Vyshny Volochek academic dacha. Academic dacha under Vyshny Volochok

The ancient land of Vyshnevolotsk is called the “Cradle of Great Waters”. The Tvertsa, a tributary of the Volga and Msta, begins here, carrying its waters to Lake Ilmen. And between them is Tsna, on the banks of which stands the city of Vyshny Volochyok. It was along these rivers that the route from Veliky Novgorod and the Lower Lands passed. And 300 years ago, by order of Peter I, on the site of an ancient portage between Tvertsa and Tsna, a whole complex of hydraulic structures was created, which made it possible to call the entire waterway from the Volga to the new capital of St. Petersburg Vyshnevolotsky. Only in the second half of the 19th century did this main transport route in Russia give way to railways.

But Vyshnevolotsk land is not only the birthplace of Russia’s first artificial water system. For two centuries now, it has been a kind of “mecca” for artists who draw their inspiration from its dense forests and swamps, numerous rivers and lakes.

Another of the founders of Russian realistic painting, A.G. Venetsianov acquired a small estate in Vyshnevolotsk district. These are the Vyshnevolotsk peasant women in his paintings, easily leading horses by the bridle, feeding children, reaping, and peeling beets. Here his great student Grigory Soroka created his canvases, whose “View of the Ostrovki estate from the Big Island” finally found its place in the Tver Art Gallery.

“The genius of the Russian national landscape” I.I. Levitan saw his “Golden Autumn” on the small river Sezhe and the joyful “March” on the estate of A.N. Turchaninova “Gorka”, and the beauty of the local lakes Ostrovno and Udomlya inspired the artist to create his most significant painting “Over Eternal Peace”, and later his last – “Lake”. A.E. lived and worked near these lakes. Arkhipov, K.A. Korovin, S.Yu. Zhukovsky, A.S. Stepanov, A.V. Moravov, N.P. Bogdanov-Belsky...

An unsurpassed master of color, Konstantin Korovin, came to Vyshny Volochyok to visit his grandmother as a child. Landscape painter, Itinerant artist, academician of painting A.I. was born in this city. Meshchersky. And on a quiet street not far from the center there is still a house where F.S. spent the last years of his life. Zhuravlev, author of the famous painting “Before the Crown”.

One of the greatest masters of the 20th century, A.G., spent his childhood on his mother’s estate “Kuzlovo”. Yavlensky. A student of Repin, he left for Germany in 1896 and, as it turned out, forever. The human face in his paintings of the late period is both a face and a cross. The artist wrote that “a work of art is a visible God, and art is a longing for God.”

Almost nothing remains of Venetsianovsky Safonkov, except for a few stones, an overgrown pond and bushes of wildly blooming lilacs. Several miles away, in the graveyard of the village of Dubrovskoye, the artist’s ashes rest, and in the church the icons he painted are still preserved. Residents of the village of Pokrovskoye willingly show the place where Grigory Soroka’s house stood, and the stones of the burning hut - the place of suicide of a genius driven by fate. The noble houses in the estates of the Ushakovs and Turchaninovs, where I.I. lived, have not survived. Levitan. The manor house in Kuzlovo has almost completely collapsed, and nearby there is a row of old fir trees, overgrown ponds and a tombstone from the grave of the artist’s grandmother E.Ya. Medvedeva.

It is all the more surprising that the Academic Dacha, opened 120 years ago, continues to live and attract new generations of artists. It is located on a high peninsula covered with pine trees, formed by Lake Mstino and the Msta River flowing from it. Once upon a time there was an ancient settlement here, and during the period of the Vyshnevolotsk water system there was a dam through which ships were allowed to pass. “Summer caravans, leaving the canals, passing Lake Mstino, must stop at the village of Bolshoi Gorodok, from where the Msta River has its tributary; shipowners are forced here to flood a barge loaded with fascines and stones in order to accumulate up to 3 feet of water in Lake Mstina and be able to sail through the Solpinsky and Noshkinsky rapids to the mouth of the river. Berezaya,” wrote the author of “The Shipping Road Worker of European Russia” in 1855. Such stops lasted from three to six weeks. Therefore, trade flourished in the village of Bolshoi Gorodok, renting rooms for overnight stays, for which large, sometimes two-story houses and, of course, taverns were built.

