Murals by Eugene E. Lanceray in Kharkov

The article devotes to the history of the creation of tempera murals Crimea and Caucasus in the foyer of the Palace of Worker (Palace of Culture for the Railway Workers) in Kharkov. Their author is the famous artist Eugene Lanceray (1875—1946), a member of the World of Art association (since 1900), a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (since 1915), who was forced to leave for the Caucasus (Dagestan, and then Georgia) after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1931—1932, when he came from Tiflis to Kharkov, he painted with tempera on plaster. This was preceded by a long stage of preparatory work and discussions, including those related to ideological differences over the plots that arose at different party and trade union levels. The research is based on archival documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (in particular, materials related to the discussion of murals in the spirit of the new symbols of Soviet monumental art: “Free Labor in the USSR and Oppressed Labor in Western Europe, China...”, “Perekop”, etc.), as well as personal documents (diary entries of the artist, his reflections on the subjects, correspondence with his brother N.E. Lanceray, sister Z.E. Serebryakova, architect A.I. Dmitriev, engineer V.V. Veryuzhsky, art critic R.G. Drampyan and others). The article highlights issues related to the master’s work on other monumental works in the intervals between the execution of the Kharkov order, with the stylistic searches of the artist, which he conducted, including under the impression of a business trip to France (1927), with the problem of the relevance of classical forms in Soviet art in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The present study makes it possible to clarify and reconstruct the circumstances of the creation of the Kharkov murals by E.E. Lanceray.

1. Slavinsky Yu.M. (ed.) E.E. Lansere: XL let khudozhestvennoi deyatel’nosti: katalog [E.E. Lanseray: The 40th Years of Artistic Activity: catalogue]. Vsekokhudozhnik Publ., 1936, 83 p.

2. Shantyko N.I. Eugene Lanceray. Moscow, Sovetskii Khudozhnik Publ., 1952, 92 p. (in Russ.).

3. Tolstoy V.P. E. Lanseray Is a Master of Soviet Monumental Painting, Ezhegodnik Instituta istorii iskusstv. 1956: Skul’ptura. Zhivopis’. Arkhitektura [Yearbook of the Institute of Art History. 1956: Sculpture. Painting. Architecture]. Moscow, 1957, pp. 27—64 (in Russ.).

4. Tolstoy V.P. Sovetskaya monumental’naya zhivopis’ [Soviet Monumental Painting]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1958, 304 p.

5. Byalik V.M. (ed.) Evgenii Lansere. Dnevniki [Eugene Lanseray. Diaries]. Moscow, Iskusstvo-XXI Vek Publ., 2008—2009, 736 p., 768 p., 800 p.

6. Podobedova O.I. Eugene Lanceray. 1875—1946. Moscow, Sovetskii Khudozhnik Publ., 1961, 419 p. (in Russ.).

7. Pavlinov P.S. Theme of Russia, Uniting Nations, in the Projects of Monumental Painting by Eugene Lanseray, Taking and Denying: Challenging Canons in Arts and Philosophy. Quaderni di Venezia Arti. 4. Venice, Edizioni Ca’Foscari, 2020, pp. 87—108. DOI: 10.30687/978-88-6969-462-2/005 (in Russ.).

8. Pavlinov P.S. Alexandre Benois and Eugene Lanseray — Uncle and Nephew, Friends, Artistic Companions, Academia, 2022, no. 1, pp. 48—70. DOI: 10.37953/2079-0341-2022-1-1-48-70 (in Russ.).

9. Dobuzhinsky M., Benois A., Somov K., Lanseray E. Voice of Artists, Rus’. 1905, November 11 (24) (in Russ.).

10. Benois A.N. Heresies of Art, Zolotoe Runo [Golden Fleece], 1906, no. 2, pp. 80—88 (in Russ.).

11. Pavlinov P.S. E.E. Lanceray’s Creative Work in the Georgian Democratic Republic (1920—1921), Observatoriya kul’tury [Observatory of Culture], 2018, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 222—229. DOI: 10.25281/2072-3156-2018-15-2-222-229 (in Russ.).

12. Letters of A.I. Dmitriev to E.E. Lanceray. 1927—1935, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 1982 (E.E. Lanseray), aids 1, item 94, 21 p. (in Russ.).

13. E.E. Lanseray’s Contracts with the Directorates, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 1982 (E.E. Lanseray), aids 1, item 17, 39 p. (in Russ.).

14. A Letter of E.E. Lanseray to R.G. Drampyan of July 14, 1927, Otdel rukopisei Natsional’noi galerei Armenii [Manuscripts Department of the National Gallery of Armenia], coll. 5 (R.G. Drampyan), no. 15250 (in Russ.).

15. Letters of E.E. Lanseray to A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva 1921—1945, Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi natsional’noi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Russia], coll. 1015, item 685, 81 p. (in Russ.).

16. Letters of E.E. Lanseray to N.E. Lanseray. 1926—1928, Otdel rukopisei Gosudarstvennogo Russkogo muzeya [Manuscripts Department of the State Russian Museum], coll. 38, item 15, 35 p. (in Russ.).

17. Letters of E.E. Lanseray to N.E. Lanseray. 1929—1933, Otdel rukopisei Gosudarstvennogo Russkogo muzeya [Manuscripts Department of the State Russian Museum], coll. 38, item 16, 36 p. (in Russ.).

18. Letters of A.V. Grigorieva to E.E. Lanseray. 1932—1938, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 1982, aids 1, item 90, 8 p. (in Russ.).

19. Tolstoy V.P. E. Lanseray Is a Master of Soviet Monumental Painting, Reka vremen: stat’i raznykh let [The River of Time: articles of different years]. Moscow, Pinakoteka Publ., 2004, pp. 245—266 (in Russ.).

20. Dyachenko M.T., Rozin S.O., Ryabko V.I. Kharkiv: mistsya istorichnikh podii, pam’yatniki i zakladi kul’turi, vidatni diyachi [Kharkov: Places of Historical Events, Monuments and Cultural Institutions, Prominent Figures]. Kharkov, Khar’kivs’ke Oblasne Vidavnitstvo Publ., 1957, 343 p.

21. Shulika V.V. “Crimea” and “Caucasus” in Kharkov, Antikvar: zhurnal ob iskusstve i kollektsionirovanii [The Antiquary: A Journal About Art and Collecting], 2014, no. 10 (86), pp. 38—45 (in Russ.).