Mokhovaya, 20 - a beautiful four-story house, decorated with a portico with two Corinthian half-columns, a high porch, and huge windows with frequent sashes. The Psychological Institute has lived in this building for a little less than a century. One of the most beautiful Moscow legends is associated with the one whose name he once bore.
Source of information: magazine "CARAVAN OF STORIES", December 1999.
Now they don’t build like that anymore: thick walls, high ceilings, wide flights of stairs, a labyrinth of corridors in which it’s easy for an outsider to get lost... The legend of the “lady in white” - a ghostly figure melting in the air, appearing in the evenings in one place , then at the other end of the building, passes from generation to generation of people working here. Those who know the history of the institute talk about Lydia Shchukina: her husband, a major industrialist and famous philanthropist Sergey Ivanovich Shchukin built this building at the beginning of the century so that scientists, many of whom were then keen on spiritualism and other occult sciences, would help him see at least a shadow, at least the ghost of his beloved wife.
They say: her spirit cannot calm down, because the conditions under which Shchukin donated this building to Moscow University (he donated about 200 thousand rubles for its construction) were not fulfilled. The institute was to bear her name, the widower wanted to see her portrait in the foyer, Lydia Grigorievna’s birthday was to be counted official holiday Institute, the name of the deceased should have been embossed on the facade of the building.
With the advent of Soviet power, this had to be forgotten. The name of Shchukin, who lived out his life in exile, was never mentioned within the walls of the institute. His wife, whose memory he so wanted to perpetuate, would have been completely forgotten if those who worked at the Psychological Institute were not disturbed by a strange shadow - in the thirties, for the mere mention of the name of the one who once built this house, an employee of the institute They could very well have been imprisoned. And Shchukin lived out his life hoping that both he and his wife would be remembered in Russia: the eighty-year-old emigrant was very lonely in France.
It is not becoming for a very old man to be afraid of death, and Sergei Ivanovich waited for the end with the calm dignity of a deeply religious man. He died in his bed, in a warm, well-equipped house, surrounded by his relatives busy around him. Sergei Shchukin left them a good name and a faithful piece of bread - few of the emigrants who settled in Paris could boast of this. The Shchukins did not know the severe, hopeless poverty, when torn off soles slammed on the wet pavement and the autumn wind pierced a coat lined with fish fur - the money that Sergei Ivanovich kept in Western banks before the revolution provided them for many years to come. an old man he left knowing that he had fulfilled his duty to his loved ones. The contours of the room became fragmented, the faces of his granddaughters merged, the cross that the priest brought to his lips sparkled like chandeliers in his Moscow palace...
He was the most agile and resourceful of the five Shchukin brothers. Their grandfather came to Moscow on foot from the city of Borovsk, their father himself made muslin and hid copper money under the floorboards, and then immediately enrolled in the first guild, acquired a large house, a luxurious trip and a music lover wife. (At the Bolshoi Theater, Shchukin Sr. especially loved the sofa in the front box - he always slept well there.)
The children took after their mother - the educated and sophisticated Ekaterina Petrovna Botkina, a lady from the Moscow merchant aristocracy. Brother Nikolai collected antique silver, brother Peter collected porcelain, pearl embroidery, ancient books and enamels. Over time, he built his own museum in Moscow, donated it to the treasury and was awarded the rank of general. Brother Ivan lived his life in Paris - there he was called “Count Shchukin”... And Sergei himself increased the family capital all his life: business Moscow called Sergei Shchukin “Minister of Commerce” and “porcupine”.
Everything should have turned out differently. As a child, he was the weakest of the brothers: nervous, short, stuttering... Sergei Shchukin himself insisted that he too be taught commerce, strengthened his body with sports, became ruthless and calculating - competitors told legends about his scams and dizzying business combinations. (In 1905, when everyone was frightened by the revolution and commerce was not generating income, Shchukin bought up all the Moscow manufacturing and made a million from it.) His wife was the first beauty of Moscow, the eldest son showed great promise - his father saw him as his successor, the middle one became scientist, and only the youngest son Grigory, deaf from birth, forever locked in his ghostly world, was the pain and grief of the family... Thirty years ago Sergei Shchukin considered himself happy man- Parting with this world, he tried to understand why he angered the Lord, why his well-established, prosperous life collapsed and shattered into pieces.
In 1905, his seventeen-year-old son Sergei drowned himself. They said that he was a member of the suicide club that existed at that time: children of rich and noble parents committed suicide by lot. A revolver bullet, potassium cyanide, a jump in front of a train - the young people died one after another, and in the end it was his boy's turn... And then his wife died.
When he married an eighteen-year-old girl, he was thirty-one years old. Lidochka Korenev came from an old noble family, and Moscow gossips whispered that, following the palace of the Governor General (it was once the Trubetskoy palace), the manufacturer also bought a noblewoman wife. “Good people” told him what all of Moscow was gossiping about, but he just chuckled.
Lydia Koreneva, one of the first beauties of Moscow (behind her back they called her the “Queen of Shemakha”), did not think about Shchukin’s condition. She loved dresses and balls, and he led the life of an ascetic - he dined on potatoes and curdled milk, slept with the window open and woke up covered in snow on winter mornings - it was not always easy for them to be together, but they loved each other.
Lidochka never got sick, but she burned out in three days. Doctors said it was some kind of female disease. There were rumors in society that the deceased had poisoned herself. Allegedly, Lydia Shchukina did not forgive her husband for the death of her son, who, shortly before his death, stopped talking to his father. The families of his friends donated money to the revolution, and Sergei Shchukin fed the Black Hundred during the Moscow uprising... Then he ignored it, but two years later his son Grigory committed suicide. (Moscow gossips claimed that the merchant was overtaken by God's punishment, and the reason for this was Shchukin's godless hobbies: he allegedly hung the disgusting daub of Renoir and Picasso in the house church.) Several months passed, and brother Ivan shot himself, having long and unsuccessfully asked him for help. After that, the world turned black for him.
Ivan Shchukin did not like commerce. He lived in France and lectured at the Russian Higher School social sciences. A bit of a journalist, a bit of an art critic (the French nevertheless awarded him the Order of the Legion of Honor), Ivan changed lovers like gloves, held open house and collected paintings by old masters - his collection of Goya and Velazquez was the largest in Paris.