Later, a wooden sluice was built at the site where the barge was sunk at the source of the Msta. Catherine II visited here in 1785. “The Empress viewed the rafting of ships on Lake Msta from the high bank on which the pavilion was built, and she watched the release of ships from the lake to Msta from the gallery at the Msta lock. At the same time, Catherine personally indicated the place for the construction of a new granite Mstinsky lock.” Having served for almost two centuries and now bypassed by water, it still stands today as a monument to Catherine’s era, and to the entire Vyshnevolotsk water system.

The house where water transport workers lived and where Catherine II is believed to have even stayed has survived to this day. And on the opposite bank was the dacha of Vasily Aleksandrovich Kokorev, a popular public figure in Russia, entrepreneur and philanthropist. They said about this “king of tax farmers” that he should not be in charge of drinking establishments, but in charge of all of Russia.

Kokorev managed to “set up” a lot: one of the first Russian credit banks, the first oil refinery for producing lighting gas (D.I. Mendeleev attracted him to this project), the mining-Ural railway, a telegraph agency... He even dreamed of freeing all peasants with land , having bought the plots from the landowners with the total merchant capital.

Kokorev had an official residence in the capital, but his main activities took place in Moscow, where a hotel, unprecedented at that time, was built (“Kokorev’s courtyard”), which was later called the prototype of European grand hotels. His collection of 500 works by Russian and Western European artists was kept here. In the early 1860s, the Kokorevskaya gallery was the only public art museum in Moscow.

This is the man who owned the Aleksandrovskoye estate on the opposite bank of the Msta. Once at the end of the 1870s, the then young artists A.D. visited Kokorev’s estate. Kivshenko and I.E. Repin. It is believed that it was then that the idea arose to open a summer house in an old house, empty after the decline of the Vyshnevolotsk water system, for students of the Academy of Arts, so that they could “spend the summer here, improve their health and compose drawings.” An enthusiastic Repin allegedly exclaimed at the same time: “This is the promised land for a landscape painter! This is Russia itself - all its soul, all its charm... It’s like a song!”

And in 1883, the conference secretary of the Academy of Arts, Pyotr Fedorovich Iseev, visited Kokorev. On a boat, Kokorev transported him to the other side. Iseev was struck by the picturesqueness of the view that opened up to him: a huge lake, the beauty of the shores beyond description, imperturbable silence, unusually clean air, “it seemed that one could breathe easier here, one felt more strength and vigor.” Perhaps it was here that Kororev proposed to implement the idea that arose from Kivshenko and Repin - to create a summer creative cottage on this site for students of the Academy of Arts, who could relax here and work in the open air.

The house and park, located on the peninsula, belonged to the Ministry of Railways, which on October 8, 1883 gave permission to rent this territory for academicians “in need of either improving their health or improving themselves in art through sketches from life.”

Kokorev used his own funds to repair old buildings, build new ones, and hired a caretaker. He became Ivan Nesterovich Panfilov, whose house is still preserved next to the Mstinskaya dam. “The repair work on the outbuilding is completely finished and the floors have been washed,” he wrote in a telegram to Vasily Alexandrovich, “so there will not be the slightest obstacle to the premises.”

On July 22, 1884, the Academic Dacha was inaugurated. “It had been raining since early morning, the whole sky was covered with gray clouds...” But, despite the bad weather, a lot of people gathered: the authorities, the clergy, local residents and 10 academicians who had arrived the day before. When excited speeches were heard, nature itself joined them: “... suddenly the clouds cleared, the sun shone and... a clear, cloudless day formed.”

A year later, the President of the Academy of Arts, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, came to the Academic Dacha with his wife Maria Pavlovna. For their arrival, a carved octagonal pavilion was built “in order to decorate the area and attract the attention of the surrounding peasants.” Built “with great taste,” it was lined inside with boards that, as they wrote, “received a pleasant pink tint from long aging.” From above, from the colored windows, rays of “soft purple light” fell into the middle of the pavilion and onto the portraits of the persons of the Royal House hung on the walls. Three rooms adjoined the main hall: the office of His Highness in the Russian style, the office of the Grand Duchess with photographs of her distant Mecklenburg-Schwerin homeland. The third room “for worship” was located on the side opposite to the entrance; an icon of the blessing Savior was written on the door glass. So on June 1, 1885, the official opening of the Academician took place, which received the name of the Vladimir-Mariinsky Orphanage.

