"Minutiae of Life" FROM PHOTOGRAPH TO 3D

Virtual tour “Abramtsevo: Travel to the Past. 19th-20th centuries”

There are certain quintessential artistic phenomena associated with the name Savva Mamontov that, to a great extent, defined cultural life in Russia in the 1880s and 1890s. These include the Abramtsevo (Mamontov) Artistic Circle, which made significant advances in set design, architecture, painting and decorative and applied art; the Russian Private Opera, the birthplace of the leading school of national set design and home to brilliant performers headed by Feodor Chaliapin; and the carpentry and ceramics workshops linked to Yelena Polenova and Mikhail Vrubel, which, in many ways, set the tone for Russian Art Nouveau.

At the Hut on Chicken Legs. Left to right: unknown man, Ilya Ostroukhov, Sergei Mamontov, Nikolai Mamontov, Mikhail Vrubel. [1890-1892].
Photograph.
© Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve
Published for the first time

When still a young man of 28, Savva Mamontov wrote in his autobiography that: “I am not a writer, as of yet, nor a philosopher, nor a public figure; nothing will remain when I am gone [...] and my ego does not like that. I will die, and my grandson will know me only by my name, but he will not know the minutiae of my life (although it is wholly made up of minutiae) - and that pains me.”[1] These “minutiae”, and particularly the events of life on his estate, are depicted in family photo albums that are now held in the collections of the Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Vasily Polenov Museum-Reserve and in the private collections of the Mamontov family.

Mamontov recalls the first home photo shoots at Abramtsevo in his “Abramtsevo Settlement Chronicles” on May 26, 1881: “Mitrofan Ivanovich (the deacon) brought his camera and spent a long time photographing views in the park.”2 The earliest surviving photo was taken in 1881 and it depicts the most important event in the history of the estate: the building of the Church of the Saviour Not-Made-By- Human-Hands. It is probably around this time that the Mamontov family got their own camera. The pictures capture more than 30 years of life at the estate and there were a variety of events that prompted photographs. A significant collection was taken on holidays, such as the feast day of the Saviour Not-Made-By-Human-Hands on August 16 (August 29 in the Gregorian calendar) and the birthday of Yelizaveta Mamontova on September 1 (September 14 in the Gregorian calendar).

The photographers at the estate included artists, children - Vera and Andrei Mamontov, the Prakhovs’ son Nikolai - and many others. One of the most famous Abramtsevo photos, depicting a large group of people sitting on a long bench in the park, was taken by Vasily Polenov. This is a unique image of the Abramtsevo Artistic Circle. Among those in the frame are the owners of the estate Savva and Yelizaveta Mamontov, their children Andrei and Shura, the artist Viktor Vasnetsov and his daughter Tanya, Ilya Ostroukhov, Mark Antokolsky, the engineer Konstantin Artsybushev, the architect Ivan Shtrom, the scientist and medic Professor Pyotr Spiro, the lawyer Nikolai Kukin, the doctor V. I. Olkhovskaya, and the playwright Ippolit Shpazhinsky. A relation of the Polenovs, the famous court photographer Sergei Levitsky expressed his admiration for the shot: “Serge Lvovich is amazed by my photograph of Abramtsevo, the residents on a bench,” Vasily Dmitrievich wrote to his wife. “He even took the thing from me.”[3]

Numerous guests journeyed to Abramtsevo on the Khotkovo Road. Mamontov described his first encounter with the estate as follows: “Going through the clearing of the thick woods of the monastery, we already began to appreciate the position of the house, which we saw on the hill opposite. At the house, we found the old servant of the Aksakovs, Maksimych, who began to show us all the great things about Abramtsevo. Although decrepit in appearance, the house struck us as welcoming ... Scattered around it were certain possessions of the Aksakovs, old furniture, even something seemingly of old Aksakov’s spirit, and the stories of the old servant increased our fascination all the more. The question of the sale seemed resolved.”[4]

Western façade of the main manor house. The first bicycle in Abramtsevo. 1890s.
Photograph.
© Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve

The photographs perfectly convey the appearance of the estate at that time. Association with the artists gave meaning to life at Abramtsevo and to the household and building. It was here that the Mamontovs managed to put most fully into action many of their artistic projects. Over the course of 10 years, the estate was endowed with buildings from the era of historicism, created by illustrious architects: the studio by Viktor Gartman and the bathhouse by Ivan Ropet in the neo-Russian style, the Church of the Saviour Not-Made-by-Human-Hands and the chapel by Viktor Vasnetsov and Vasily Polenov, and the “Hut on Chicken Legs” by Viktor Vasnetsov, which was used as a childen’s playhouse. All these buildings added a unifying, meaningful aspect to the appearance of the estate and reflected the owners’ fascination - shared by their artist friends - with national forms in architecture. Then and now, the buildings were a popular backdrop for photographs. Many pictures were taken near the Church of the Saviour Not-Made-By-Human-Hands, which, as an architectural masterpiece heralding the arrival of the Russian Art Nouveau style in architecture, defined a new stage in the life of the estate and paved the way for new traditions.