The last passion pinched him pretty much. Every week he gave her a new dress and an expensive necklace. And then the New York stock exchange began to shake, and American copper stocks, in which their brother Nikolai had invested all his funds, went down sharply... For six months Nikolai sent Ivan money, then he advised him to sell some of the paintings, but the appraisers said that most of the collection - fakes.
A dark public had been hovering around Ivan for a long time: they showed him a letter from Spain - supposedly an original Velasquez had been discovered in a distant monastery, you could buy it cheaply and take it out of the country, replacing it with a fake... And Ivan Shchukin brought home a fake, and the scammers and the abbot shared the profits in half.
The brother had a huge debt hanging over him, which he could not pay off; there was nowhere to wait for help. And then Ivan decided that he would live as before. And when the remains of his fortune melted away, he last time received guests, walked them to the door late in the evening, went up to the office and put a bullet in his heart. Suicides were not buried in cemeteries then, and the funeral took place according to civil rites - Ivan Shchukin was cremated, and after that Sergei Shchukin turned gray. He, a deeply religious man, could not imagine anything more disgusting than cremation.
Now his turn has come. The second wife, sister-in-law, daughter were busy around... It’s a pity that my beloved son Ivan is in distant Beirut - that means they will never say goodbye... It’s not scary: the main thing is that he grew up good, worthy person, therefore, the name of the Shchukins will live on - he will be remembered kindly even in Russia, which expelled them.
There were paintings left at home - dozens of paintings by Gauguin, Monet, Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Rousseau, Sisley: contemporary art was his main passion, he gave both his life and fortune to the collection.
Picasso and Matisse lived on his money - if he had not bought their work, they might not have received their recognition. Because of this, Moscow, in love with the Wanderers, considered him crazy: several years ago Alexander Benois told him about it to his face. They said that Shchukin was freaking out, that his passion for the Impressionists was nothing more than Moscow tyranny, a wild merchant “draft”... And now his collection is worth tens of millions of dollars. It was nationalized immediately after October: his palace became a Museum contemporary art, and he turned into a keeper and guide, huddled right there, at his former meeting, in the cook’s room. It doesn’t matter: the main thing is that he and his family managed to escape from Russia, and the museum will preserve the collection better than the heirs.
His funeral gift also remained in his homeland, which he donated after a series of deaths befell him: in 1910, he gave two hundred thousand rubles for the construction of the Psychological Institute. The lady with whom he was then close introduced him to the young Kyiv professor Chelpanov. Shchukin decided that it was better to help science than to donate to the temple: maybe the professor will someday be able to explain why rich and beautiful, very young people decide to commit suicide...
At the front entrance hangs a board with Lydia’s profile - the institute bears her name and here now her name day will be celebrated every year... He felt the holy gifts touch his lips, felt the priest’s hand on his forehead, and then the walls of the room opened and he flew into some endless, shining abyss - Sergei Ivanovich never found out how his son’s fate turned out, what happened to his collection and the Psychological Institute, which bears the name of his wife, Lydia Shchukina.
His son Ivan Shchukin graduated from the Sorbonne, taught at Cairo University, studied medieval oriental art. He died in a plane accidentally shot down during the Lebanon War. (His rich library still lies unclaimed in the French embassy in Cairo.)
Museum of the New European art was abolished in the forties, during the fight against “adulation to the West.” Fortunately, the paintings, which could easily have been sold abroad, were saved - they are now in the Pushkin Museum. And the Psychological Institute is still considered one of the most serious scientific institutions in the world, and a memorial plaque with a woman’s profile again hangs at its main entrance.
Sergei Shchukin lies in the Mont-Martre cemetery - a wide pedestal, a massive granite slab... His children died, his great-grandchildren scattered all over the world, the Shchukin family nest no longer exists - but in distant Russia every year they celebrate the day of the angel of his beloved wife.
/ Friends of Matisse / Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin
Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin called Matisse “a modern Michelangelo” - whether this was irony or truth is known only to him. The Moscow merchant and collector, who passionately loved French painting, became attached to the artist’s works at first sight.
“Joy of Life”: from canvas to reality
In the spring of 1906, he saw the canvas “The Joy of Life” and wanted to meet the artist. It was an idealistic landscape in red and yellow colors, against which figures of naked bodies dancing and making love were depicted. This work touched Shchukin.
In those days, few people liked Matisse's paintings. He was called a rude, impudent dropout, but still it was Matisse who attracted the attention of Shchukin. The collector was so carried away that he began to correspond with the artist, although previously he was content with buying paintings from dealers.
Shchukin bought 37 works by Matisse and sent the same number of messages to the artist. Sergei Ivanovich bought paintings, taking them directly from the studio, sometimes they were unfinished, or even barely begun works.
Mansion of philanthropist Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin, Matisse Hall
In the summer of 1908, the collector liked the fresh painting “Balls Game” and two half-finished still lifes. While working on the latter, Matisse almost went bankrupt. It was a huge canvas (two meters long) called “The Red Room”, depicting a woman setting a table. The artist painted fruits from life, which he bought in Paris for a lot of money. To make them deteriorate more slowly, Matisse ventilated the room all the time, which is why he had to work in a coat and gloves all winter.
Ideal cartridge
Matisse considered Shchukin his “ideal patron”, since after meeting him the artist forgot about the long years of poverty. Sergei Ivanovich asked to be notified of each new work - rarely has anyone followed the master’s work like that!
S.I. Shchukin - merchant, collector French painting, founder of a public private gallery. Brother of collectors Dmitry and Peter Shchukin.
Born in Moscow on May 27, 1854 into a merchant family. Being naturally sickly, in 1873 Sergei was sent to study at one of the private Saxon schools. Much attention has been paid here physical education, which had a very beneficial effect on his well-being and allowed him to return to an active lifestyle. Subsequently Sergei Shchukin all year round I slept with the window open, so in winter I sometimes woke up under a blanket of snow. Born very weak, he lived long life and remained vigorous and healthy until his last days.
After graduating from the Higher Commercial School in the Saxon city of Gera, from 1878 Shchukin began to help his father in managing the company “I.V. Shchukin with Sons”, and after his father’s death in 1890 he headed it.