Initially, only 10 Academy students settled in the shelter. But in 1887 there were already 35 of them and 2 students of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Students came here for three and a half months - from mid-May to September 1. For the maintenance of each of them, 20 rubles per month were allocated, which went to the general cash register, and 5 rubles were given out in hand - for canvases, paints, paper, pencils and the rental of nature.

The large house and outbuilding contained spacious and high bedrooms, a library, and a hall for evening music, singing and reading classes. On the second floor there was a large, spacious workshop with two halls. There was also a darkroom in the shelter with a photographic apparatus of the latest design at that time.

Several new premises were added to the two existing houses, built with Kokorev’s funds. For physical exercise, giant steps and croquet were built, and there were boats for riding on the lake. All this is clearly visible in the painting by A.Ya. Yakovlev, giving the Academic Dacha as if on a centerfold. The description from the World Illustration magazine suits it well. Academic students have a fun life at the dacha. In addition to homework in the workshop, the entire surrounding area is at their service, and they ride boats on the lake, sketch motifs of landscapes, write sketches in villages, and at home, as a form of relaxation, they stage amateur performances, to which the public comes from all the surrounding areas; even many from Volochok come.”

At Kokorev’s insistence, the Academy Council established a strict schedule for its teachers to visit the shelter. Among them were P.P. Chistyakov, V.I. Jacobi, V.V. Vereshchagin, V.E. Savinsky. Other professors also visited their students.

The head of the landscape workshop at the Academy of Arts, Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi, whose “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” once caused a real sensation, visited the Academic Dacha. His students - K.F. Bogaevsky, N.K. Roerich, A.A. Rylov, E.I. Capital, N.P. Himona and the others literally adored their teacher. When he arrived, the whole workshop got into boats and went to a picturesque island in the middle of Lake Mstino. Here they wrote sketches all day long, and in the evening they sang songs with a guitar around the fire. This island is still called “Kuindzhi Island”, and incredible stories are told.

In the village of Maly Gorodok, Andrei Petrovich Ryabushkin, one of the most original and charming painters of Russian folk life, worked on the painting “Waiting the Newlyweds from the Crown.” A resident of the village later said that he would buy the children bagels and bagels for tea, and he would climb onto the Russian stove and watch them from there. Ryabushkin stayed in the outermost hut of this village, just opposite the Dacha.

Ilya Efimovich Repin also came to the Academic Dacha several times. He stayed in the village of Kotchische or in a small mezzanine room of the ancient “Catherine’s house”. Now there is a museum here, and the room is called “Repinskaya”. It contains a copy of the sketch “At the Academic Dacha,” written by the artist in 1898. The sketch itself is now kept in the Russian Museum. “On the 7th, I. Repin visited the dacha and lived for two days, wrote a large sketch, and donated it to the dacha... He played Ryukhi and sang songs during his departure (he was seen off in a crowd), gave money for a quarter of vodka, which was immediately purchased and she drank with him, and they shouted hurray and threw their hats up…” wrote academician A.G. Orlov to his friend the artist P.E. Shcherbov.

When the Dacha was closed in 1904 “due to wartime”, it was Repin who spoke in its defense. In 1907, he, together with the new rector of the Academy V.A. Beklemishev achieved its opening, and under new conditions: “It’s time to take a look at the dacha as a charitable institution, where mainly sick and poor people are sent: the dacha should be presented to talented and efficient students who have proven themselves to be serious about art.”

Dacha's character changes dramatically. The most talented students of the Academy of Arts begin to come here. Among them is Isaac Izrailevich Brodsky. Arriving at Akademichka in 1907, this native of the south for the first time realized the charm of the gray tone. The sketch “Through the Branches” he wrote then is still considered the most poetic in the artist’s work. For the landscapes created here, Brodsky receives a scholarship, which gives him the opportunity to study without thinking about earning money. And a critic of those years notes that Brodsky “with his unique interpretation of the landscape is already creating a school, inspiring young artists.”