However, the estate maintained its “old” feeling under the Mamontovs - that is to say, its formal character - as the new buildings appeared in the place of old ones. The photographs offer the chance to view the central part of the estate as described by Nikolai Prakhov: “In front of the house is a vast yard with a circular pool in the middle. At the back of the yard, on the left behind the trees, is a barn, and on the right, hidden by old shady oak trees, is a shed with a fire cart, buckets, poles, axes and ladders. On the right is a big water pump in the American style ... behind the water pump is an orchard with an apiary and vegetable patch. Further to the right is the park’s straight avenue, on either side of which, set deep in the ground, stand unadorned Kurgan stelae. On the right of the entrance, surrounded by shrubs and trees, is a small bathhouse in the Russian style, built from thick logs to a design by the talented architect Ropet. This is how the the old Abramt- sevo yard looks, closed off on the left by a long timber building: the servants’ quarters and washhouse.”[5]

A new design played a part in changing the appearance of the estate. In front of the main house, a large stone vase with flowers appeared and a circle was built around it, which put an end to the outmoded appearance of the grand courtyard. A new system of pathways, flowerbeds, trees that were unusual for the area and the Roman Grove, planted to commemorate days spent in Italy with the artists, transformed the park. The addition of shutters on the windows of the main house, laurel trees in planters and ornate cast-iron benches added further similarities to an Italian villa.

Gradually, development of the estate became more extensive. The strict symmetry characteristic of the 18th and early 19th centuries was replaced with new principles of structural layout, which could be defined as comfortable and convenient. This eventually lead to free, pictorial planning. The atmosphere of the Abramtsevo summer months is expressed by Mark Antokolsky in a letter to Mamontov, written in 1874, although in terms of content, his words are more characteristic of a later time: “We will shortly see each other at our Abramtsevo. Life will, I believe, go well, our souls will be free, we will work and soon we’ll find enjoyment in everything. I have a feeling my dreams will soon come true and we will toil harmoniously together in the fields of art for the benefit of the people.”[6]

Some of the buildings the estate “inhabitants” are photographed in front of have not survived to the present day, so the photographs in the Virtual Tour provide a rare opportunity to see them.

The special feature of Abramtsevo, as can be seen in photographs, is its openness. The park flows unnoticed into the surrounding area. The democratic nature of the Mamontovs and their kind consideration for their neighbours is evident in this. In a lot of the photos, you can see that the residents of surrounding villages came all dressed up to the feast day of the Saviour Not-Made-By- Human-Hands. Describing the old Abramtsevo estate as a close-knit system, Nikolai Prakhov nonetheless points out that “villagers coming from Khotkov to Mutovka do not skirt around it; they take a shortcut by cutting across the corner. They are not forbidden, and they don’t travel that way often.”[7]

During the Mamontovs’ time, Abramtsevo was transformed into an artistic centre where like-minded people gathered and a supportive environment was created for their work. A new kind of estate life was developed here, in which nature, art, like-minded discussions, the spiritual environment and the architectural space merged into one. Abramtsevo artists, particularly Vasily Polenov and Viktor Vasnetsov, were directly involved in transforming the estate. Lesser known in this respect is the work of Mikhail Vrubel, who nonetheless played a part in decorating the estate. Two previously unknown photographs depict a variety of vases beautifully arranged in various corners of the park: on the avenue, on the verandah of the manor house, by the church and by the Polenovs’ dacha. These are experimental pieces from the Abramtsevo carpentry studio, the work of which Vrubel contributed to more or less from the moment of its creation.