Sergei Ivanovich had a reputation as a bold, enterprising businessman. He was even jokingly called “Minister of Commerce.” Immersed in trading affairs, for the time being he did not share his brothers’ passion for collecting. True, there were paintings in his house, including works by L.O. Pasternak, F.A. Bronnikov, I.P. Pokhitonov, R.G. Sudkovsky, sketches for V.I. Surikov’s canvas “Boyaryna Morozova”, canvases by Western European masters. However, these random acquisitions served only to decorate the house. The passion for collecting awoke in Sergei Ivanovich only in his fifth decade. But very quickly he determined the main direction of his activity as a collector.
During this period, the Itinerant artists had already exhausted themselves and the search for new artistic forms was underway in Russian art. At the same time, the Impressionists were gaining strength in France. Sergei Ivanovich was introduced to their work by his brother Ivan, also a collector, who also lived permanently in Paris. It is in the works of modern French artists S.I. Shchukin, endowed with extraordinary intuition, was able to discern the future of world art. In Moscow at that time, few people collected modern Western paintings. The desire to create a unique and original collection further strengthened his interest in French painting of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The first acquisitions were made by Sergei Ivanovich in Paris in 1895-1896. in the cabin National Society fine arts. These were landscapes by little-known artists Fritz Thaulow, James Paterson, Charles Cotte, Lucien Simon. In 1897, the first painting by Claude Monet appeared in his collection. It was the now widely known “Lilac in the Sun”. So he discovered the Impressionists and, with his characteristic temperament and passion, began collecting their canvases.
When purchasing paintings, Sergei Ivanovich did not listen to any opinions. He defined his principle for choosing works of art as follows: “If, after seeing a painting, you experience a psychological shock, buy it” (9, p. 32). He made new acquisitions at Parisian exhibitions, as well as directly in the studio of artists. They said about Shchukin that he bought “fresh” canvases with paints that were not yet dry. He also acquired paintings through Parisian antiques dealers P. Durand-Ruel, A. Vollard, D. Kahnweiler. On the eve of the First World War, Sergei Ivanovich made purchases through his secretary Minorsky.
Once S.I. Shchukin managed to get several impressionist paintings not in Paris, as always happened, but in Moscow. The reason for this was the passion for the artists of this circle of his brother, Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin. At first, both of them bought impressionist paintings, but over time, Pyotr Ivanovich’s passion for Russian antiquities prevailed. In 1905, he decided to sell the Western European part of his collection. The buyer was S.I. Shchukin. Among the paintings he purchased were famous painting O. Renoir "Nude".
And how much courage was required to buy masters who were not recognized even in Paris! How much ridicule I had to endure from artists and fellow collectors! It is known that, having once crossed the threshold of his house, I.E. Repin saw the canvases of A. Matisse, rushed headlong away and never returned here.
S.I. Shchukin’s impeccable artistic taste allowed him to assemble a first-class collection of world significance. His collection included the most remarkable works by P. Gauguin, W. Van Gogh, E. Degas, A. Marquet, A. Matisse, C. Monet (13 canvases), P. Picasso (50 works), C. Pissarro, P. Cezanne, P. Signac, A. Rousseau. In total, by 1918 he had collected 256 paintings. It is noteworthy that Shchukin managed to assemble such a representative collection in just eighteen years. Since 1914, due to the outbreak of the First World War, Sergei Ivanovich’s regular trips to Paris ceased, and the growth of the collection also ceased. Sergei Ivanovich was infinitely devoted to art. He could look at his acquisitions for an hour, admiring their color, composition, and texture. His passion for collecting led to Shchukin leaving commerce completely. He read a lot, traveled, greedily examined art museums. At the Louvre, he loved looking at Egyptian antiquities.
In the 1910s. S.I. Shchukin was elected an honorary member of the “Jack of Diamonds” Society of Artists; along with other artists, writers, theater workers and philanthropists, he was a member of the Society of Arts.
Shchukin's house in Bolshoi Znamensky Lane, where the gallery was located, was built back in Catherine's time. In 1882 it was acquired by the collector’s father, Ivan Vasilyevich, and in 1891 it was donated to Sergei Ivanovich. Its premises were luxurious apartments with high ceilings, an abundance of paintings and stucco, inlaid parquet, and expensive chandeliers. Over time, all its walls from floor to ceiling in two or even three rows, in a continuous “carpet” hanging (frame to frame), were occupied by works of painting.
The center of the gallery is a pink living room with paintings by A. Matisse; It is noteworthy that the hanging of the paintings was carried out by the author himself. He visited Moscow at the invitation of S.I. Shchukin in 1911. Such famous works, like “The Artist’s Workshop”, “Red Room”, “Family Portrait”, “Lady in a Green Dress”, “Spanish Woman with a Tambourine”, “Girl with a Tulip”.
Matisse was Sergei Ivanovich’s favorite artist. Therefore, in his office and even in the dressing room, paintings by this particular artist were placed in a prominent place. Shchukin established friendly relations with Matisse. They met back in 1906. The collector did not limit himself to purchasing from him already finished paintings, but discussed creative plans with him and placed orders for him. It was thanks to the alliance with Shchukin that Henri Matisse was able to fully demonstrate his artistic talent.
In the Shchukin gallery there were 38 paintings by Matisse, which went down in the history of world art as the “Russian Matisses”. The artist commissioned two huge panels “Dance” and “Music” for his Moscow mansion. Having seen them for the first time in January 1911, art historian B.N. Ternovets wrote at the same time: “This is the best that Matisse created, and, perhaps, the best that the 20th century has given so far. This is not painting (for there is no form here), not a picture - this is a different kind of decorative and monumental art - a thousand times stronger and more amazing. Never before have I felt so strongly the ennobling influence of art; the soul seemed to be cleansed by the fire of beauty, I felt how artificial, mortal covers fell from it” (25, p. 10).
The music salon was dominated by paintings by K. Monet - “Breakfast in the Forest”, “Rocks at Belle-Ile”, “Rouen Cathedral at Noon”, “Rouen Cathedral in the Evening” and others.
In the main dining room hung paintings by Paul Gauguin: “Self-Portrait”, “Are You Jealous?”, “Gathering Fruits”, “Women on the Seashore” - a kind of “Gauguin iconostasis”, which could not leave any of the visitors indifferent. Sixteen paintings by the master were collected here. “Russia, snowy Moscow can be proud of having given careful shelter to these exotic flowers eternal summer, which their official stepmother homeland France failed to pick up, wrote art critic J. Tugendhold. “This Moscow home contains not only the largest collection of Gauguin’s paintings, but, perhaps, the best selection” (26, p. 48).