We went to the Akademicheskaya dacha from St. Petersburg by rail to Zarechye station, which soon became known as Akademicheskaya (which it remains to this day). From here the road to Dacha went 8 miles - through the estate of the famous hunter, archaeologist and collector of antiquities, Prince A.A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, the village of Lyalino and two more villages.

A little to the side, between the two lakes Imolozhye and Klin, there was the ancient village of Berezki. According to the legend of Academician V.L. Lyalin in the XII-XV centuries it was the center of one of the graveyards of Veliky Novgorod - Imovolozhsky. This name is found both in Novgorod birch bark documents of the 12th century and in agreements between Novgorod and the princes. At the end of the 19th century, Berezki belonged to the Manzey nobles, who built more than a dozen country houses with verandas here.

Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich rented a dacha in Berezki together with his wife and youngest son Svyatoslav. Here he not only painted, but also engaged in archaeological research, in particular, discovering and describing in 1903 a settlement near the village of Lyalino, located on the opposite shore of Lake Klin.

Since the summer of 1907, the rector of the Higher School at the Academy of Arts, sculptor Vladimir Aleksandrovich Beklemishev, came to Berezki to be closer to his students. He occupied a “big white dacha.” And I.I. often lived in his outbuilding. Brodsky, who in 1908 painted a portrait of his wife in nearby Borovno, the Manzeev family estate, for which he received a gold medal upon leaving the Academy.

Ekaterina Ivanovna Beklemisheva organized an artistic embroidery workshop for girls in Berezki. The best works of this workshop took part in exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Berlin, and orders came even from abroad. The carpentry workshop for boys produced artistic furniture of the “Russian style”. Some of its samples are kept in the Vyshnevolotsk Museum of Local Lore.

For three summers in a row - 1910 - 1912 - one of the greatest Russian artists, Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov, came to Berezki - “to get caught on the grass, to pee sketches.” Here he painted a portrait of V.A. Beklemishev, now stored in the collections of the Russian Museum, and 20 studies for his famous painting “Christians”. One of them, a sketch of an elderly peasant with a face reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Moses, turned into one of the most expressive figures of the right plan in the painting.

Soon after the 1917 revolution, the Academic Dacha was closed, and its premises were used for pioneer camps. But artists who had previously come here as students still lived in the area.

The second birth of Academician occurred in 1947. Much credit for this belongs to Timofey Ilyich Katurkin, who then headed the “All-Artist” organization. Having been here in the pre-revolutionary period, he wrote in his appeal to the Council of Ministers of the USSR: “The return of the “Academic Dacha” is becoming the most important necessity, since the lack of a summer base in the conditions of northern nature negatively affects the creative growth of young artists.”

Thus, the Academic Dacha became a creative home for artists, open all year round. For almost 40 years, its permanent director was Pyotr Nikolaevich Kozelsky - “a friend of artists, the soul of the dacha.” He was replaced by Valentin Pavlovich Zhuravlev, who managed to preserve the Dacha during the difficult years of perestroika and pass it on to other generations.

Artists began to come here for a stream that lasted two months. At the end of each stream, a viewing was held, and a special commission summed up the artists’ work during this period. The number of people wanting to pee here was huge. In winter, the House of Creativity hosted about 60 people, and in summer – 120.

The first stream opened on February 15, 1948. Its artistic director, who was then called a consultant, was Porfiry Nikitich Krylov (one of the Kukryniks). According to the memoirs of A.M. Gritsaya, he painted sketches on location together with everyone, allowing the artists working nearby to gain a lot of useful information for themselves, “seeing what an experienced painter chooses, what and how he paints.” For a long time, the artistic directors at the Dacha were A.V. Volkov, who was an Itinerant artist in spirit, and A.P. Bubnov, widely known for his historical painting “Morning on the Kulikovo Field”. It was they who laid the foundations for the method of work at the Academic Dacha and prepared the ground for the formation of a whole galaxy of wonderful painters.

In the first years after its opening, V.N. worked at the House of Creativity. Beksheev, S.V. Gerasimov, G.G. Nissky, P.P. Sokolov-Skalya, T.G. Gaponenko, N.M. Romadin, N.M. Chernyshev. Many famous paintings were painted here, exhibited at all-Union and foreign exhibitions, stored in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and other museums in Russia and around the world.

Among them is “Arrived for Vacation” by F.P. Reshetnikova, “Earth” B.S. Ugarova, “In the rural library” by I.V. Shevandronova, “Morning” by V.F. Zagonek, “On Saturday” and “Before the Dance” by Yu.P. Kugacha, “Fresh Wind” by V.N. Gavrilova, “In the new house” N.F. Novikov, “Between Battles” and “Mothers” by brothers A.P. and S.P. Tkachev, “Snowdrops” by A.M. Gritsaya, many works by A.P. Belykh, V.F. Stozharova, Yu.S. Podlasky, I.S. Soshnikov, for whom the “Academic Dacha” and its surroundings from Vyshny Volochyok to Valdai became the main and main content of all his landscape works.

President of the Union of Artists of the USSR B.S. Ugarov wrote that as an artist he was born entirely at the Academic Dacha. She, “like a home, attracts you to her every year. And you can’t live without her.” And many painters could say this about themselves. All of V.N.’s work was connected with Dacha. Gavrilov, an artist of brilliant talent, who entered art boldly and immediately. “A wonderful painter, he influenced many. He painted broadly, richly, and understood great color relationships and harmony. Painter of “pure blood”. He worked on sketches for recreating the painting of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior at Akademicheska together with his group N.N. Solomin. His father N.K. also loved to come here. Solomin – student of N.P. Krymova, one of the greatest masters of portraiture.

But the Academic Dacha is not only the House of Creativity, but also the surrounding villages where the artists settled. Yu.P. was the first to build his house-workshop in the village of Maly Gorodok. Kugach with his wife O.G. Svetlichnaya. “Everything there is very simple and convenient - benches along the walls, a table made of wood by Yuri Petrovich and Mikhail. Nothing extra. There is an easel against the wall, on which there is always a painting covered with a curtain, which is being worked on. On the walls are sketches and reproductions - from Surikov to Van Gogh. A kind of bright, quiet joy and sincerity radiates from the golden log walls, from the entire furnishings and from the inhabitants of the house.”

Near U.P. Brothers A.P. settled in Kugach. and S.P. Tkachevs, spouses K.G. And Z.S. Kazanchan, F.P. Reshetnikov and L.I. Brodskaya, N.A. Sysoev and N.V. Skorubskaya, and on the outskirts of the village - A.P. Levitin and M.K. Kopytseva. On the other side of Lake Mstino in the village of Kisharino V.F. Tokarev built a magnificent house, which the artists nicknamed “Tokarev’s courtyard.” In the old house of the caretaker of Dacha I.N. Panfilova in Novy Kotchische, next to the Mstinskaya dam, now lives M.Yu. Kugach. And further, in the village of Podol, next to the old zemstvo school, V.M. built a dacha. Sidorov, who now heads not only the Union of Artists of Russia, but also the CIS countries.

It is impossible to list all the artists living in the vicinity of the House of Creativity - “whoever worked here” - it is not without reason that it is called the “Russian Barbizon”. And all of them, together with I.S. Soshnikov could be told: “I think with tenderness about the Academic Dacha.” A bow to this blessed land, its primordially Russian, inexhaustible beauty.”

Solovyova F.B., researcher at the Vyshnevolotsk Museum of Local Lore

In the Tver region, near the Msta River, it has stood for more than a century Academic dacha named after. I.E. Repina.
This is a unique House of Artists’ Creativity, the first in Russia, which has become a place of fruitful work and relaxation for dozens of artists.

The basis for the Dacha was the building of the estate of V.A. Kokorev, Russian public figure and philanthropist. It is believed that who was here with A.D. Kivshenko in 1870 I.E. Repin came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a creative “shelter” for students of the Academy of Arts during their summer internship.

Academic dacha. Monument to I.E. Repin

In 1884, the idea was brought to life. On July 22, the Vladimir-Mariinsky Orphanage was solemnly opened, named in honor of the then president of the Academy of Arts - Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife. A plot of land with a house, outbuildings and an adjacent park went to the Shelter.