Vrubel’s originality and his exceptional talent was immediately recognised in the Mamontov family. Vsevolod Mamontov had strong recollections of the artist from autumn 1889, when he first came to their Moscow home on Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street. He had heard of Vrubel before from his brother Andrei, who had met the artist in Kyiv. “We had just taken our seats at the table for tea, when our much anticipated guest arrived,” writes Vsevolod. “Anton[8] entered with a neat, blond young man a little taller in height and smartly dressed. I strongly recall that he was wearing shoes like a mountaineer, with long stockings. In terms of appearance, he did not look like an artist ... but I remember ... clearly how much he interested Father and how Father, having bid the guests farewell, announced that he really must tame this new acquaintance.”[9]

The congenial atmosphere of the Mamontovs’ circle was particularly attractive and productive for Vrubel. He quickly befriended the young artists, the sons and the numerous nephews of the Mamontovs. By 1890-1892, the first published photographs appeared, depicting the artist with the oldest Mamontov son, Sergei, and other guests on the avenue in the park. After graduating from the prestigious Nikolayevsky Military School, Sergei served from 1889 in the well-known Grodno Regiment, in which Mikhail Lermontov had once served. Unfortunately, Sergei had to be discharged for health reasons after three years, but in the photograph, he is shown still in his hussar’s pelisse.

Mamontov really did try to “tame” Vrubel. In November 1891, the artist travelled to Italy with the Mamontov family, visiting, in particular, Rome and Milan. It would seem that their relationship was so close during these years that, in spring 1894, Mamontov asked Vrubel to accompany Sergei on a trip to Italy lasting one and a half months. Sergei was suffering from severe lung disease, his health had deteriorated, and the Mamontovs hoped that the mild climate of southern Europe would help his recovery. They also believed in Vrubel’s “mentoring mission” and his positive influence on their son, who they hoped would give up his “hussar’s ways”. Vrubel wrote reports to the Mamontovs about their journey, two of which are in the collection of the Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. The trip was life-changing for Sergei: he met his future wife, the marchioness Viktoria Da Passano, and Vrubel was witness to the beginnings of their relationship. Vrubel succeeded in having a positive influence on Sergei “in terms of his responsibility to himself” regarding his health,[10] and they became friends. Some years later, the artist designed the first book of Sergei’s poems. They did a lot of walking on this trip, particularly by the sea, and visited theatres, museums and exhibitions. However, as Sergei noted, historical sites interested Vrubel least of all; the artist much preferred people, their customs, manners and nature.

A keen interest in people and a sense of democracy were characteristic of the artist in these years. At Abramtsevo, Vrubel befriended the tutor of Mamontov’s children, Jules Tagnon - a rather flamboyant character. “He was an old man with thick, light hair. He was always kind and constant. He was a friend of the household and the children. We all adored him,”11 recalls Konstantin Korovin. Tagnon and Vrubel would spend hours talking about “fashion, gloves, souls and racing.” Korovin witnessed the touching friendship of “two former tutors.” He describes a typical Abramtsevo story in his memoirs. As Korovin writes, he came to Abramtsevo with Vrubel one summer day when the Mamontovs, as usual, had a lot of guests. After some time, Vrubel’s absence was noticed. Korovin found him at work in Tagnon’s room: “Tagnon was opening oysters and Vrubel was carefully, diligently, laying them out on a dish. The table was laid with a snow-white tablecloth, plates, wine, Chablis on ice... But what was going on? They were not oysters! They were shells from the river, snails.” “Are you really going to eat those?!” asked Korovin. “You wouldn’t understand,” replied Vrubel. “It’s not in you. All of you - Repin, Serov and you - just stick to porridge. You are unsophisticated.” Mamontov witnessed all of this. In the evening, he said to Korovin, “Vrubel is a breed apart. After all, he is well educated. I showed him a drawing that Repin had done with Yelizaveta Grigoryevna. He said he does not understand, and told Repin he doesn’t know how to draw... Vrubel is an aristocrat, he does not understand Repin at all. Nor does Repin understand him. Vrubel is a romantic and a poet, with different wings, he flies and flutters... Repin has strength and is grounded. He will never understand that seraph.” Korovin goes on to recall: “Misha, do you not like Repin?” I asked. “Repin? What are you talking about? Repin interlaced Russian art with a flower of the greatest truth, but I love something else.”[12]

One of the most beautiful observation points, which looks out onto the picturesque panorama of the Vorya River basin, is named Tanyonov Nos (Tagnon’s Nose) in memory of the tutor. It is a particularly high man-made embankment that Tagnon himself worked on for several weeks in 1881. This corner of the park is depicted in numerous photographs. A ceramic sofa was installed here in 1915 and was named Vrubel’s Seat, although the designs for the tiles were created by various artists. Additionally, a stele with a portrait of Tagnon was installed on the terrace of the estate park, but, unfortunately, it was lost in the 1930-40s when the estate became a holiday resort and then a military hospital. Vrubel visited Abramtsevo regularly in the first half of the 1890s, particularly in 1890 itself, when he came to the estate almost every week and stayed for two or three days. A photograph of the artist at the large tea table on the verandah of the manor house dates from this period - tea drinking was an obligatory part of summer life at the estate. Along with theatre, working on creating the house museum and art and literature evenings, it created a special space for human interaction and a particular kind of cultural bond.

