Studies of Fine Arts. Teaching History of Art at Imperial Moscow University in the Mid 19th – Early 20th Century

Over the years, photographic images became preferable as a more precise method for monument reproduction. Examples of such publications are photographic reproductions by Alinari, a famous Italian company. These images will also be displayed at the exhibition. A central focus is the three-volume publication prepared by Ivan Tsvetaev – “Educational Atlas of Ancient Sculpture for Students of Imperial University of Moscow” (Moscow, 1890–1894).

When Ivan Tsvetaev started teaching his course on the history of ancient art at the Department of Theory and History of Art in the autumn of 1889, he quickly realized that the publications available at the Cabinet of Fine Arts were not totally sufficient. Therefore, he promptly drew up a plan for a new schoolbook. The Atlas of Ancient Sculpture for Students of Imperial University of Moscow contains photographic reproductions of more than 500 monuments. The publication was highly rated at the 1st International Congress of Historical Sciences held in Rome in 1903.

Of course, even the best photograph cannot be compared with a 3D image of a monument – a cast. Thus, the next task that Ivan Tsvetaev took on was to create an educational museum of casts. It took him more than 20 years to implement his idea. Finally, the Fine Arts Museum, which its founder called “an anthology of art in monuments,” opened its doors in Moscow in 1912. The high-quality casts collected by Tsvetaev are still relevant today. They were acquired more than a century ago for the Alexander III Fine Arts Museum; today, they are exhibited in both the Main Building and the Ivan Tsvetaev Educational Art Museum, which is located at the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) at 15 Chayanova Street and takes part in the “Education through Art” program together with other university departments. That is why the exhibition dedicated to the history of classical art studies will be held in the Big Antique Hall (the Hall of Apollo) of the Educational Museum.

Tsvetaev’s collection of casts is one of the main topics at the scientific and practical conference “Tsvetaev Readings,” which is dedicated to the 170th anniversary of the Museum’s founder, Ivan Tsvetaev, and the 20th anniversary of the “Ivan Tsvetaev Educational Art Museum” department  of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.  On October 9-10, conference presentations will be given by researchers and experts from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Hermitage, the Russian Academy of Arts, the I.N. Kramskoy Voronezh Regional Museum of Fine Arts, the Ostankino Museum-Estate, and the State Museum of Urban Sculpture (St. Petersburg), as well as from major universities such as RSUH, Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, and so-called “Tsvetaev” museums, including the house museum of the Tsvetaevs in Novo-Talitsy and the house museum of Marina Tsvetaeva in Moscow. Their reports will be dedicated to various aspects of the Museum’s history, methods of teaching the history of art based on the Museum’s collections of casts, restoration work, and research and storage – both at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and other museums possessing casts and plaster sculptures.