V.A. took the most active part in the arrangement. Kokorev. It was with his funds that a year later, according to the project of V.A. Quesnel, a pavilion was built, which became the decoration of the “Academic Dacha”. Since 1907, the Dacha has acquired a charitable character. First of all, poor, talented students of the Academy of Arts are sent here for sketches.

Almost every summer, right up to the revolution, both already famous and promising painters came to the “Academic Dacha”: I.E. Repin, A.I. Kuidzhi, A.A. Rylov, N.K. Roerich, K.F. Bogaevsky, A.M. Vasnetsov, I.I. Levitan, V.A. Serov, I.I. Brodsky. Here I.E. Repin painted the famous painting “At the Academic Dacha,” which is now in the Russian Museum, and other beautiful canvases.

After the revolution, the Dacha lost its original purpose for 20 years: first it was closed, then it was given to a children's pioneer camp. Only at the end of the 1940s it was again transferred to the Academy, and new workshops and service buildings were built. In 1964, the “Academic Dacha” received the name of the outstanding painter who loved it so much, I.E. Repina.

And today it attracts cultural and artistic figures and tourists. The picturesque views of its surroundings serve as a source of creative inspiration for modern artists, one of whom is Georgy Leman. A series of sketches he wrote over the years are dedicated to the beautiful landscapes of these places.

Georgy Leman "The Msta River Flows" 2009
oil sketch on cardboard

On one of his trips to the Academic Dacha in 2009, Georgy Leman created a gentle sketch “The Msta River Flows”, conveying the beauty of the local landscape in winter.

Pearl snow cover, the mirror surface of the river, dark silhouettes of trees create a single composition of a cool winter day. The river is calm - there is no wind, and it seems that the picture breathes peace and silence. The frosts have not yet hit, the water is not frozen - it reflects the gently sloping banks, the bright sky and the trees approaching the river.

From the artist’s brush a romantic and poetic landscape was born, filled with light and melodic sounds. This is how a river surface responds to a thrown handful of snow or forest peaks to a passing wind. The sketch is filled with inspiration and awakens the desire to see these beautiful Russian places with your own eyes.

Good Friday evening everyone! My regular column is on air - “Travel with the Silver Ring”. There are already a lot of untold stories and I’m trying really hard to share them all. Today it’s the turn to clear away the backlog of summer memories from a trip to the “Inspired Land of Moscow Region Estates” with Lev Baron. Make yourself comfortable, I’ll tell you about the Academic Dacha.

8 km from Vyshny Volochok, in the Tver region there is a real corner of inspiration located. This is the oldest creative base of the Union of Artists of Russia, “Academic Dacha named after I. E. Repin”.

We stopped by here after visiting.

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The founder of the Academic Dacha is Vasily Aleksandrovich Kokorev, a Russian merchant, oil industrialist, and famous philanthropist. His estate Aleksandrovskoye was located on the opposite bank of the river. We can say that the idea of ​​creating a Dacha was born during one of the patron’s walks with the artist Ilya Repin.

When the artist saw this place, he exclaimed: “This is the Promised Land for artists! This is the soul of Russia!”

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They were both so inspired by the beauty of this place that the idea came up to build a summer cottage on the peninsula for students of the Imperial Academy of Arts. At his own expense, Kokorev built a large house, laid out a coniferous park, and on July 22, 1884, the dacha opened its doors for the first time to future artists and teachers. The most frequent guest of the dacha was, of course, Ilya Repin; he lived for a long time in a small room on the second floor.

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Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi loved to come here. Each of his visits was a holiday, and in those days the evenings at the Academic Dacha were fun, with songs and round dances around the fire.
Portrait of I. Repin by A.I. Kuindzhi

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Roerich, Brodsky, academicians Chistyakov and Cordovsky also visited here, and Levitan stopped occasionally.

The dacha operated from May to September, and each arriving student was provided with free food and accommodation and given 5 rubles for additional expenses. The students were weighed before and after the holidays at the dacha, and it is not surprising that they gained weight)

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The atmosphere at the dacha was truly creative: during the day the students wrote sketches, and in the evening they gathered around the fire or in the large dining room - read Russian classics and talked about art.
This was the case before the events of 1917. After the revolution, the dacha was closed and first a shelter for street children was organized, then an orphanage.

When, at the end of the 1920s, the territory of the Academic Dacha came under the jurisdiction of Vyshny Volochok, a children's pioneer camp was organized here. During the war, a hospital for wounded soldiers was located here. And after the war, the Academic Dacha was empty and began to gradually fall into disrepair.

It is unknown how this would have ended if the artist Timofey Ilyich Katurkin had not come here. In those years, he headed the association of artists and, thanks to the necessary contacts, began the restoration of the Academic Dacha. He had been here as a student and remembered the wonderful, creative atmosphere of this place.

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After opening, the dacha operated all year round as a House of Creativity. Young artists came here to collect sketch material and create new paintings. For each group, an artistic director was appointed who organized the creative process. The artists lived at the dacha for about 2 months; accommodation and food were free. After this time, all created works were evaluated by a special commission.

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Pyotr Nikolaevich Kozelsky was appointed director of the dacha. He did not have the necessary education, but despite this he became an excellent leader and worked in this position for about 40 years. He immediately realized that artists need not only beautiful nature and tasty food, but also good workshops.

And already in 1980, artists began to work in new workshops. They were arranged in the shape of an accordion.

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An administrative building and a canteen were also built.

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This is how the whole complex of the Academic Dacha appeared. The artists moved to new premises, and a museum was opened in the former residential building.

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Its most important exhibits are paintings and old photographs.

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Small room of Ilya Repin on the second floor of the museum.

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In 1885, a wooden “octahedron” was built.

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It was built to decorate and receive high-ranking persons. It was built quickly, in 10 days, by Tver craftsmen. They built not only quickly, but also efficiently, and the house has been preserved in its original form since the 19th century.

19.

Sometimes the octagonal house was used for religious services. The priest arrived, the altar was set up and a service was held for the students. During Soviet times, the spacious house was used as a club. Closer to the 1980s, feasts, farewell and creative evenings were held. Today the octagon is little used, but is kept in good condition.

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Let's go inside.

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The house has preserved its original furnishings and stained glass windows.

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Right next to the front door of the house hangs a large painting - a friendly cartoon. The author of the painting is L.S. Kotlyarov depicted his artist friends in a comic form. In each, he was able to emphasize a special character trait or appearance.

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Afterwards, we walked a little around the territory of the dacha.

Academic dacha named after. I.E. Repin of the Union of Artists of Russia is located in a picturesque place on the left bank of the river. Msta and the western coast of the lake. Mstino.

It was a nice walk

There is a legend that the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi celebrated his next anniversary with his students on an island near his dacha, so since then this island has been called “Kuindzhi Island”.

Plein air

I.E. came to the dacha several times. Repin. He stayed in the small upper room of the main house. During one of his visits in 1889, he wrote the sketch “At the Academic Dacha.” This work truly conveyed the atmosphere of concentrated and passionate work that reigned here. It was then that a custom was born at the dacha, which has survived to this day - to stage plays in the open air and write them all together. Since then, no better method of joint mastery has been invented. No one hid their secrets, everything was in plain sight, and thus everyone could see their neighbor’s work from beginning to end, his techniques, his way of interpreting nature, etc. In the process, less experienced artists had the opportunity to learn from famous masters. The models for such productions were often beggars, who were fed at the dacha, sometimes by up to fifteen people.