S.I. Shchukin more than once demonstrated works from his collection at various art exhibitions. In 1899 in St. Petersburg on International exhibition paintings, for the first time he exhibited paintings from his collection - “Theater Foyer” and “Horse Races” by J.L. Forin.
Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin, like other Moscow collectors, intended to donate his museum to the city. In one of his letters to I.V. Tsvetaev, he admitted: “... is busy with the idea of creating a gallery of works of new French painting, which should become the property of the city of Moscow. Wanting my gift to have the highest possible artistic value, I decided not to waste it and focus all my attention and concerns on improving and replenishing my existing collection of paintings” (8, p. 112).
After the death of his wife, Lydia Grigorievna, Sergei Ivanovich made a will on January 5, 1907, according to which his collection should be donated to the Tretyakov Gallery. He wanted his collection to complement the collection of Western European paintings already in this gallery, collected by S.M. Tretyakov. According to art historian P.P. Muratov, if the Shchukin collection were received by the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow could have the high honor of creating Europe's first public museum of contemporary painting.
Even before the transfer of the collection to the city, from 1910, the Shchukin gallery became available for viewing. Visitors were allowed to view it on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A wide variety of audiences gathered for these Sunday viewings: students, high school students, reporters, writers, artists, performers, and collectors. The excursions were conducted by Sergei Ivanovich himself. “He talked very willingly, carried away, remembering Paris, meetings with artists, their appearance, conversations with them, visits to their workshops,” recalled the poet and writer N.M. Preobrazhensky (22, p. 48). The Shchukin Gallery occupied such a prominent place in cultural life city, that when a representative delegation of directors of leading European museums, then the program of stay included a visit to the mansion on Znamensky Lane.
Young artists were especially eager to get into the Shchukin gallery of Western art. For them it was a recognized center for contemporary art. The Shchukin Museum became the cradle of the Russian avant-garde. K.S. Petrov-Vodkin recalled him this way: “Sergei Ivanovich himself showed visitors his gallery. Lively, all one trembling, stuttering, he explained his collections. He said that the idea of beauty has become obsolete, has come to an end, and is being replaced by the type, the expression of a pictorial thing, that Gauguin ends the era of the idea of beauty, and Picasso discovers the naked structure of the object” (21, p. 360).
“The other day I visited Shchukin, looked at his famous collection of decadents, new and old,” M.V. Nesterov reported in a letter to A.A. Turygin dated February 11, 1911. - Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin is one of two brother collectors. Both are rich manufacturers, they make scarves and sell them for millions to Persians, and with this money they live and buy - one wondrous antiquities, manuscripts, etc., the other French decadents - Puvis, Monet, Manet, Degas, Marche, Denis, Cezanne, Matisse, Sisley and Pissarro. The last four names gave birth to the “Golden Fleece”, “Blue Rose” and “Jack of Hearts” not only here, but throughout Europe” (16, p. 243).
In 1915, after his second marriage, Sergei Ivanovich moved to a house on the corner of Bolshaya Nikitskaya and Sadovaya, and the mansion on Znamenka increasingly turned into a museum. Now it was possible to visit it on weekdays: in the absence of the owner, the maid showed the collection.
After the October Revolution on November 5, 1918, the gallery was nationalized and in the spring of 1919 it was opened to the public under the name “The First Museum of New Western Painting.”
The “Museum of New Western Painting” experienced all the vicissitudes of Soviet museum construction. In 1929, it was merged with the Morozov collection and moved to Prechistenka, to a mansion that once belonged to I.A. Morozov. In 1948 the museum was disbanded. Pearls from the former Shchukin collection are now in the Hermitage and the State Museum fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin.
The Shchukinsky mansion has been preserved (now Bolshoi Znamensky Lane, 8); it houses the institution.
SOURCES AND LITERATURE
1. Aksinenko M.B. History of the State Museum of New Western Art // Museum-3: Art Collections of the USSR. - M., 1982. - P. 216-225.
2. Bakhrushin Yu.A. Memories. -M., 1994. - P. 281-282.
4. Buryshkin P.A. Merchant Moscow. - M., 1991. - P. 144-149.
5.Valentin Serov in memoirs, diaries and correspondence of contemporaries. - L., 1911. - T. 1. - P. 316-318,415; T. 2. -S. 24, 70,81,213-214,225,230,326,331,368,405.
Shchukins - collectors
and entrepreneurs
In history Russian entrepreneurship There are few families who, from generation to generation, have managed to maintain significant influence in industry or trade for several years, while being permanent participants in the social, cultural and educational life of the country. Among the names of the “golden age” in the history of patronage and collecting the Morozovs, Bakhrushins, Tretyakovs are not last place occupies the Shchukin family. This dynasty can rightfully be attributed to the “flower” of the Moscow merchant class of the second half of the 19th century. Her fame is also associated with the creation of collections at the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, and even with a contribution to the development of Western European culture.
The founder of the family of “hereditary honorary citizens” was Pyotr Fedosovich Shchukin, who came from the merchant town of Borovsk, Kaluga province. In the second half of the 18th century. under Catherine II, he and his family leave hometown
After the French invasion and the fire of Moscow in 1812, the Shchukins managed to maintain a small fortune and reputation as honest businessmen.
Vasily Petrovich continued the work of his father, who died in 1836 at the age of 80, significantly increasing the family’s fortune. His son, Ivan Vasilyevich, became the true founder of the “Shukin dynasty.” Ten years later, his company took a leading place in commercial and industrial Moscow, and his family became widely known in merchant circles. Ivan Vasilyevich was married to the eldest daughter of the eminent merchant Pyotr Botkin, which gave him the opportunity to become related to many noble Moscow families. He had a large family: 5 daughters and 6 sons, of whom the most famous are Peter, Sergei, Dmitry and Ivan. Pyotr Ivanovich became the author of a book of memoirs about merchant Moscow in the 19th century, where he described his parent in detail. “My father was a strong brunette, but over the years the hair on his head and beard began to turn grey, only his eyebrows, which were extremely thick, remained black. The father had such expressive eyes that just by looking at him the children instantly stopped crying; The father's gaze also affected adults; He always spoke very loudly, no matter whether it was at home, at a party or on the street. Even abroad, he spoke on the street so loudly that passers-by turned around;
Despite his conservatism, Ivan Vasilyevich tried to give his children a good, comprehensive education. Even in those days, it became clear to the merchant class that in order to securely gain a foothold in business, practical skills alone were not enough, which is why merchants tried to train their heirs in commercial activities in institutions that provided good preparation for it and knowledge of foreign languages. In the house of I.V. Shchukin in Milyutinsky Lane (now Markhlevsky Street) there was a whole staff of educators and teachers, while the sons began school education in Vyborg, where training was conducted in German, then abroad; the father hoped that they would continue the family’s legacy, following the beaten path. Upon the return of the heirs to Russia, Ivan Vasilyevich involved them in family affairs, and in 1878 he opened the Trading House “I.V. Shchukin with Sons,” which was engaged in manufacturing trade. But the fate of the sons turned out differently than the father planned; each of them in one way or another connected his life with culture and art.
Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin (1853-1912), while still a young man, living in the private boarding house Girs in St. Petersburg, dreamed of entering Moscow University. At the same time, a craving for collecting awakens in him, which, as he himself claimed, came to him through his mother’s side. After spending six years away from home, first in Germany and then in France, he studied the process of producing silk fabrics and made the first acquisitions to his famous collection. So, in Lyon, Pyotr Ivanovich acquired several rare French books, lithographs and engravings. Returning to Moscow, the future famous collector became a regular visitor to antique shops on Old Square, at the Arbat Gate, and on the famous Sukharevka. P.I. Shchukin’s collection was replenished with a variety of exhibits: icons, paintings by French impressionists, etchings, photographs and books. Later, an interest in the art of the countries of the East arose, and, in the end, Pyotr Ivanovich began collecting objects of Russian antiquity and applied art.
It soon became clear that the growing collection required special premises. In 1891, P.I. Shchukin acquired land on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street and invited architect Boris Freidenberg to design the museum building. Peter Ivanovich wanted the collection to be housed in a house built in the style of old Russian architecture; he personally takes part in the development of the project and visits the city of Yaroslavl twice, being interested in the architecture of ancient mansions. In September 1893, the opening of a two-story brick tower with hipped roofs and elegant kokoshniks, lined with colorful relief tiles (now the State Biological Museum named after K.A. Timiryazev is located here). Five years later, next door, Shchukin erects another building, called “ New Museum", connected with the old underground passage. And after another seven, construction began on the third building, which, like the first two, was filled to capacity with exhibits. Pyotr Ivanovich himself singled out several sections of his museum collection: church, weapons, fabrics, carpets, tapestries and tapestries, jewelry and dishes. P.I. Shchukin’s merit also lay in the fact that he not only collected his collection, but also popularized the treasures he collected.
In 1895, Shchukin’s private museum opened its doors to all lovers of antiquities. Here Surikov wrote sketches for the painting “Stepan Razin”, Serov made copies from Persian miniatures for the curtain of Diaghilev’s ballet performances, Apollinary Vasnetsov copied images of boyars’ chambers from ancient plans of Moscow. Pyotr Ivanovich managed to compile a detailed description of all the museum’s valuables, and reprint the most interesting documents from his collection in the Shchukin Collection, published at his own expense.
Pyotr Ivanovich took care of the fate of his collection in advance. In the spring of 1905, he transferred to the Historical Museum “his own property, which consisted of land with a house and other residential and non-residential buildings... with a collection of ancient Russian and foreign things, an oriental collection, an art gallery, a collection of drawings and engravings, a library, a manuscript archive, furniture and all furnishings." Until the end of his life, Shchukin was the curator of the museum, continued to bear all the costs of its maintenance and pay salaries to employees, while replenishing the collection funds. Eyewitnesses recall that Pyotr Ivanovich, having received the rank of civil general, was very proud of his new uniform of the Department of Public Education with blue lapels, a sword, and did not take off his black uniform cap with a braided cross even on hot summer days.
After the death of P.I. Shchukin, his entire collection was transported to the Historical Museum. The collector’s donations exceeded the funds of the museum itself; according to rough estimates, Pyotr Ivanovich donated 23 thousand exhibits. Shchukin’s gift enriched almost all departments of the museum, and some had to be reopened; a new sign “Department of the Imperial Russian Federation” appeared on the building of the museum itself. Historical Museum
named after Emperor Alexander III - the Museum of Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin." Another son of Ivan Vasilyevich, Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin (1854-1936), like his brother, was educated abroad, in Germany. Upon his return, he began working at the Trading House “I.V. Shchukin with his sons”, and after the death of his father, he actually headed it. Sergei Ivanovich is probably the only one of the brothers who diligently engaged in the family business and cared about replenishing capital. Under him, the Shchukin family became the owner of shares in the E. Tsindel Printing Manufactory Partnership, among the shareholders of which were the merchants Buryshkins, Prove and Knops. In 1870-1871 together with other industrialists, he organized the Moscow Accounting Bank, and until 1917 he played a leading role in it. Sergei Ivanovich was actively involved and social activities
Immersed in trading affairs, he initially did not share his brothers’ hobbies for collecting, purchasing paintings only to decorate his own home. A passion for collecting awoke in Sergei Ivanovich at the age of forty-odd years, he began collecting paintings of French painting of the early 19th century, works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse and their predecessors - Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Degas.
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Sergey Ivanovich
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He made acquisitions at Parisian exhibitions and in artists' studios during his numerous travels abroad. Sergei Ivanovich placed his collection in a house given to him by his father in 1891 and located in Bolshoi Znamensky Lane. The rooms of the house were luxurious apartments with high ceilings, many paintings and stucco moldings, expensive chandeliers and mirrored parquet floors. Over time, all the walls of the house from floor to ceiling were occupied by works of painting. In 1911, at the invitation of S.I. Shchukin, Henri Matisse came to Moscow, he visited the collector’s house and presented him with several of his works...<…>Shchukin<…>Just like his brother, Sergei Ivanovich made his collection available for viewing.
After the death of his first wife Lydia Grigorievna (Koreneva), Sergei Ivanovich made a will, according to which his entire collection was to be donated to the Tretyakov Gallery. But after his second marriage in 1915 to Nadezhda Afanasyevna (Konyus), his plans for the collection changed. He moved with his wife and children from his first marriage to a house on Bolshaya Nikitskaya, and turned the mansion on Znamenka into a museum.
