Between the 1870s and the 1890s, Savva Mamontov, a prominent entrepreneur and an ardent patron of the arts, transformed his house on Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street in Moscow and his Abramtsevo Estate into the centers of Russia’s cultural scene. Many painters, including Ilya Repin, Apollinariy and Viktor Vasnetsov, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Mikhail Nesterov, and Konstantin Korovin, lived and worked there for a long time. Many of them received considerable assistance from Mamontov, including financial support.
In 1885, a woodcarving studio was set up in Abramtsevo headed at different times by Yelena Polenova, Mariya Yakunchikova, and Natalya Davydova. The studio manufactured furniture and household items elegantly decorated with carvings and paintings. In 1890, a ceramics workshop was established under Mikhail Vrubel. The workshop housed the Abramtsevo Art Club — an informal society that brought together prominent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. The club existed between 1878 and 1893.
Many Russian paintings were created in Abramtsevo and its environs, including Ilya Repin’s “Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate” (1880–1883) and “They Did Not Expect Him” (1884–1888), Viktor Vasnetsov’s “Alyonushka” (1881) and “Bogatyrs” (1881–1898), Valentin Serov’s “Girl with Peaches” (1887), Mikhail Nesterov’s “The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” (1889–1890), and others. Since 1878, the painters took an active part in designing the set of amateur productions performed regularly in Abramtsevo.
In 1893, the Abramtsevo Club celebrated its 15th anniversary. Viktor Vasnetsov gave a commemorative speech. A year later, an anniversary album titled “Our Club’s Chronicles” was published. In 1897, the club’s founder and ideologist Savva Mamontov gave Feodor Chaliapin a copy of that album in a gold-embossed leather cover with a commemorative inscription inside. The cover was designed by Vasily Polenov, and the illustrations were drawn by Valentin Serov and Mikhail Vrubel.
In 1885, a woodcarving studio was set up in Abramtsevo headed at different times by Yelena Polenova, Mariya Yakunchikova, and Natalya Davydova. The studio manufactured furniture and household items elegantly decorated with carvings and paintings. In 1890, a ceramics workshop was established under Mikhail Vrubel. The workshop housed the Abramtsevo Art Club — an informal society that brought together prominent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. The club existed between 1878 and 1893.
Many Russian paintings were created in Abramtsevo and its environs, including Ilya Repin’s “Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate” (1880–1883) and “They Did Not Expect Him” (1884–1888), Viktor Vasnetsov’s “Alyonushka” (1881) and “Bogatyrs” (1881–1898), Valentin Serov’s “Girl with Peaches” (1887), Mikhail Nesterov’s “The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” (1889–1890), and others. Since 1878, the painters took an active part in designing the set of amateur productions performed regularly in Abramtsevo.
In 1893, the Abramtsevo Club celebrated its 15th anniversary. Viktor Vasnetsov gave a commemorative speech. A year later, an anniversary album titled “Our Club’s Chronicles” was published. In 1897, the club’s founder and ideologist Savva Mamontov gave Feodor Chaliapin a copy of that album in a gold-embossed leather cover with a commemorative inscription inside. The cover was designed by Vasily Polenov, and the illustrations were drawn by Valentin Serov and Mikhail Vrubel.