Historical reference

Initially, the future Academic Dacha was named the Vladimir-Mariinsky Orphanage in honor of the President of the Academy of Arts, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, his wife Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. In a broad sense, the artists and art historians themselves rightly include in the “Academic Dacha” (“Akademicheskaya Dacha”) the surroundings of this creative base with the nearby villages of Bolshoi and Maly Gorodok, Kisharino, Terpigorevo, Valentinovka, Podol and many others, inhabited at different times, especially in the middle - second half of the twentieth century, by domestic artists. This is the oldest and most famous and beloved creative base of the Union of Artists of Russia. It opened on July 22, 1884 “on forty acres adjacent to the lands of the peasants of the village of Maly Gorodok,” as a place of summer practice for low-income students of the Imperial Academy of Arts. The land plot with the park, house and buildings was taken on a long-term lease by the Academy of Arts from the Ministry of Railways. The main role in the organization and improvement of the Academic Dacha belonged to its trustee V.A. Kokorev (1817-1889), salt maker and factory owner, owner of one of the largest collections of works of Russian and Western European art. Kokorev owned an estate in Vyshnevolotsk district, where he often visited in the last years of his life. He loved to invite familiar artists here, whose work he could observe and have conversations with them about art. Gradually, Kokorev came up with the idea of ​​organizing, in an abandoned house opposite his estate, a kind of shelter for poor students of the Imperial Academy of Arts, where they could continue their studies in the summer. Kokorev voiced this idea to the conference secretary of the Academy of Arts P.F. Isaev. After certain nuances were resolved, consent to open the “shelter” was given. In 1885, funded by Kokorev and designed by architect V.A. Kennel, an octagonal pavilion decorated with carvings was erected, which became the artistic center of the Academic Dacha ensemble. It occupies a relatively small area between the shore of the lake and the highway to Vyshny Volochek. Architect V.A. Kennel drew up a project for the reconstruction of old buildings and the construction of new ones. The two surviving buildings are located along the shore and face it with their main facades. In the panorama opening from the lake, the pavilion plays a dominant role. A residential building is located to the southwest of it. Behind the buildings there is a picturesque park. Almost immediately after the opening, professors and teachers of the Academy began to regularly visit the dacha: P. P. Chistyakov, V.I. Jacobi, V.V. Vereshchagin, N.D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky and others. The dacha gradually became a place for serious study of the open air and the study of the surrounding life, so its popularity among students was very great. The most talented students who earned this right with their successes began to be sent here. Muscovites and St. Petersburg residents rented dachas in the surrounding villages, and verandas were converted into workshops. Artists were especially willing to live in the village of Beryozki, which belonged to the Manzei landowners. In 1904, young artists were captured by revolutionary sentiments. Students often gathered together, had controversial debates, and sang revolutionary songs. The result of this was the closure of the dacha. April 13, 1907 I.E. Repin submitted an application to the council of the Imperial Academy of Arts for a report at the general meeting on the issue of reopening the Academic Dacha. The rector of the Academy V.A. also spoke in support of this idea. Beklimishev. Thanks to such actions, in the summer of 1907 the dacha was reopened. And already in the fall of the same year, an exhibition of works by students who were there in the summer took place at the Academy. Eight of them were thanked and praised by the Academy Council. In the lists of students sent to the dacha, one can find artists who later became great masters. Before the revolution, I. Repin, A. Kuindzhi, I. Brodsky, V. Serov, P. Chistyakov, S. Vinogradov, V. Baksheev, I. Levitan, P. Miturich, N. Roerich, A. Rylov, worked at the Academic Dacha. A. Vasnetsov, K. Bogaevsky, A. Ryabushkin, A. Yakovlev, N. Bogdanov-Belsky and many other famous Russian artists. After the revolution of 1917, the Academic Dacha was given to children, and a pioneer camp was opened here. Its functioning in its former capacity was restored only in 1948. Since that time, the Academic Dacha has become a recognized center of the creative life of our country. Artists A. Gritsay, V. Zagonek, Y. Kugach, A. Levitin, N. Pozdneev, V. Sidorov, B. Ugarov, the Tkachev brothers and many others worked fruitfully here. Speaking about the role of the Academic Dacha in the preservation and development of the traditions of Russian realistic art, it is rightly called the “Russian Barbizon”. Beautiful works of landscape and genre nature were created here. In the 1970s-1980s, modern workshops and auxiliary service buildings were erected for artists, providing year-round living at Akademiechka. In 1964, the Academic Dacha was named after I.E. Repin, and in 1974, next to the octagonal pavilion, a monument to him was erected in honor of the 130th anniversary of the artist’s birth (sculptor O. K. Komov). In 2004, at the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the Academic Dacha, a memorial plaque to its founder V.A. was unveiled on the pavilion building. Kokorev.

How to get there

“Academic Dacha” is located 18 km from the city of Vyshny Volochok along an asphalt road, 8 km from the railway. Akademicheskaya station of the Oktyabrskaya railway. In almost all the surrounding villages on the coast of the lake. Mstino and the banks of the river. Many famous Russian artists lived and worked in Msta.