Museums of Russia: The exhibition, marking the 100th anniversary of the Pushkin Museum-Reserve, presented in the “Mikhailvskoye” Museum-Estate in Pskov Region

Year 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the Pushkin Museum-Reserve (Pskov Region). The National Pushkin Museum (St. Petersburg) prepared an exhibition, timed to coincide with this memorable date. The exhibition features paintings, watercolours, pencil drawings, autolitographs with the landscapes of the Pushkin’s sites.

The earliest piece is the watercolour drawing by a governorate architect of Pskov F. F. Yabs View of the Svyatogorsky Monastery and the grave of A. S. Pushkin (1837). The watercolour by an amateur artist I. V. Malafeyev Svyatogorsky Monastery. The Grave of A. S. Pushkin of the late 1830s has more lyrical tone. The poet’s resting place is also pictured on the graphical sheet by a famous landscape painter A. K. Savrasov (1873). In 1880s, teacher of Russian literature L. I. Polivanov drew pencil sketches of Mikhailovskoye and Trigorskoye, and made a plan of the poet’s estate.

In 1899, the 100th anniversary since the birth of Pushkin was widely celebrated in Russia. Marking this date, painter-wanderer V. M. Maksimov created a series of works, among which View from the Holy Mountains, Trigorskoye. View on the Sorot River from the Hill, The Pushkin Museum-Reserve. On the way from the Holy Mountains to Mikhailovskoye, and others. On one of them, the artist pictured the poet and nanny Arina Rodionovna on the porch of her house in Mikhailovskoye. During that time, painters G. P. Kondratenko and F. R. Raylyan travelled around the Pushkin’s sites. In the early XX century, architect L. L. Shryoter made sketches of the nanny’s house, and an amateur artist B. P. Bekman drew churches of Trigorskoye.

The Pushkin’s sites were actively visited by artists in 1920s as well. Paintings of Mikhailovskoye and Saint-Mountain Monastery were created by A. A. Osmerkin (1928). Amateur scenic sketches by E. K. Rall (1927) are also associated with that time. Famous graphic artist and teacher P. A. Shillingovsky visited Mikhailovskoye in 1924. The creative trip resulted in a series of drawings that the painter later transformed into lithography. Landscape painter M. M. Gohstein captured the foundation of the destroyed estate in Mikhailovskoye in 1932, and the stairs to the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Svyatogorsky Monastery in 1935.

On the eve of the 100th anniversary since Pushkin’s death, and then during the celebration of the 150th anniversary since his birth, many artists visited the Pskov land. Of particular interest are little-known images by N. I. Altman, created using blue ink, Voronichi and Trigorskoye. The Lonely Oak, pencil sketch by N. V. Kuznetsova Voronichi. Church. The exposition features works by an undeservingly forgotten landscape painter A. G. Shibanov – views of the Saint Mountain Monastery and landscapes of Trigorskoye. N. A. Azovsky created the painting In Mikhailovskoye. The exhibition showcases the works of the post-war years, among them the lyrical portrait of the poet against the landscape Pushkin in Mikhailovskoye by B. I. Shcherbakov, the painting of the same name by G. N. Veselov, watercolours by M. N. Orlova-Mochalova, images of the interiors of the nanny’s house and the poet’s workroom in Mikhailovskoye created by P. F. Osipov using tempera painting technique.

A mass pilgrimage of Soviet painters to Pushkinskiye Gory began in the second half of the XX century. This tradition was founded in the XIX century by recognized masters and amateur painters, whose works still have an undeniable creative, historical and cultural value.