Abramtsevo
- Date:
- 1943 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- folk arts
Abramtsevo, artists’ colony on an estate approximately 30 miles (48 km) outside of Moscow that became known in the 19th century for fostering the revival of Russian folk art and traditional crafts.
Abramtsevo had been inhabited for more than two centuries before Slavophile Sergey Aksakov bought it in 1843. Until he purchased the estate with a large inheritance from his father, Aksakov had been the director of the Institute of Land Surveying in Moscow. While there he had associated with literary figures and intellectuals and had become friends with writers Nikolay Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, and Aleksey Khomyakov. He invited those friends and others to stay with him at the estate, and Abramtsevo soon became a retreat, a relaxing escape from the harried urban life of Moscow. Aksakov spent long hours fishing in the nearby Vorya River and wrote his best-known works in this period, including Notes on Fishing (1847), The Family Chronicle (1856), and The Little Scarlet Flower (1858). The writers, artists, and actors who frequented Abramtsevo in the 1840s and ’50s rejected European artistic influences and embraced and cultivated Russian culture. When Aksakov died in 1859, his sons—Ivan and Konstantin, who also were writers and Slavophiles—took over the estate. The Aksakov period at Abramtsevo set the stage for the wave of Russian nationalism that was to come with the person of Savva Mamontov.
Heir to a large railroad fortune, Mamontov bought the property in 1870 from Aksakov’s daughter. He oversaw the complete renovation of the estate and, in upholding and expanding the spirit of Abramtsevo, he became one of the 19th century’s leading figures in the development of a Russian national art. During the 1870s and ’80s, artists including Mikhail Vrubel, Isaak Levitan, Ilya Repin, Yelena Polenova, and the brothers Apollinary Vasnetsov and Viktor Vasnetsov flocked to the Abramtsevo colony, which quickly gained a reputation as a breeding ground for creativity and for the revival of traditional arts and crafts. The group of artists who worked there became known as the Mamontov circle.
Not only did the artists develop their own work, but they also contributed to the maintenance and growth of the estate itself, frequently working on group projects, such as the building of a small church (1881–82). Its design was conceived by Vasily Polenov and Viktor Vasnetsov and drew inspiration from the medieval Russian cities Novgorod, Pskov, and Suzdal. Its interior was adorned with icons created by Repin and Mikhail Nesterov, a ceramic tile stove by Vrubel, and a mosaic floor by Viktor Vasnetsov. The church and the pavilion (1883), which was built for the artists’ children and given the moniker “The Hut on Chicken Legs”—a reference to the dwelling of Baba-Yaga, an ogress in Russian folklore—were two of the first buildings in Russia designed in the Art Nouveau style. The artists also collaborated on amateur theatrical performances. When Mamontov established the Russian Private Opera in Moscow (1885), he hired several Abramtsevo artists as set designers.
The revival of traditional Russian arts and crafts instigated by the Abramtsevo group proved to be an important contribution to Russian cultural history. After 1881 Mamontov’s wife initiated active collecting of Russian folk art and sought out art that was influenced by the Russian tradition. Vrubel, for example, painted works that represented Russian legends and their characters, such as The Bogatyr (1898), and Nesterov set his paintings and drawings, many on religious subjects, in an identifiably Russian landscape. The artists prioritized the preservation of Russian culture over Western values and influences. This strong nationalistic sentiment was the foundation for the Russian branch of the Arts and Crafts movement, which the artists at Abramtsevo promoted with workshops demonstrating traditional techniques in wood carving and ceramics.
Mamontov funded the establishment of a pottery workshop that opened in 1889–90. The pottery created by the Abramtsevo artists was a critical link to the general Russian populace. Headed by Petr Vaulin, artists, notably Vrubel, produced high-quality majolica (tin-glazed) wares—tiles, sculptures, vases, and the like—that soon were in high demand and sold in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other nearby cities. In addition to providing popular ceramics, the Abramtsevo artists—particularly Sergey Malyutin—crafted the first matryoshka doll (a wooden nesting doll) in 1890. Matryoshkas were then exhibited by Abramtsevo artists at the 1900 world’s fair in Paris, and they continued to be iconic of Russian culture into the 21st century.
After Mamontov’s death in 1918, the estate was run by his daughter, Alexandra. By that time, the colony had gained an excellent reputation; artists, theatre figures, singers, and art historians visited the grounds to attend workshops and to observe. After World War II, Joseph Stalin put Abramtsevo under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the estate was opened to the public in 1950. Into the 21st century, Abramtsevo continued to welcome artists and other visitors.
