which is based on the laws of perspective, pictorial harmony and the development of students’ feel for colour. Great attention was paid to the study of nature and its colour palette and also to the anatomical structure of humans and animals.
The famous mosaic works in the Isaac Cathedral and the Church of Christ’s Resurrection in St Petersburg, as well as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow were executed under Chistyakov’s direction.
To the end of his days, Chistyakov was the most loved and respected teacher of the Academy.
Vassily Yevmenievich Savinsky(1859-1937) was another pre-eminent Russian artist and teacher who was taught by Chistyakov at the Imperial Academy of the Arts from 1875-1882. For his artistic works at the Academy he was awarded gold and silver medals and a five-year bursary to work in Europe from 1883. He then taught at the St Petersburg Academy of the Arts from 1889-1930. Chistyakov considered that more than anyone else, Savinsky was the heir apparent and champion of his teaching method.
Adrian Vladimirovich Kaplun (1887-1974) was a well known Russian and Soviet artist and teacher, having been taught by Savinsky at the St Petersburg Academy of the Arts from 1906-1912, with further studies in Paris up to 1915. He painted landscapes, and worked with engraving, lithography, etching, xylography and other techniques. He travelled widely across Russia and was in blockaded Leningrad during World War II.
Nikolai Fedorovich Lomtugin(1926-1997) – Honoured Artist of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic was born and grew up in Grozny. At the beginning of the 1950s he met Kaplun at a travelling exhibition and, leaving behind his prestigious work as the city’s chief architect, went to study art with him. Lomtugin and Kaplun travelled extensively through the Caucasus region, making sketches and studies of the local residents, villages and ancient towers. In 1957 Lomtugin established his studio of creative arts, which flourished until the beginning of the 1990s. Over the life of his studio, Lomtugin organised over 40 exhibitions of his students’ work. Because of the outbreak of wars in Chechnya, Lomtugin moved to the Stavropol region and then further north to Veliky Novgorod where he continued to teach until his last days.