After the October events, the entire collection of S.I. Shchukin was nationalized. Spring 1919 former owner became the director of the exhibition, called “The First Museum of New Western Painting.” Subsequently best paintings Shchukin collection were transferred to the Hermitage and State Museum Fine Arts named after. A.S. Pushkin. By the will of fate, Sergei Ivanovich left Russia and settled in Paris, but when he was asked why he did not want to regain the right to the collection, he invariably answered: “... I collected not only and not so much for myself, but for my country and my people. Whatever is on our land, my collections must remain there.”
Dmitry Ivanovich (1855-1932) came out of family business and became famous solely as a collector. Initially he collected gold and silver items, miniatures, and bronze sculpture, but gradually concentrated on old Western painting.
D.I. Shchukin collected paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries; his collection included paintings by Watteau, Boucher, Cranach, Lancret, about 146 works in total. In his mansion in Starokonyushenny Lane, Dmitry Ivanovich opened a gallery, but its fate turned out to be the same as that of his older brothers. In 1918, it was nationalized and then transferred to the museum on Volkhonka. Dmitry Ivanovich remained with his collection; in 1924 he was appointed head of the Italian department of the art gallery and elected a member of the academic council.
Speaking about the Shchukin family, we need to remember our younger brother, Ivan Ivanovich, who lived his entire life in Paris. He collected Russian books, mainly on the history of philosophy and religious thought, and lectured at the Higher School of Social Sciences. His small apartment on Bagram Avenue became the center of gatherings for Russian emigrants. His fate turned out to be sad, he went broke and committed suicide. Today his library constitutes the treasury of the Russian book depository in Paris. The Shchukin family in Russia was perceived with a considerable amount of irony; they laughed at their collecting, ambition and patronage of the arts, calling them “tyrants.” But it was they who accumulated treasures of art, created galleries and museums, and left all this to their Fatherland and people free of charge. We have a lot to learn from them.
Konshins - industrialists
in the nobility
The composition of the Russian commercial and industrial elite of the mid-19th century. included families that did not formally belong to the merchant class, although they had every reason to do so. It is noteworthy that some of them, as a result business activity
the founders managed to achieve a higher position in bourgeois society and achieve the title of nobility. Among them, the most famous is the Konshin family, owners of huge cotton factories in Serpukhov near Moscow. Over a two-hundred-year history, this family went from provincial merchants to textile magnates on an all-Russian scale, and the result of this activity in 1882, “in reward for services to domestic industry and trade,” was the awarding of the title of hereditary nobles to Konshin.
After the death of the founder, the business was continued by his son, A.P. Konshin. The Serpukhov factory brought good income and was listed among the 30 best in the city, but in 1809 the activities of this profitable enterprise had to be stopped.
The reason for this was the continental blockade of England, to which Russia joined under the Treaty of Tilsit with France (1807), and it was the English fleet that was the main buyer of Konshin sailcloth. But this did not stop the family’s factory activity; the far-sighted son of A.P. Konshin, Maxim Alekseevich, opened the “Old Manor” paper weaving and calico printing factory back in 1805, which was less dependent on foreign partners.
The significant rise of this enterprise is associated with the next generation of the family, namely with the activities of M.A. Konshin’s son, Nikolai Maksimovich (1798-1853). Under him, the factory was partially mechanized, a horse-drawn calico-printing machine operated here, and the range of products was significantly expanded: scarves, calico, and blankets were sold both in Moscow and at the famous Makaryevskaya fair in Nizhny Novgorod.
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However, after a few years, the rate of development of the enterprise begins to decline. This was due to the fact that the raw material - cotton yarn - was brought from England, since there were no spinning machines in Russia, and the yarn of artisanal peasants was of very low quality. In 1842, the ban on the export of textile equipment from England was lifted, and Nikolai Maksimovich was among the first to begin building a paper spinning factory. From abroad he orders craftsmen, machine tools and a steam engine, one of the first in the Moscow region. After the death of N.M. Konshin, the business was continued by the fourth generation of the family, his sons. According to the family division of the inheritance, the eldest son, Ivan Nikolaevich (1828-1898), received a paper spinning mill, the middle son, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1831-1918) -
land near Tarusa, the youngest - Maxim Nikolaevich (1838-?) - paper weaving and calico printing factory "Old Manor". But it soon became clear that Maxim was not suited for entrepreneurial activity; his lack of business acumen almost led to the collapse of the enterprise he inherited.. For almost 40 years he developed paper spinning production, but died childless, bequeathing 10.5 million rubles to his wife Alexandra Ivanovna. Having previously been the richest woman who, among other things, owned a mansion in Moscow on Prechistenka (now the House of Scientists is located here), Alexandra Ivanovna was engaged in charity work, she donated more than 6 million rubles for the construction of various public institutions in Moscow and Serpukhov. In particular, these funds were used to build a charity home for crippled soldiers in Moscow, a mother and child home located at the dacha of A.I. Konshina in Petrovsky Park, a hospital, an almshouse, and an orphanage in Serpukhov. After the death of her husband, Alexandra Ivanovna returned the factory to family management, and thus the entire factory fortune was concentrated in the hands of Nikolai Nikolaevich, who was destined to become the head of the family business.
During the period 1850-1860s. Through the efforts of N.N. Konshin, a whole complex of enterprises was created in Serpukhov - a paper spinning and dyeing plant, as well as a weaving factory "New Manor", built on the outskirts of the city, which fully covered the entire production process - from processing yarn to manufacturing finished fabrics. All enterprises were equipped with modern foreign machines with the direct participation of the famous manufacturer Ludwig Knop, who would later play an important role in the development of Serpukhov production. Nikolai Nikolaevich himself constantly followed technical innovations and repeatedly traveled to England to get acquainted with them. Trade in fabrics from Konshin factories took place through the Trading House “Nikolai Konshin’s Sons” throughout the Russian Empire; this became possible after the appearance in Serpukhov railway, which connected the product sales areas. Over time, trade expanded beyond the borders of Russia; since 1876, the Konshins established contacts with Persia (Iran), and a company warehouse appeared in Tehran.
For active development foreign trade Nikolai Nikolaevich was awarded an honorary medal of the Society for promoting Russian industry and trade. In 1878, Serpukhov fabrics were exhibited at the famous Paris World Industrial Exhibition, where they received high praise. The heyday of production was coming, which, as stated in one of the company’s advertising brochures, offered fabrics for every taste “from the finest cambrics, which successfully compete with foreign ones, to the most ordinary coarse fabrics for peasant consumption.”
