Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 471 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Architecture: Heritage, Traditions and Innovations (AHTI 2020) Moisei Ginzburg's Studies in Milan (1910 – 1914) and Italian Architecture of the Early XX c Anna Vyazemtseva1,* 1Scientific Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning, Branch of the Central Institute for Research and Design of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Moisei Yakovlevich Ginzburg (1892 - 1946) - an outstanding architect of the XX century and one of the key figures of constructivism used to pass the first years of his studies in Europe and most of all – around 4 years - in Italy, in Milan, at the Brera Academy and, as it turned out, in Milan Polytechnic. The paper proposes to describe, on the basis of archival data, the conditions that formed Ginzburg’s creative personality, the features of the architectural education system, the methods of teachers, the main trends in the architecture and urban planning of Italy of those years, in relation to the further work of the architect and his theoretical legacy, pointing out some possible influences and interactions. Keywords: Moisei Ginzburg, constructivism, architectural education, modern movement, Italy, Milan mostly on Ginzburg’s private archive (now at the I. INTRODUCTION Schusev Museum of Architecture, Moscow), Ginzburg Little is known about the years of studies Moisei first had a short stay in Paris, where he studied Ginzburg (1892 – 1946), one of the leaders of Russian architecture at the École nationale supérieure des and Soviet constructivism and an undeniable beaux-arts, and then in Toulouse, at the École des protagonist of the international ‘modern movement’, beaux-arts et des sciences industrielles [2]. Then, for that passed abroad, mostly in Italy. undetermined reasons, Ginzburg preferred Milan, where, among academical studies, he ‘attended art All we have is a short mention in his history seminars and travelled extensively in Italy, autobiographical note for the GAHN (State Academy of studying and drawing monuments of Italian Artistic Sciences), written in 1923 [1], a rather brief architecture’[1]. paragraph in the monograph by S.O. Khan-Magomedov [2], the only published biography of the architect and This episode of architect’s biography is rather partially published Ph.D. thesis by Luka Skansi [3]. uncommon not only because it shows the interest of the However, the five years that Moisei Ginzburg lived in future protagonist of Avant Guard architecture in Milan seem to have left an important, if not crucial, Italian, mostly classical, heritage, but also because it impact on his professional formation. reveals his solid academic formation. The choice to study abroad was not usual for II. GHINSBURG'S REASON FOR STUDYING Russian architects of that time. We know for example ARCHITECTURE IN MILAN that his senior contemporaries, Ivan Zholtovsky (1867- 1959), Ivan Fomin (1872-1936), Alexej Schusev (1873 We know from Ginzburg’s autobiography that he – 1949), Vladimir Schukò (1878-1939), travelled to left Minsk, were he was born in 1892, after graduating Italy as fellows of Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, after from the Commercial school in 1909, and lived ‘in the they had finished their studies. The protagonists of south of France and mostly in Italy’ where he ‘complete Russian architectural Avant-Guard – the Golosov his studies at the architectural department of the brothers, Ilya (1883 – 1945) and Pantelejmon (1882- Academy of Fine Arts’ till 1914 [1]. 1945), as well as Konstantin Melnikov (1890 – 1974), According to Khan-Magomedov’s book, based never travelled to the Apennine Peninsula, and one of Vesnin brothers – Viktor (1882-1950), had seen the Bel *Fund: This paper was funded by the Program of Fundamental Paese only in 1935. Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky (1880- Researches of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of 1966) studied in Vienna only for one year in 1906, the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Architecture and when the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Construction Sciences 2020, the Research Project 1.2.10. Architecture – MUZhVZ was closed because of Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 69 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 471 students’ political manifestations [4]. Of course, the as Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) who in 1906, in a choice to pursue higher professional education abroad letter to his family, wrote: ‘I am in a really amazing was supported by the very good financial condition of place. It is something terrible, strange and fascinating’ the Ginzburg’s family. His father Yakov Ginzburg was [9]. In 1910, Boccioni joined the futurist movement, a successful architect active in Minsk in