Anisimov, Alexander Ivanovich (art critic)

Born March 30 (April 11), 1877 in St. Petersburg in the family of Zemstvo statistics . He graduated from the 2nd Moscow gymnasium and the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University (1900-1904).

Activities

He worked in the Novgorod male teacher's seminary in 1904-1916. He was also a professor at the Novgorod People's University . He took an active part in the study and restoration of ancient Russian frescoes , including XIV century frescoes in the church of Fedor Stratilat . Anisimov collaborated with specialists such as P.P. Pokryshkin, K.K. Romanov and others. He collected church utensils. On the basis of the collected collection, in 1913 the Novgorod eparchial ancient storage (now the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve ) was created, where Anisimov organized restoration workshop.

In 1916-1918 he taught at the Peterhof gymnasium . In 1918-1919 he worked in the museum department of the People's Commissariat of Education .

At the invitation of I.E. Grabar, he became an employee, and then the supervisor of the Commission of the People’s Commissariat for the Preservation and Unveiling of Art Monuments and for the restoration of wall paintings and ancient icons. In 1924, it was renamed the Central State Restoration Workshops and Anisimov took the post of scientific director of the restoration of art monuments. In 1921, together with I.E. Grabar, he participated in the First All-Russian Restoration Conference, where it was decided to organize a commission to consider the technical methods of strengthening and revealing ancient icon painting. He headed the restoration work in Novgorod, Yaroslavl , Rostov , Uglich , Vladimir . Among the monuments restored under his leadership: icons and wall paintings associated with the name of Theophanes the Greek , in Moscow and Novgorod; icons " Trinity " and " Zvenigorod rank " by Andrei Rublev ; The virgin icons “ Vladimirskaya ”, “ Bogolyubskaya ”, “ Maximovskaya ”, “ Sign ”, “ Oranta ”, “ Tolgskaya ”, “ Fedorovskaya ”, “ Donskaya ”. He organized special restoration workshops in Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Vologda. From 1925 to 1930 he headed the Yaroslavl branch of the painting section of the workshops.

In 1920-1929 he worked at the State Historical Museum as the head of the department of monuments of religious life. In the early 1920s, he headed the section of ancient Russian art at the Institute of Historical and Artistic Surveys and Museum Studies . He worked at the Moscow Research Institute of Archeology and Art History , the State Academy of Art Sciences . In 1926, together with N.I. Bryagin, he created an exhibition of ancient Russian icons. He participated in the organization of a traveling exhibition of Russian icons in Europe and the USA (1929-1932).

He taught at Moscow University; in the Higher art and technical workshops ( VKHUTEMAS ) ( Byzantine and monumental painting). He headed the cabinet of fine arts (1918-1919) at Yaroslavl University , was a professor in the Department of Archeology and Material Culture (1919-1924), dean of the historical department (from February 20, 1920), taught courses on the history of Russian art, early Christian art, and an introduction to the art of understanding. , Russian art until the XVIII century.

Harassment, arrest, execution

He was first arrested in June 1919 in Peterhof, released at the request of N.I. Sedova (Trotsky). In 1921, he was arrested in Yekaterinburg and sentenced to six months of forced labor without detention. February 3, 1921 released ahead of schedule.

In 1929, he stopped all social activities. On October 6, 1930, he was arrested in the case of “espionage and sabotage through the Central State Restoration Workshops”. January 23, 1931 sentenced to 10 years in camps . He was serving his sentence in the Solovetsky special purpose camp ( Kemsky camp ). From May 1931 until mid-1932 he worked in the museum of the Solovetsky camp, restored icons, read reports.

In 1937 he was transferred to the White Sea-Baltic camp ( camp Kuzema ). On August 22, 1937, in a camp, he was arrested and 26 was sentenced by the Troika of the NKVD of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to execution. He was shot on September 2, 1937 in the tract Sandarmokh near Medvezhyegorsk . Now at this place is the Sandarmokh memorial cemetery.

His name was hushed up for a long time. Gerold Ivanovich Vzdornov, Doctor of Art Criticism, collected the most important part of the scientist’s works and wrote an article about him in the journal Soviet Art Criticism in 1984. Alexander Ivanovich Anisimov was completely rehabilitated by the prosecutor of Karelia in 1989-1990.

The artist B. M. Kustodiev in 1915 painted his portrait on the background of ancient Russian architecture. The poet Maximilian Voloshin dedicated to him, as a friend, the poem " Our Lady of Vladimir " (May 26, 1929).

• Student Society Excursion to Greece // Bulletin of Education. Xv. February 1904 Dep. 1, pp. 116-141.
• Historical and archaeological exhibition of the Novgorod society of lovers of antiquity // Novgorod Life. 1910. No. 139. S. 1-2; No. 140. S. 1-2.
• Restoration of the frescoes of Fedor Stratilat in Novgorod // Old Years. February 1911 S. 43-52.
• Church antiquity at the exhibition of the XV archaeological congress in Novgorod // Old Years. 1911, October. S. 40-47.
• Novgorod icon of St. Fedor Stratilat / A.I. Anisimov, P.P. Muratov. Monuments of old Russian painting. - M .: K.F. Nekrasov, 1916 .-- 48 p.
• The restoration project of St. Sophia of Kiev // Art life. No. 3. 1920. S. 10-12.
• Restoration of monuments of ancient Russian painting in Yaroslavl. 1919-1926. M.: Central State Restoration Workshops, 1926. - 16 p.
• Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Prague, 1928.
• The pre - Mongol period of Old Russian painting // Issues of restoration: a collection of Central State Restoration Workshops. Vol. 2 / Ed. I.E. Grabar. - M.: Central State Restoration Workshops, 1928. - 284 p.
• About ancient Russian art. M., 1983.

• Miller DB Legends of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir: A Study of the Development of Muscovite National Consciousness // Speculum. - 1968. - Oct., 1968. - T. 43, No. 4. - S. 657-670.
• Vzdornov G.I. Alexander A. Anisimov (1877-1932) // Soviet art history. - M., 1984. - Issue. 2. - S. 297-317.
• Kyzlasova I.L. Alexander Ivanovich Anisimov (1877-1937). - M.: Publishing House Mosk. state Mountain University, 2000. - 89 p.

• Anisimov Alexander Ivanovich . Yaroslavl University named after P. G. Demidova
• Anisimov Alexander Ivanovich // Handbook of Scientific Societies of Russia
• Alexander Ivanovich Anisimov (1877-1932) // History of education in Novgorod the Great