Society of Moscow Artists

OMX arose in 1927 at the State Academy of Art Sciences (GAHN) ^[1] on the basis of the merger of several groups. OMX included former members of Jack of Diamonds , associations of Moscow Painters , Genesis , Makovets , Heat Color and other groups ^[2] . In 1927, the first composition of the association and its governing bodies were formed, in January 1928 the youth association “ Wing ” was adopted as part of the company, forming the OMX-2 group, the first OMX exhibition was held in February, and in March Society organized art production workshops ( MASTOMX ) ^[3] . June 23, 1928 adopted the Charter of the company ^[4] , which completed the organizational process of its creation.

The creativity of thematically heterogeneous artists included in OMX was based on the principles of following the "pictorial culture" and the continuity of traditions, expressed in the task of "preserving and developing the easel painting as a whole artistic organism, as a finished work, independent of either architecture or applied art" ^[5] . In a society declaration put forward in 1929 , OMX representatives defined realism as a synthesis of a perfect pictorial form and a real reflection of reality ^[6] :

“In the methods of our creativity, we reject naturalistic everydayism, superficial and static protocolism as unsuitable means for solving the enormous tasks of art today. We demand from the artist the greatest reality and expressiveness of the formal side of his work, forming an inextricable unity with the ideological basis of the latter ” ^[7] .

OMX representatives understood the problem of solving the problem of “social order”, put forward by LEF theorists and in the second half of the 1920s one of the most controversial topics of artistic creation: in OMH's Address to the Societies of Artists (1929), the slogan of comprehensive assistance to the “worker” was put forward the class and the working peasantry in raising, through the means of art, their cultural and political level ” ^[8] , but in practice it was realized within the framework of MASTOMX created under the society and met modern market needs for poor related products ^[9] .

Among the creative associations of the late 1920s, the ideology of OMX reflected the views of artists of the so-called “center” ^[10] , to which the association of “ Four Arts ” also gravitated; AHRR held the position “on the right”, whose principles of creative thinking, which remained in the tradition of the Wanderers , formed the basis of the method of socialist realism — on the left — the urban art of OST ^[11] . The extreme leftist positions were expressed by the constructivists , in whose experiments painting was degenerated into design, and representatives of the LEF who denied the heritage of classical art and the easel painting as such ^[12] .

In 1927, the founding members of the company were: I. E. Grabar , S. V. Gerasimov , A. D. Drevin , I. F. Zavyalov , B. D. Korolev , A. V. Lentulov , N. Kh. Maksimov , I. I. Mashkov , A. A. Osmerkin , M. S. Rodionov , V. V. Rozhdestvensky , K. K. Zefirov , N. I. Shestakov , S. I. Petrov , full members: A. I. Ivanov, S.I. Ivanov, N.P. Krymov , E.I. Mashkevich , S.M. Romanovich , V.F. Ryndin , A.F. Fonvizin , I.I. Chekmazov , V.I. Mukhina , N. M. Chernyshev , V. M. Novozhilov ^[14] .

In the charter of the society, adopted on June 23, 1928, the list of founding members was expanded to include N. N. Maslennikov , N. A. Udaltsova , R. R. Falk , V. V. Franchetti , V. L. Khrakovsky I.I. Chekmazov (N.I.Shestakov came out). Of the full members came V. I. Mukhina ^[15] .

At the end of 1927, members of the youth group Krylo ^[16] applied to the OMX Presidium with a request to accept them into the Society of Moscow Artists. On January 26, 1928, at the OMX general meeting, the request was supported, the Wing became part of the company as an independent branch with its presidium and leader A. A. Osmerkin, but was renamed OMX-2. OMX-2 members were vested with equal rights with the OMX-1 central group, and had their representatives on the joint OMX Presidium. This order was maintained until the spring of 1929, but in the following lists of members of the society the OMX-2 group did not stand out separately ^[17] .