the beginning proclaimed a year earlier by Filippo Tommaso of XX c. (according to Ginzburg’s heirs’ testimony), at Marinetti (1876-1944), and signed together with other the time of Russia’s industrial growth, the start of its artists (among them Carlo Carrà, Gino Severini, capitalist development and increasing middle class Giacomo Balla, Luigi Russolo) ‘The Manifesto of wealth. The idea to direct the son to architectural and futurist painting’. Boccioni was so impressed by the construction studies at Europe’s famous architectural rapid growth of the city that he created a series of schools, seems logical. works with Milan construction sites, such as ‘Houses at Porta Romana’ (1909-1910, Banca Intesa San Paolo, Yakov Ginzburg probably also had another reason Gallerie d’Italia di Piazza Scala, Milan) ("Fig. 1") or a to provide his son with a European education rather huge canvas ‘The City rises’ (MoMA, New York, than having him attend the Imperial Academy of Fine 1910-1911), experimenting with effects of light, local Arts or the Imperial Polythecnic Institute in St. colours and transmission of movement. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. The ’Pale of Settlement’ [5] – a law that was in act in Russia from 1791 till 1917 – forbad citizens of Jewish religion free movement and settlement on the territories of the Empire. The interdiction did not concern Jewish people baptised as Russian Orthodox, and some categories were exempt, including those with a degree from higher education. Moisei Ginzburg’s diploma from the Commercial school of Minsk testifies his religious confession as “Jewish”. Therefore, French and Italian institutes perhaps were the only possibility for him to obtain a professional degree. It is indicative that vast majority of other Russian students at the Milan Fig. 1. Umberto Boccioni, Houses at Porta Romana, 1909-10, Polytechnic, who studied there during the same period, Gallerie d’Italia di Piazza Scala, Milan. came from the regions of the ‘pale of settlement” along the western and southern borders of the Empire (cities and towns of contemporary Byelorussia and Ukraine) III. PROGRAMS AND TEACHERS [6, 7]. It was perhaps not a coincidence that one of the As to Ginzburg himself, Khan-Magomedov’s very few other Soviet architects with an Italian degree biography, based on the private archive of the architect was Boris Iofan (1891-1976), the famous winner of the and his family memories, has mentioning of the ‘Milan Palace of Soviet competition in 1932 and the Academy’ [1],[2] as a main place of Ginzburg’s studies, protagonist of the propaganda program of the where he studied in the group of Gaetano Moretti, while ‘assimilation of the past’ (“osvojenije nasledija”). He ‘trying to fill the gaps in his education [he] […] too, was born in a family of Jews religion, in Odessa. attended classes in the local polytechnicum’ [2]. The He studied and then worked in Rome from 1914, and register of students from the Historical archives of the came back to Russia only in 1924, after the Revolution Brera Academy show, however, that Ginzburg followed [8]. the Academy as a student at the Politecnico, enrolled in Architettura civile (Civil Architecture), and that he only We can only hypothesise about why Ginzburg left followed a few courses [10]. Paris, a city that at the time was the world centre of arts and architecture, for less important cities as Toulouse From 1865 to 1915, the discipline ‘Architecture’ of and Milan. Although not as important as Paris, Milan, the graduate program of Civil Architecture at the in early 1900, saw a period of rapid development. Politecnico was held jointly with the Academy of Fine Following the Unification of Italy in 1861, the city had Arts of Brera, and classes were taught at Brera [11]. entered the era of industrial development, something Ginzburg began to study in Brera in 1910 as a student that was reflected in its urban and social character. It is of Civil Architecture at the Politecnico with the group not a coincidence case that the building intended to of 2nd year of the preparatory course and followed the celebrate the birth of the new country was the Trade courses of ornato e figura (ornament and figure) and Gallery, realised by Giuseppe Mengoni (1865 – 1867) architettura (architecture). in the central Piazza Duomo, next to the medieval The Archive of the Brera Academy, studied for the Milan Cathedral with its neogothic façade. In the 1900s, first time by Luka Skansi [3], has rather poor Milan seemed an enormous construction site. Perhaps information on Ginzburg’s activities. However, an 18-years old Moisei Ginzburg had the same impression 70 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 471 unexplored personal folder of Ginzburg’s from the the opening of the Simplon tunnel, which connected Politecnico Archive – Moisé Ghinsburg, matricola Milan to Central Europe.