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Term in Russian

Translation

Explanation

Akademicheskaia programma

Programme of the Academy

A written instruction given by the Council of the Academy to the students entering a Gold Medal competition, or to an artist seeking the honorary degree of Academician or Professor. The programme described the subject and stipulated main features of the work. Subjects for works in the historic genre were most frequently selected from the Bible, Russian history, or Antiquity.

Bol'shaia (trekhgodichnaia) akademicheskaia vystavka

Major (three-year) Academy Exhibition

A large exhibition of works produced during the previous three years by the Academy students and independent artists

Bunt chetyrnadtsati

The Revolt of the Fourteen

The refusal of fourteen students headed by Ivan Kramskoi to enter the Major Gold Medal competition on 9 November 1863. This was the first open act of defiance on the part of students of the Academy during the hundred years of its existence. Despite requests to the Council of the Academy to grant them freedom in the choice of subjects, all contenders in historical painting were given the programme Valhalla. From Scandinavian mythology

Vesenniaia akademicheskaia vystavka

Academy Spring Exhibition

The periodic Spring Exhibition was launched in 1897 to complement the Academy Exhibition of Students' works (uchenicheskaia vystavka), which took place in November. This was an important step towards liberalisation in the practice of Academy exhibitions, since the jury for the Spring Exhibition was elected by the participants themselves, who either had the title of an artist or had previously participated in exhibitions in St Petersburg

Godichnaia akademicheskaia vystavka

Academy Annual Exhibition

An exhibition which coincided with the annual examination of the programmes completed by the students of the Academy. Foreign artists and individuals seeking to obtain Academy degrees (such as that of Academician) also exhibited their works. The Council of the Academy was in charge of assessing the programmes and selecting works for the exhibition

Zolotye medali Akademii khudozhestv pervogo (bol'shaia) i vtorogo (malaia) dostoinstva; serebraiannye medali Akademii khudozhestv pervogo i vtorogo dostoinstva

Academy Gold Medals of the First Grade (Major) and the Second Grade (Minor); Academy Silver Medals of the First Grade (Major) and the Second Grade (Minor).

A system of assessment and encouragement of students practised at the Academy until it was abolished by the Temporary Statute of 1894. Medals were awarded in progression starting with a Small (Minor) Silver Medal for accomplishments in drawing. The award of a Big (Major) Silver Medal allowed one to participate in the competition for a Minor Gold Medal and subsequently in the competition for a Major Gold Medal, at which students had to produce a work following a given programme. The competition for the Major Gold Medal was the final examination at the Academy. The winners of that competition had the privilege to continue their education abroad as pensioners of the Academy. Both the qualification and social rank conferred upon the artist at graduation were tied to the class of medals which he/she received. The Academy also awarded medals to students from provincial art schools and, until 1865, the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture.

Imperatorskoe Obshchestvo Pooshchreniia khudozhestv

Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts

The society was founded by wealthy patrons in St Petersburg in 1820 with the aim to provide financial support to art students and artists. Until 1875 it was called the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists. The Society organised competitions and exhibitions, and, until 1862, sent pensioners abroad for the period of six years on conditions similar to those of the Academy. Both Karl Briullov and Aleksandr Ivanov were sponsored by the Society to continue their education in Italy. The School of Drawing, which the Society ran from 1857, provided initial training in academic drawing and prepared a number of young artists such as Ilia Repin and Vasilii Surikov for entry to the Academy. The degree of independence of the Society from the Academy is highlighted by the fact that Ivan Kramskoi, notwithstanding his conflict with the Academy, taught at the School of Drawing from 1863 until 1868. During the last decade of the nineteenth century the building of the Society on Bol'shaia Morskaia street in St Petersburg became a major venue for exhibitions. From 1898 until 1902, the Society published the journal Iskusstvo i khudozhestvennaia promyshlennost' (Art and Applied Art) edited by Nikolai Sobko, and from 1901 until 1907 Khudozhestvennye Sokrovishcha Rossii (Artistic Treasures of Russia) edited by Alexandre Benois and, from 1903, by Adrian Prakhov.

Pensioner Akademii khudozhestv

Pensioner of the Academy of Arts

A graduate of the Academy who received the title of an artist and is subsidised by the Academy to continue his study. The winner of the Major Gold Medal competition was eligible for a foreign study trip which normally lasted from three to six years. The tasks and activities of the pensioners were regulated by instructions issued by the Council of the Academy. One of the main requirements was periodically to submit to the Academic Council written reports of activities and works for assessment and display at the Academy Exhibitions.

Peterburgskaia Artel' khudozhnikov

St Petersburg Artel'

A commune of artists formed by Ivan Kramskoi and his associates following their 'Revolt' at the Academy in 1863. As well as Kramskoi, the Statute of the Artel' approved in 1865 was signed by Aleksandr Morozov, Bogdan Venig, Firs Zhuravlev, Aleksandr Grigor'ev, Nikolai Shustov, Aleksei Korzukhin, Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgksii, Karl Lemokh, Nikolai Petrov, and Vasilii Kreitan. According to the Statute, the purpose of the association was to work collectively in order to secure the financial security of its members, to provide them with an opportunity to sell their works to the public, organise exhibitions, and to receive commissions in all departments of art. The activities of the members of the Artel' included the participation in the St Petersburg Assembly of Artists Exhibition in Nizhnii Novgorod in 1865 and decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. In 1870, following tensions with members of the Artel', Kramskoi sent a letter of resignation to its General Meeting which signalled the end of the enterprise. However, the experience of collaborative projects was successfully used by Kramskoi, Lemokh and Korzukhin, who were among the founding members of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions in 1870.