In 1877, Nikolai Nikolaevich’s family business was incorporated into the N.N. Konshin Manufactory Partnership in Serpukhov. It should be noted that the creation of joint stock companies in the second half of the 19th century. was quite popular among the industrial elite; To develop production, additional funds were needed, and one of the ways to attract them was to issue shares. But the Konshin society had one feature compared to other enterprises of a similar form of ownership - the capital of the Partnership was created at the expense of the previous owner, and was not collected by issuing shares and selling them on the stock exchange. Thus, the circle of shareholders remained quite narrow; the company’s charter stated that the sale of shares should be carried out among shareholders, and only in case of their refusal should it go to “outsiders.” The Konshins retained 500 shares of the company and the leadership position of director, and transferred the remaining 100 shares to their partner, L. Knop, who was also the main supplier of cotton for the Konshin factories. Corporatization had a beneficial effect on production, especially since from 1877 in the period
Russian-Turkish war
In the 1880s The industrial crisis hit the Konshin factories hard and even led to the temporary resignation of the managing director. This, in turn, forced Nikolai Nikolaevich to transfer part of his own shares into the hands of the Knops, who now already owned 254 shares of the Partnership.
In the 1890s. There is stabilization and gradual growth in the production and sale of fabrics.
N.N. Konshin acquires another enterprise - a dyeing and finishing factory in Serpukhov, and for prompt delivery of products, the shareholders decide to build access roads from the factory warehouses to the Serpukhov station of the Moscow Kursk Railway. Constant growth in production required not only technical support , but also the workforce. In 1895, the working day at the Konshin factories was up to 18 hours, and wages averaged 15-16 rubles per month, which was barely enough to make ends meet. It’s not surprising why workers organized strikes demanding higher wages. wages
The growing enterprise again needed money, this time a new injection of capital came from a bond loan in the amount of 3 million rubles, which the Partnership received from the Moscow Merchant Bank in 1897. The owner of the bond, unlike the shareholder, did not have ownership rights to the enterprise, the bond how the security guaranteed him only a constant fixed interest, which, in turn, protected the Konshins and Knops from interference in the affairs of the company by outsiders. In 1900, the Konshins repeated the loan in the amount of 1.5 million rubles, pledging to repay it within 15 years.
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Thus, the company was preserved, and by 1917, the shareholders of the N.N. Konshin Manufacture Partnership were still representatives of the family - 20 people and the Knopov company - 6 shareholders. A new stage in the activities of the Partnership began with the arrival of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Vtorov (1866-1918) into it. The Vtorov family of merchants was originally from Siberia; they were engaged in the trade of textiles throughout Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century. N.A. Vtorov moves to Moscow with an inherited capital of 10 million rubles. His rapprochement with the Konshin family was facilitated by his marriage Sergei Nikolaevich
, son of N.N. Konshin, on Vtorov’s sister, Anna Alexandrovna. In 1907, Nikolai Alexandrovich joined the board of the Partnership and set a new task for the development of the company’s activities: “to expand its activities as widely as possible, to establish trade relations not only with individual localities of Russia, but also to try to conquer foreign markets.”
Of course, during the years of activity of N.N. Konshin and N.A. Vtorov, the Partnership of Manufactures reached the peak of its development. But in 1918 Nikolai Nikolaevich dies, and in May 1918, under unclear circumstances, Nikolai Alexandrovich is killed. His funeral took place with permission Soviet power, the workers carried a wreath with the inscription “To the Great Organizer of Industry.” Already in June of the same year, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the nationalization of industry, and all Konshin enterprises passed into the hands of the state, N.N. Konshin's heirs left Russia.
The entrepreneurial activities of the Konshin family, “industrialists among the nobility,” reflected processes characteristic of the industrial society of Russia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Being typical representatives of the Russian bourgeoisie, who went from townspeople to cotton manufacturers on an international scale, the Konshins left behind a good memory and wealth accumulated for Russia.
Natalya DOROZHKINA,
a history teacher,
laureate of the competition
"I'm going to history class"
Buryshkin P. Merchant Moscow. M., 2002.
Petrov Yu.A. Moscow bourgeoisie at the beginning of the 20th century: entrepreneurship and politics. M., 2002.
Lachaeva M.“Businessmen” in epigrams // Bygone.
1996. No. 1-2. Boborykin P.
Modern Moscow // Picturesque Russia. M., 1999.
Moscow merchant, art collector
Origin and education. commercial activity
S.I. Shchukin was born into the family of the famous Moscow manufacturer Ivan Vasilyevich Shchukin. His brothers were Dmitry, Ivan and Peter Shchukin, also merchants and collectors of fine art.
Unlike his brothers, Sergei Shchukin, who suffered from a stutter, lived in his parents' home until he was 18 years old, without receiving any education. In 1873, he underwent treatment for stuttering from Dr. Dengart in Germany (Burgsteinfurt), and, thanks to perseverance and willpower, he began to speak better. In the autumn of the same 1873, Sergei Shchukin entered the Commercial Academy in the city of Gera, in the German state of Thuringia. In 1878, his father Ivan established trading house
In 1894, Sergei Shchukin received the title of Commerce Advisor for “useful activities in the field of domestic trade and industry.” Among the merchants, he was respectfully called “Minister of Trade.” Turnover of the trading house “I.V. Shchukin with his sons" was huge. The Prokhorovs' Trekhgornaya manufactory and the two largest partnerships of calico-printing manufactories, Albert Hübner and Emil Tsindel, worked for him. The Shchukins' enterprise traded in chintz, linen, wool and silk fabrics, scarves, linen and clothing products. Under the control of the enterprise “I.V. Shchukin and Sons" had the assortment of most factories in Moscow and its suburbs; it was the leader among Russian buyers of cotton and woolen goods and covered Central Russia, Siberia, Caucasus, Urals, Central Asia, Persia.
In 1884, Sergei Shchukin married Lydia Grigorievna Koreneva (1863-1907), the daughter of an Ekaterinoslav landowner. Their family had three sons - Ivan, Sergei and Grigory - and a daughter, Ekaterina.
