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Birthday anniversary of Igor Grabar, Russian painter and art critic
«It is a true benefit for the Russian art that this person really existed”.
S. V. Gerasimov
13 (25) March 1871 in Budapest, was born a Russian painter and art historian, art critic, restorer, and teacher, a museum worker, architect Igor E. Grabar.
His parents,supporters of the Slavic liberation movement, were forced to move to Russia because of persecution by the Austro-Hungarian authorities. Igor E. Grabar graduated from high school in the city of Yegoryevsk, Ryazan Province, then studied at the Lycée Katkovsky in Moscow.
In autumn 1889 Grabar arrived to the city on the Neva. "St. Petersburg impressed me with its elegance, wide streets, tall buildings, traffic. Here it is the capital, I thought, riding in a cab from the Warsaw railway station to the Vyborg side. Not for nothing that Moscow is called a big village. I am eagerly looking into neat rows of colorful five-storey buildings, especially on guard when traveling along the Nevsky Prospect and Liteiny Bridge. On this first beautiful fall day Petersburg seemed fantastically beautiful, with Admiralty Needle blazing far away, blue Neva River, the granite embankment and the spire of Peter and Paul Fortress. So it remained for me since then forever: the most beautiful city in Europe "- recalled Grabar.
In St. Petersburg Igor E. Grabar enrolled in the University, where he studied at two faculties: the Faculty of Law and of History and Philology, earning a living by writing humorous stories and making illustrations for magazines.
In 1894, Grabar enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, then educated in Paris and Munich.
Back in Russia in 1901, Igor E. Grabar settled in St. Petersburg where, along with Prince S. A. Shcherbatov established a salon "Modern Art". From 1902, the works by Grabar began to appear at the exhibitions "World of Art" and "Union of Russian artists”, as well as abroad - in Germany, France and Italy.
From 1910-ies Igor E. Grabar paid more attention to architecture, art history, museum work, protection of monuments. During this period, the artist conceived and carried out the first edition of the "History of Russian Art" in six volumes (published by Joseph Knebel, 1909-1916), published a monograph on V. A. Serov and I. I. Levitan.
In 1909-1914 upon the suggestion of a widow of a known doctor Gregory Zakhariyn, Grabar undertook construction of a hospital-memorial to the dead son of Zakhariyns in their estate near Moscow. Architectural aspect of the building reflected the passion of Grabar for the Russian classicism and Renaissance architecture in Italy.
In early 1913, the Moscow City Dumas elected Grabar the director of the Tretyakov Gallery. He remained in that post until 1925. There the artist made a re-exposition, having placed and arranged all works of art in historical sequence. In 1917 he published a catalog of the gallery of a significant scientific value.
In 1917-1918 Igor E. Grabar was a member of the All-Russian Board for Museums and Monuments of art and antiquities protection in the People’s Commissariat for Education.
In 1918-1930 Grabar led the Central restoration workshops in Moscow.
During the Great Patriotic War, he served as a member of the State Commission on accounting destruction and damage inflicted by the Nazis and the Head of the Commission on accounting and protection of works of art with the Committee on the Arts of the USSR.
In 1943, Igor E. Grabar became a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and in 1947 – of the USSR Academy of Arts.
May 16, 1960 the outstanding Russian painter and art critic died and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Lit.: Грабарь И. Э. Письма, 1917-1941. М., 1977; Грабарь И. Э. Письма, 1941-1960. М., 1983; Грабарь И. Э. Моя жизнь. Автобиография. Этюды о художниках. М., 2000; Игорь Эммануилович Грабарь. [Электронный ресурс]. Б. д. URL: http://igor-grabar.ru/biogr.php; Мамонтова Н. Игорь Грабарь. М., 2001; Подобедова О. И. И. Э. Грабарь. М., 1964.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: