The artistic association: Episode from the history of artistic enlightenment of Old Petersburg

Abstract

This article for the first time outlines a detailed history of the Artistic Association, which arose in the spring of 1912 on the initiative of students of art schools in St. Petersburg. The founders of the Association set the goal of “uniting young artists of all branches of the arts on the basis of serving true art and mutual assistance”. The public disputes that arose over the twoyear history of its existence are discussed as they reflected acute problems of the newest artistic culture in which representatives of different trends took part. Particular attention is paid to the only exhibition organized by the association, in which 141 artists participated and some future celebrities received their artistic debuts. The association ceased its activities at the end of 1913 or at the beginning of 1914, leaving its mark not so much in the “great” history of Russian art as in the aesthetic consciousness of its young participants, before each of which new horizons opened. It is that the disputations organized by the association and the exhibition held by it contributed to the development of new views on contemporary art, promoted the dissemination and popularization of the ideas of the emerging artistic avantgarde. The research is based on the analysis of the newspaper and journal chronicles of the years examined.