S.I. Shchukin as a collector
Among all his brothers who were fond of collecting paintings, Sergei Shchukin took up this last one, for a long time devoting himself exclusively commercial activities. But after purchasing the mansion of the Trubetskoy princes in Moscow in Bolshoi Znamensky Lane in 1882, S.I. Shchukin sold off the princely collections of weapons and paintings by Russian Itinerant artists. Then he acquired several landscapes by the Norwegian artist F. Thaulov, which marked the beginning of his future collection. Unlike most other Russian collectors of that time, S.I. Shchukin bought paintings based on his own taste preferences. Among his favorites were the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The first stage of the formation of the collection of S.I. Shchukin dates back to 1897-1906, when he began to acquire paintings by French impressionists, the second - from 1906-1914, when he became more interested in the works of post-impressionists. The Moscow merchant often visited Paris and Berlin, where he kept in a bank account the amount necessary to purchase works of art.
S.I. Shchukin made his first purchases of paintings in Paris, in the salon of the National Society of Fine Arts, then he acquired them at Parisian exhibitions, directly in the studio of artists, as well as through Parisian antiques dealers P. Durand-Ruel, A. Vollard, D. Kahnweiler. In less than 20 years, S.I. Shchukin acquired 266 (according to N.Yu. Semenova) paintings.
Among the impressionist artists, whose paintings formed the basis of the collection of S.I. Shchukin, was. His first painting, purchased by a collector in 1898, was “Rocks at Belle-Ile” (now kept in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts). It is noteworthy that this was the first painting by K. Monet to appear in Russia. By the mid-1900s. S.I. Shchukin acquired eleven paintings by the master, among which were “Lilacs in the Sun”, “Pierrot and Harlequin”. The last picture Shchukin’s Monet was “Lady in the Garden,” which he bought in 1912 from his brother Peter. Subsequently, his collection was replenished with paintings by James Whistler, Puvis de Chavannes, Paul Signac, and Henri Rousseau.
S.I. Shchukin purchased sixteen paintings for his personal collection. As the Russian magazine Apollo wrote about this part of Shchukin’s collection, in the dining room of Shchukin’s mansion Gauguin’s paintings hung in a dense display, i.e. were placed one against the other so closely that it was difficult to understand where one canvas ended and another began, so the impression of a fresco or iconostasis was created. 11 of them came from the collection of Gustav Faye. S.I. Shchukin was not immediately able to appreciate Gauguin’s talent, limiting himself to only one canvas. But then the collector acquired almost the entire Tahitian cycle of this artist.
One of Shchukin’s favorite artists was, with whom he developed a particularly close collaboration. It was Henri Matisse who was commissioned by the Moscow collector to execute the panels “Music” and “Dance”, as well as “Harmony in Red (Red Room)”, specially commissioned by Shchukin in 1908 for the dining room of his mansion. In the fall of 1911, Matisse made a visit to Moscow, during which the artist supervised the hanging of his paintings in the so-called “Pink Drawing Room” of the Shchukin mansion, which turned into a kind of Moscow Matisse Museum. In the spring of 1913, the collector bought “The Arab Coffee House,” the most significant of Matisse’s Moroccan works, and in the fall, “Portrait of Madame Matisse,” which became his last, 37th, painting by this artist.
Another favorite artist S.I. Shchukin was. He became acquainted with his works by visiting private homes, in particular the salon of the American writer Gertrude Stein. Shchukin could also observe Picasso’s canvases in the collections of her brothers Leo and Michael. Among the Picasso paintings acquired by the Moscow collector were the following: “Absinthe Lover,” “Old Jew with a Boy,” “Portrait of the Poet Sabartes” and other works from the “pink” and “blue” periods of the artist’s work. S.I. Shchukin acquired for his collection the cubist “Woman with a Fan”, as well as “Factory in the Village of Horta de Ebro”.
Opening of the Shchukin collection for public viewing
The Moscow collector had no intention of hiding the paintings he acquired from the general public. In 1908, in an article by Russian art critic P.P. Muratov’s “Shchukin Gallery - an essay on the history of modern painting” was the first to indicate the composition of the collection and make public the will of the owner to donate this collection in the future. Since 1909 S.I. Shchukin opened his mansion to anyone who would like to see his collection. But conservative-minded teachers were afraid to take their students to his house-museum, open to everyone, preferring traditional art. In the 1910s. Shchukin joined the “Jack of Diamonds” society, which included other artists, theater workers, writers and philanthropists.
In 1912, Shchukin became interested in creativity and in two years acquired 16 of his works, including “Portrait of an Unknown Man Reading a Newspaper.” In 1913, a catalog of paintings from the Moscow collector’s collection was published, which included 225 issues, and in 1914, Apollo magazine published an essay by J. Tugendhold “The French Collection of S. I. Shchukin” and photographs of many paintings.
When Shchukin’s collecting activities began in 1914, they stopped. On the one hand, he did not have the opportunity to buy Western paintings, on the other, he showed no interest in the art of contemporary Russian artists.
The further fate of S.I. Shchukin and his collections
In 1918, the Shchukin Gallery, located in Moscow, was nationalized by decree and in the spring of 1919 was opened for public viewing as the First Museum of New Western Painting. Shchukin’s daughter, E.S., was appointed guardian. Keller.
Shchukin himself emigrated from Russia in August 1918 and to next year settled in France. Despite attempts by a number of trade intermediaries associated with the art world to persuade Shchukin to continue collecting, he rejected all offers. In exile, he bought only two works by Raoul Dufy, and also ordered four works by Henri Le Fauconnier. Relationships with artists whose paintings he bought before emigrating, including Matisse and Picasso, S.I. Shchukin stopped completely.
In the late 20s, when some of the Russian emigrants began legal proceedings over the ownership of art objects remaining in Russia. According to Shchukin's heirs, in 1926 he drew up a new will (the first was written in 1907, immediately after the death of his wife), in favor of the family, thereby annulling his previous decision, according to which the collection after his death was to go to the Tretyakov Gallery. It was the question of the existence of this document (which was never published anywhere) that subsequently became a source of controversy between Shchukin’s heirs and Russia. Parisian friend of Shchukin P.A. Buryshkin in his book “Merchant Moscow” said that when a collector was asked in the early 1930s whether he was going to sue the Soviet government, he replied: “I collected not only and not so much for myself, but for my country and its people. Whatever is on our land, my collections must remain there.”
In 1929, the Shchukin collection was combined with the Morozov collection, which became the basis of the Second Museum of New Western Art, and moved to the former mansion of I. Morozov, which was named GMNZI (State Museum of New Western Art). It was disbanded in 1948, and the paintings were transferred to the State Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin.