OMX Alphabetical List

Governing Bodies

The supreme governing body of OMX in its charter was declared the All-Russian Congress, convened at least once every 3 years. However, the intention to give society the all-Russian status remained only a declaration, and OMX throughout the years of its existence has been an association of some Moscow artists. In 1927-1929 at the head of the society was the presidium; I.E. Grabar was elected chairman. After his departure from OMX, A.V. Lentulov was elected chairman in April 1929. In 1929-1930 the Presidium, along with the Chairman, included: the Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, as well as three members of the Presidium and two candidates. The Revision Commission was composed of three members and one candidate ^[24] .

At the beginning of 1931, the secretariat became the governing body of OMX, which was divided into three sectors: socio-ideological, industrial, and organizational. On February 16, 1931, A. V. Lentulov was elected Secretary General of OMX. Along with the secretariat, the management of the company was carried out by a board of 11 members and one candidate. The revision committee included 7 members. An editorial committee of 11 members was also elected ^[25] .

In connection with the departure from OMX in March 1931 of a significant group of artists (who applied to the IV plenum of the AHRR for membership in the Association) in April 1931, the management team of OMX changed again, the production sector was renamed the training sector, the Secretary General re-elected A. V. Lentulov. The Board consisted of 11 members and 3 candidates, the Audit Commission - 7 members and 2 candidates; the editorial commission was liquidated ^[26] .

Art and Production Workshops (MASTOMX)

The workshops organized in March 1928 had the following objectives:

- to alleviate the difficult financial situation of artists included in OMX, by attracting them to the production sphere,

- implement the idea of ​​decorating modern life and improve the quality of artistic and industrial products,

- solve the problem of social order, acutely posed in the 1920s. ^[27]

1928 became the organizational period of MASTOMX. In the absence of state subsidies and premises, as well as a weak personnel policy (involving people not related to OMX in the management of workshops), the financial situation of the organization became critical by the end of the year: the deficit was 18–20 thousand rubles. The situation improved with the advent of the chairman of OMX A.V. Lentulov: the sculptor B. D. Korolev was appointed the head of the workshops, the production plan was approved, according to which, by April 1929, 75% of OMX members had participated in the work of MASTOMX, a clear structure of the workshops was determined . ^[28] MASTOMX consisted of 8 sections:

• decorative
• poster graphic
• metal-ceramic
• sculptural
• architectural planning
• distance learning
• exhibition part
• visual part ^[29]

The metal section was engaged in the production of badges and small plastic products, the pictorial section carried out agreements with a number of enterprises for the design of red corners and clubs, the sculptural section - contracts for the manufacture of individual monuments, busts and small sculptures for mass distribution. The graphic section was engaged in the production of posters, the exhibition - in the organization of regional exhibitions, the main of which was a large-scale traveling exhibition, which opened in the club of the Trekhgornaya manufactory and then visited 50 points in Moscow and the Moscow Region (March - December 1929) ^[30] .

By the beginning of 1930, the structure of the workshops was reduced to 3 sections: publishing and poster, club (design clubs), sculptural. In 1931, MASTOMX was liquidated in connection with the decision of the People ’s Commissariat of December 18, 1930 on the transfer of OMX's economic and organizational activities to IZOGIZ and to the cooperative “Artist” ^[31] .

The society held two major exhibitions:

• 1st exhibition - in February 1928 in the halls of Vkhutein ( Myasnitskaya , 21). 46 artists participated, 514 works were exhibited, a catalog was published ^[32] .
• The 2nd exhibition - in June 1929 in the territory of the Park of Culture and Rest in the pavilion "Hexagon" ("Engineering"). 51 artists participated, 512 works were exhibited, an illustrated catalog was published ^[33] .

At both exhibitions, works of the landscape genre predominated, they were presented widely and varied - both in subject and in form of image. Spectacular, vibrant Crimean landscapes by A. V. Lentulov were adjacent to the first exhibition with “a little gloomy, harsh” Ural works by A. D. Drevin, “soft, lyrical images of Russian nature” by V. L. Khrakovsky with expressive oriental city landscapes V. V. Rozhdestvensky ^[34] . The full-blooded, life-affirming canvases of the artists of the “Jack of Diamonds” circle differed significantly from the works of the representatives of the former “Makovets”, in whose landscapes the “dramatic outlook, coming from subtle psychologism, from the prevalence of the spiritual principle over materiality” was laid ^[35] . The Pushkin series of landscapes by A. A. Osmerkin, as well as the impressionist canvases by I. E. Grabar, remained somewhat aloof at both exhibitions. Such a variety of pictorial manners testified to the absence of a common style orientation among OMX artists and “did not allow us to speak of them as a kind of a single direction” in the fine arts of the 1920s ^[36] . However, the coexistence of such different approaches was the principal position of OMX: it was an attempt to develop a model of the synthetic interaction of various creative settings in a single artistic community ^[37] .

