Museums of Russia: Exhibition “Penates – the artist’s museum as an object of culture. The estate’s photo chronicle. Marking 120th foundation anniversary”, dedicated to Ilya Repin’s estate, underway in Moscow

Until August 10, 2018 the Moscow State Museum “The House of Burganov” is holding an exhibition “Penates – the artist’s museum as an object of culture. The estate’s photo chronicle. Marking 120th foundation anniversary”, dedicated to the estate of the artist Ilya Repin.

The photo exhibition in the House of Burganov acquaints visitors with the momentous events that happened in “Penates” estate, and gives an opportunity to see people with whom Ilya Repin socialized.

“Penates" estate in the village of Kuokkala on the Karelian Isthmus was purchased on May 27, 1899. On that day, Repin, who bought the land with a small house, decided to move to live in a St. Petersburg suburb. The pictures illustrate the way the place with the young forest was gradually transformed into a garden-park, while the house attached new sorts of extensions until it turned into a quaint two-story building under a glass roof, with lots of lanterns providing natural light in the artist's workshops. It was the way a comfortable manor appeared, which entered the history of Russian culture as Repin’s "Penates". Today it is a museum with its own history. In 1948 Kuokkala cottage village was named Repino, and the estate museum’s address is Primorskaya  Road, 411.

The exhibition, organized by the “Penates” Museum staff, is called to highlight what seemed to be lost forever. After all, “Penates" were lost and brought back to life again. The estate, where Repin had spent the last 30 years of his life, had always been in the spotlight of photographers. In the early 20th century, when Repin and Nordman settled here, the photography technique had advanced considerably so that it became a usual way of capturing the environment and preserving the appearance of people. Photographs of the park, the house and its interiors and, above all, its inhabitants and numerous guests did not leave the pages of popular magazines and newspapers. Thus, "Penates" estate acquired its photographic history. Among its photographers were the prominent masters of photography, like Karl Bulla, and amateurs, in particular, N. Nordman. “Penates” estate is by right regarded as one of the cultural centers of the early 20th century.