Scientific Papers of St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts'66. Preservation Of Cultural Heritage

The publication presents a Russian translation of the chapter “Future” from the book by one of the founders of restoration science in Canada, Philip Ward, “The Nature of Conservation: Race against Time” (1986), which is devoted to the problem of predicting the future of the profession of restorer. Ward was one of those who foresaw future changes in the profession 50 years ago. Comments on the translation draw attention to the transformations that technical and scientific progress inevitably bring not only to the profession, but also change the attitude to the role of cultural heritage, art and its materials.

This article presents a brief overview of the scientific literature on the use of computer technologies in the restoration of paintings. Examples of their practical use for recreating destroyed frescoes and virtual restoration of easel painting are given.

The article summarizes the experience of conservation of the painting “Sunflowers” by the famous Russian artist A. N. Sklyarenko. Technological solutions drawn from the experience of modern restoration, relevant for working with easel painting of the latest period, were used to perform the restoration. The features of the implemented project consist in the use of polymer adhesives, transparent tablet stretcher, polyester fabric, as well as in maintaining the readability of the inscription on the back of the base.

The geography of Petersburg artists’ creativity is very large. Art institutions in China retain an interest in realistic painting, therefore, cooperation with Russia is currently being actively developed. This interaction of cultures contributes to the development of the image of China in the works of artists of the academic school. Maxim Morgunov is one of the representatives of modern academic painting, in whose works Chinese motifs can be clearly seen. The traditions of China combined with the principles of Russian academism provide an amazing combination of a special artistic language. The appeal to the images and motives of China allows M. Morgunov to experiment, to find the familiar in the unknown, to combine the incongruous at first glance, to reveal the immutable through artistic language.

The article deals with the issues of existence, restoration and attribution of the painting by the Venetian master Silvestro Manaigo “The Feast of Herod”. The canvas comes from the collection of paintings of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich in the Picture House in Oranienbaum, for which it was acquired in 1746. The analysis of the artist's paintings and graphic works leads to the conclusion that the considered work is the earliest of Manaigo's paintings known today.

The article is devoted to the study of the artistic heritage of Qiu Di (1906–1958), one of the first representatives of the Chinese avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. The creative arsenal of this master is part of the phenomenon associated at home with the activities of the “group of women artists”. This definition is associated with the artistic activity of the fair sex, who defended their individual handwriting and their worldview in the visual art of China at the beginning of the last century. The study comprehends the creative path of Qiu Di, who, having studied the basics of modernist painting in Japan, synthesized them with the traditions of domestic artistic culture. Particular attention in the studied material is paid to the activity of “Storm” society, which united the brightest representatives of the Chinese avant-garde of the first half of the last century, among which the works of Qiu Di and her husband Pang Xunqin had a significant influence on the development of modern art in China.

Whole-egg tempera is a little-known material among contemporary artists at present time. The article is devoted to the description of the work experience of the icon painters of the Alexander-Nevsky Lavra in painting a temple using the recreated method of preparing whole-egg tempera. In the text, in addition to describing the process of work, there is a recipe for the preparation of this paint. Acquaintance of an artists with the experience of the Lavra’s masters can contribute to the revival of interest in this ancient and well-established method of wall painting.

The article is devoted to the problems of murals restoration at the turn of the 19th – 20th century in the churches of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Rimsky-Korsakov Imperial Conservatory in St Petersburg and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Alshan, Oryol region. Assumptions about the cultural and ideological relevance of using the Art Nouveau style in these paintings are made. The article is based on the personal experience of the author of the article.

The article examines the design criteria for a reliable disclosure of the scale of the ensemble of the spit of Vasilievsky Island and the Neva embankments in environmental and scenario design. The article reveals the role of the ensemble in the development of the spatial-semantic framework of St Petersburg. The article notes the purposeful use of artistic means and compositional techniques for the formation of scale by several generations of architects, and also states the need to maintain the authentic features of the ensemble based on the identified criteria.

The Russian landscape school is experiencing a revival and a new development at the beginning of the 21st century. On the example of young academic artists, such as A.V. Chuvin’s student A. Tikhonov, we can trace actualization of the academic realistic tradition, built largely on the traditions of symbolist artists of the early 20th century and the experience of St Petersburg and Leningrad artists of the 20th century. The preservation of the artistic traditions of the school takes place both on a formal and figurative level. The school is being enriched with new techniques that meet the requirements of the time, and accumulates the trends of modern art.

The article is dedicated to the St Petersburg artist-academician Alexander Tyshchenko, his search in the genre of portraiture in painting and monotyping in the context of the specifics of the genre, the role of imagination in the process of creating an artistic image.

The article is devoted to comprehension of the peculiarities of the Russian landscape on the example of the work of three masters of St Petersburg academic school – Ivan Uralov, Nikita Fomin and Sergei Repin. The Russian landscape composition imagery is considered in the context of the history of the Russian landscape and Russian art in general.