Other genres at OMX shows have been shown less widely. Quantitatively and thematically noticeably inferior to the landscape portrait. Still lifes mainly belonged to the youth group, “whose representatives have not yet gotten rid of the charm of“ bubovovletovskih ”still lifes” ^[38] . The everyday genre, as well as the thematic picture, were present in small numbers, but were distinguished by sharp expressiveness. Such are the works of A. A. Morgunov “The Spectator” (1926) and “Demonstration” (1928), S. V. Gerasimov “The Blacksmiths” (1927), K. K. Zefirova “At Work” (1927), R. R. Falk "Dovecote" (1927) ^[38] .

The exhibitions were extremely successful, in particular, the 20th exhibition in the Central Park of Culture and Culture was visited by 20,000 “paid visitors” and more than 200 excursion groups; 32 paintings from the exhibition were scheduled for purchase at the Tretyakov Gallery ^[39] .

Participants in 1 and 2 OMX exhibitions

At the end of 1930, as a result of a survey of OMX activities conducted by a commission of the Narkompros Arts Sector, it was revealed that the transition to the rails of socialist construction, “not sufficiently stimulated by the Presidium of the Society, was not properly developed” ^[42] . Although the continued existence of OMX was deemed appropriate, the prospects of OMX were tied to the fulfillment of a number of requirements prescribed by the society by the Resolution on Reports of Moscow Societies of the Arts Division of the People’s Commissariat of December 18, 1930:

“A) To begin systematic work on class differentiation among members of the Society,

b) to conduct, together with the Federation ^{[43], a} purge of their ranks,

c) take measures to strengthen political and educational work among the members of the Society under the leadership of the Federation, especially its young part,

d) to prepare the economic and organizational part of their activities for transfer to IZOGIZ and the cooperative "Artist", agreeing on the procedure and terms with the Arts Department of the People's Commissariat of Education,

e) make additions to the Company's declaration regarding criticism of past mistakes and assessment of one’s attitude to the bourgeois iso-inheritance ... ” ^[31] .

This decision of the People's Commissariat of Education led to the exit in early 1931 of a number of artists from OMX. Society lost its material base in connection with the upcoming liquidation of MASTOMX. By the end of 1931, these reasons created a situation in which the Society of Moscow Artists virtually ceased to exist. Legally, it was liquidated (like all other art societies) by a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations” of April 23, 1932.

• Exhibition of artworks of the Society of Moscow Artists. O. M. Kh. - Catalog. - M .: Type. Sokolova and Kuznetsova (Bakhmetevskaya, 1), 1928.
• Catalog of the exhibition of paintings and sculptures of the Society of Moscow Artists. With the articles of Ign. Khvoinika and N. M .. - M .: OMX Edition, [Park of Culture and Rest], 1929.
• The struggle for realism in the visual arts of the 20s: materials, documents, memories. - M. , 1962. - S. 224-225.
• Exhibitions of Soviet art. T. 1. 1917-1932. - Reference book. - M. , 1965. - S. 251-252, 297-298.
• Meledina M.V. Society of Moscow Artists (OMX). Materials for the study of the history of the Society of Moscow Artists // Soviet Art History . Vol. 24. - Sat articles. - M .: Soviet artist , 1988. - S. 362-384. - 480 p. - 3500 copies.
• Severyukhin D. Ya., Leikind O. L. The Golden Age of Art Associations in Russia and the USSR. - Reference book. - SPb. , 1992. - S. 173-175.

• Identification of the characters of the sketch of A. Lentulov’s painting “Moscow Artists”
• List of participants on artru.info