The collection of the Boris Kustodiev House Museum includes an album of drawings by the artist’s wife Yulia Kustodieva, née Proshinskaya.
Yulia Proshinskaya’s interest in the fine arts may have been one of the things that brought her together with the young painter Boris Kustodiev who had come to the Kostroma Region on a sketching trip. She had attended the courses of Professor Jan Ciągliński in St. Petersburg. She enjoyed drawing, and Boris was happy to teach her. By the time they met, he had already studied at the Higher School of Art at the Academy of Arts for several years and was much more proficient than Yulia. As time would show, he was not merely diligent but also incredibly talented.
The couple got married, and after she became a mother, Yulia no longer had time to draw. However, her relatives have carefully preserved an album of her drawings, dated 1903. Most of the drawings were made during the couple’s wedding trip down the Volga River to Astrakhan in 1903. A series of photographs were taken at the same time and are currently displayed in the museum’s photo collection.
At the end of the album, there are several nude drawings and female caricatures made by someone else. The bold sketches made in a free and quick manner are significantly different from Yulia’s diligent, even if not technically precise drawings. Moreover, during that time, a young woman could hardly be expected to create sketches of a nude model. Maybe further research will show that these drawings were created by Boris Kustodiev, and the world will have several new works by the famous artist.
Fortunately, the drawings in the album have not faded and are generally in good condition. Still, the paper has visibly yellowed, the edges are frayed, and there are multiple small tears, stains, and dirt sports. It is hardly surprising given that the album, along with its owners, has endured many hardships such as three Russian revolutions, the Russian Civil War, the Great Patriotic War, and the Siege of Leningrad.
In 2009, the artist’s granddaughter Tatyana
Kustodieva donated this family heirloom to the house museum.