Mamontov’s main artistic project in these years was the carpentry workshop, in which Vrubel played a significant organisational role. The earliest reference to the production of ceramic pieces at the estate was in March 1890,[13] and this was the time of the young artist’s first visit to Abramtsevo[14]. At the end of the summer, he was already experimenting with glazed flowers with the artist and technician Pyotr Vaulin. It was in his work on the stoves that one of Vrubel’s biggest gifts emerged: he did not see fundamental differences between “high art” and decorative and applied art. Stoves that he created became the true jewel of the Abramtsevo manor house. Integrated as they were into the furniture, they brought new colours into the rooms. Fitting right in next to the old furniture, old ornaments and numerous paintings, the stoves gave the house a cosy feel that many contemporaries mentioned, and they were depicted exhaustively in photographs and watercolours from family albums.

The multiple photo archives at Abramtsevo and in other collections form the basis of the virtual tour “Abramtsevo: Travel to the Past”, sponsored by the SNS Group of Companies. The project reflects a unique period of time in the history of the Abramtsevo estate, bound up in the efforts of Savva and Yelizaveta Mamontov, when this unassuming place on the outskirts of Moscow became a creative laboratory. The originality of the Virtual Tour format lies in how it combines 360- degree panoramas of the estate today with period photographs. With this broad range of materials, we have faithfully created virtual reconstructions of views of the estate and the manor house’s interiors. The Virtual Tour is a kind of stroll though the grounds - visitors can move from one object to another, between architectural monuments, observation points, flowerbeds, walkways, bridges and more.

The materials in the “Abramtsevo: Travel to the Past” Virtual Tour are significant in helping us to picture life on the estate, which Mamontov loved so much. It was from the “minutiae of life”, which Savva wrote about in his autobiography, that the special creative atmosphere of Abramtsevo was built. This atmosphere was the attraction for many artists, and paved the way for the transformation of the estate into a major hub for Russian artistic culture in the last quarter of the 19th century.

1. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. Fund 799. Inventory 1, op. 13. Memoirs of Savva Mamontov, “My Childhood”. Sheet 14.
2. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. Manuscript Fund. Manuscript 36. Abramtsevo Settlement Chronicles.
3. Manuscript Department of the Tretyakov Gallery. Fund 54. Inventory 1, op. 22. From a letter from Vasily Polenov to Natalia Pol- enova. St. Petersburg. February 27, 1886.
4. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. Manuscript Fund. Manuscript 36. Abramtsevo Settlement Chronicles, p. 1.
5. Adrian Prakhov. Old Abramtsevo: Memoirs from Childhood. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, 2008. p. 12.
6. Mark Antokolsky. His Life, Works, Letters and Articles. ed. Vladimir Stasov. Moscow; St. Petersburg. p. 131.
7. Adrian Prakhov. Old Abramtsevo: Memoirs from Childhood. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, 2008, p. 13.
8. Valentin Serov was known at Abramtsevo as Anton.
9. Vsevolod Mamontov. Memoirs of Russian Artists: Abramtsevo Artistic Circle. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, 2012, p. 57.
10. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. Manuscript Fund. Manuscript 130. Sheet 1.
11. Konstantin Korovin. It Was Long Ago... There, in Russia... Memoirs, tales, letters in two volumes, ed. T.S. Yermolaeva. Volume 1. Moscow, 2011, p. 187.
12. Ibid, pp. 187-188.
13. Yelizaveta Mamontova writing to Yelena Polenova on March 6, 1890: “In the ceramics workshop, a lot of artists worked on crockery that would be collected to be burned the week after. Savva Mamontov was there for Maslenitsa, and he decided to make an addition to the workshop: they will make a muffle furnace especially for crockery. Tiles will also be stamped in due course. Meanwhile, the boys have learned to throw pots.” (Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. Manuscript 1137). The letter was bound into a notepad with letters from 1889 to 1890 and ordered by date. The date and month are noted in the letter as March 6. The year 1890 is confirmed by the contents and that of the next letter on March 30 (Manuscript 1138), in which the Easter period is described in detail - they correspond exactly to the Easter dates of 1890.
14. Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve. Manuscript 1138. Letter from Yelena Mamontova to Yelena Polenova. March 30, 1890. The letter recounts, perhaps for the first time, Mikhail Vrubel’s visit to Abramtsevo with Sergei Mamontov.