Durnov, Modest Aleksandrovich

Modest Durnov was born in the Samara province in 1868 , in the family of an official of the Office of the Transport of Posts. In 1887 he graduated from the architectural department of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MUZHVZ) . He received a Small Silver Medal for the design of the capital's railway station and the title of class artist of architecture. In 1888-1889, he continued his studies at the Moscow School of Painting and Painting at the painting department of V. D. Polenov . Immediately after graduation, under the leadership of K. M. Bykovsky , S. U. Solovyov and A. S. Kaminsky, Durnov worked on the construction of the Handicraft Museum in Leontief Lane and university clinics on Maiden Field.

The most famous of Modest Durnov's independent projects was the building of the Charles Omont Theater ( 1902 , in Soviet times, the Meyerhold Theater ) on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street . Due to lack of funds, as well as opposition from the city authorities, the initial design of this building had to be heavily reworked. In particular, the Moscow governor, Prince Golitsyn, did not allow the entrance to the theater in the form of an open mouth of a dragon, absorbing the flow of spectators. Also failed to realize the glass stairs conceived by the architect, solid windows on three floors, a porcelain blue and white facade of the building. But the interior included a promo , for the first time in Moscow. However, representatives of the press and creative intelligentsia took the project “with hostility”. Bryusov called the theater "banal decadent." In the newspapers, the criticism was devastating:

The second vocation of Modest Durnov was painting, in which he proved himself to be a gifted watercolor artist. Durnov painted mainly still lifes and landscapes (“Night”, “Swans”, “Three Palm Trees”, “Lesbos”, “At the Blue Sea”, etc.), as well as portraits of children, women, and his contemporaries. A portrait of Konstantin Balmont , with whom Durnov was friendly, is also noteworthy, as well as a portrait of Oscar Wilde , with whom, according to some information, Modest met during a trip to London . Wilde was, without a doubt, Durnov's favorite author. In 1906, the publication of " Portrait of Dorian Gray " was published with his illustrations in an abstract and decorative style.

Modest Durnov is the author of the “epochal” painting “XIX Century”. This is a group portrait, which depicts the main figures of the century against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower - a symbol of the new world of that time. Postcards depicting this painting were very successful, later the canvas was sold to America.

The main merit of Durnov was the ability to attract talent and promote new art. So, in 1895, with his essay on the Pre-Raphaelites, he sparked the interest of Moscow artists and the public in this area of ​​painting, seeing in him the forerunner of symbolism and modernity .

In 1899, together with Balmont, Bryusov and Ivan Konevsky (Oreus), he published one of the first symbolist collections of the Book of Thoughts, where he placed 5 of his poems, united under the subtitle Colorful Dreams. These poems were clearly weaker than the works of the other co-authors of the collection:

and the Book of Thoughts remained the only trial of Durnov’s poetic pen.

One of his biographers said about the role of Durnov in the life of Moscow creative bohemia of the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries:

In the dedication of his collection “Let Us Be Like the Sun” (1903), Konstantin Balmont wrote: “Modest Durnov, an artist who created a poem from his personality”

In 1903, Durnov became a member of the Union of Russian Artists, participated in exhibitions of the World of Art, 36 Artists and others. He collaborated with the publishers Scorpio and Grif, which specialized in the production of symbolist literature. He was an illustrator of magazines and books. He lived in State Lane , 24 ^[1] .

After the October Revolution, M. A. Durnov worked as a professor at VKhUTEMAS , from 1921 to 1925 he worked on the project "Greater Moscow" as part of the team of authors under the leadership of S. Shestakov. In 1924, Durnov's works were exhibited at an exhibition in New York . He died of influenza in 1928 and was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery .

Little is known about Modest Durnov’s personal life. He enjoyed success with women, giving the impression of a "demonic nature." He was married to a wealthy Moscow landowner and pianist Maria Vasilyevna Vostryakova, who had a friendship with Chaliapin and Caesar Cui . In 1917, their daughter Veronica was born.

• Participation in the design of the Clinical Campus of Moscow University (end of the 1880s, Moscow, Maiden Field)
• The main house and outbuildings of the estate of F. D. Samarin Vasilievskoye (end of the 1880s, Samara province)
• The project of the capital railway station (1890, Moscow) was not implemented
• The project of the iconostasis for the church on the estate of D.F. Samarin (1891, p. Dubrovka, Samara Province)
• The project of the gate to the clean courtyard of a wealthy manor house (1892), not implemented
• Sh. Omon Theater ("Buff Theater", then "Zon"), together with A. N. Novikov (1900, Moscow, Triumphal Square ), was not preserved
• Mansion of S. Omon (1901, Moscow, Triumphal Square ), not preserved
• Shelter for terminally ill women with a church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Mourn” (1904, Moscow, 9 Bolshaya Savvinsky Lane )
• Train station (1910, Murom )
• Participation in the construction of the Handicraft Museum designed by A.E. Erichson (1911, Moscow, 7 Leontyevsky Lane )
• Shopping arcade (1910s, Tomsk )

Gershkovich E. Moscow dandy // Mezzanine, April 2003

• Nashchokina M. B. Architects of Moscow Art Nouveau. Creative portraits . - 3rd ed. - M .: Giraffe , 2005 . - S. 181-182. - 2500 copies. - ISBN 5-89832-043-1 .