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Design Education and the Quest for National Identity in Late Imperial Russia: the Ac Se of the Stroganov School Wendy Salmond Chapman University, [email protected]

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Design Education and the Quest for National Identity in Late Imperial Russia: the Ac Se of the Stroganov School Wendy Salmond Chapman University, Salmond@Chapman.Edu Chapman University Chapman University Digital Commons Art Faculty Articles and Research Art 1994 Design Education and the Quest for National Identity in Late Imperial Russia: The aC se of the Stroganov School Wendy Salmond Chapman University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/art_articles Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the Slavic Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Salmond, Wendy. "Design Education and the Quest for National Identity in Late Imperial Russia: The asC e of the Stroganov School," Studies in the Decorative Arts, 1.2 (1994): pp. 2-24. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art at Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art Faculty Articles and Research by an authorized administrator of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Design Education and the Quest for National Identity in Late Imperial Russia: The aC se of the Stroganov School Comments This article was originally published in Studies in the Decorative Arts, volume 1, issue 2, in 1994. Copyright University of Chicago Press This article is available at Chapman University Digital Commons: http://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/art_articles/8 WENDY R. SALMOND DesignEducation and theQuest forNational Identityin Late ImperialRussia: The Case of theStroganov School Of thethree major industrial art schools operating in Russiaon theeve of the 1917Revolution, the Imperial Central Stroganov School of Technical Design in Moscow was the oldest,the mostinnovative, and the most controversial.1The StroganovSchool was the first art institution in Russia to confrontthe dauntingproblems of moldingconsumer taste and of improvingmanufactured goods aestheticallyby providingthe Empire's factories,workshops, and schoolswith well-trained industrial artists. For over halfa century,it blazed a trailfor other industrial art schoolsto follow,as its museumfacilities, curriculum, publications, exhibitions, workshops,and factoryinternships all demonstrateda thoughtfuland imaginativeadaptation of modernWestern ideas to local conditions. Above all, the Stroganovwas knownfor championing a distinctively Russianstyle in manufacturedobjects, its mission being to wean Russian consumersfrom what was consideredtheir inordinate love of foreign productswhile at the same timeopening up new marketsfor Russian goodsabroad. None of thesegoals was at all uniqueto Russia,of course. That the nationaleconomy of any industrializingnation could benefitfrom the injectionof aestheticsand the marksof nationaldistinctiveness into variousmanufacturing sectors was an acceptedfact by the mid-nineteenth century,and theproliferation ofindustrial art schools throughout Europe, England,and Americaacknowledged the role that art educationwas believedcapable of playingin economiclife. What made the Stroganov School'smission so unusual,and so problematic,was thematrix of social, cultural,and economicfactors in whichit operated.Allocated a central part in the creationof a new Russian producerand consumer,the Stroganovcame face to facewith long-standing issues of Russian identity that it was powerlessto resolve. In its effortsto forgea stylistic compromisebetween Russian and European culture (the so-called Stroga- nov stylewas essentiallya Russianvariant of ArtNouveau), the school involuntarilyexacerbated the tensionsthat arose when a traditional agrarianculture confronted the demands of modern industrial society. Wendy R. Salmond is Assistant Professorof Art History at Chapman University,Orange, California. 2 Studiesin the Decorative Arts /Spring 1994 This content downloaded from 206.211.139.204 on Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:06:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TheStroganov School 3 ThePrehistory of the School (18254859) Althoughit was not until 1860 that the StroganovSchool was officiallyestablished, historians of the school have thought it importantto begintheir narrative in 1825.2In thatyear Count SergeiStroganov, a prominentfigure in Moscowartistic, literary, and archaeologicalcircles, foundeda "DrawingSchool Relatedto theArts and Crafts"in Moscow.3 On a visit to Paris in 1822 the count had been "astonishedby the perfectionthat the Parisianworkers bring to all the goods producedin theirworkshops/' and he attributedit to uthelarge number of educational institutionsthat serve all levelsof society."4He particularlynoted the emphasisplaced on drawing."Only withits aid," he wrote,"will [the worker]be able to attainthat purity of formand confidentexecution withoutwhich the arts and craftsare now nothing."5 Returning home, he receivedpermission from Czar Alexander I to founda drawingschool that would"teach elementary rules of practicalGeometry, Architecture, and variouskinds of drawingrelated to the Mechanicalarts to artisans, apprentices,boys, and childrenof poor parents (both freemen and serfs), therebyproviding them with the means to plytheir principal trades with greaterconvenience and skill,and withoutresorting to outsidehelp."6 An importantpractical motive for the count'sgenerosity was his desireto counteractthe strong preference that Russian consumers showed forforeign products, and theirdisdain for anything home-grown. "We decorateour rooms with French goods, and all themechanical goods we use areEnglish," he pointedout. "Luxury makes us a slaveto theFrench, and a whimsicalpassion for improvements subjugates us to theEnglish."7 Thoughhis schoolmight be obligedat firstto borrow"models of refined tasteand correctness"from more civilized nations, he cautiouslyhoped thatRussia might in timedevelop those national qualities that made the productsof France and England so admirable. Beforethat could happen,however, the wretchedstatus of the industrialand applied arts in Russiahad firstto be addressed.A systematic demotionof the industrial arts had begunearlier in thecentury when the Academyof Fine Arts dropped the teaching of crafts (masterstva) from its curriculum,thereby establishing the hegemonyof the "freearts" of paintingand sculpture(introduced from abroad by Peter the Great in the early1700s) over traditional Russian crafts such as enamel,filigree, gold- and silverwork,and woodcarving.8 The lowlystatus thus conferred on a careerin theuseful arts was further compounded by the primitive state of Russianmanufacturing and the undiscriminatingtastes of the Russian public.On graduatingfrom the count's school, many pupils gladly chose a poorlypaid but sociallyrespectable position as a drawingteacher in a This content downloaded from 206.211.139.204 on Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:06:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4 Studiesin the Decorative Arts /Spring 1994 remoteprovincial town, rather than take up the lifeof a factorydraftsman, which was lucrativebut viewed as uncouth and demeaning: A manufacturerwhose main purpose is to satisfythe tastes of the public has veryspecific demands in mindas regardspatterns, and a youngman who has graduatedfrom a specializededucational institution must put asidethose creative aspirations that his teachers inspired in him The specializedartist is set to workcopying ready-made designs adapted to publictaste, and onlyafter going through this training and adjustingto newconditions can he relyon a moreor less stableincome. Moreover, his personalaspirations and individualgifts are not freeto developand with everyyear become increasinglystifled. The artistdisappears, leavingonly the practicaldraftsman who not onlyfails to shape the tastesof the public, but actually spoils the little that society has gained fromart.9 The Russian factoryin the pre-Reformera was no place for those with artisticaspirations, and the complete lack of practicaltraining received in the count's school virtuallyguaranteed that factoryartists would fail in their loftygoals. When the school was transferredto the Ministryof Finance's jurisdictionin 1843, the curriculumwas weightedstill further towardtraining drawing and calligraphyteachers for the Empire'sgrowing education system. It is not surprising,therefore, that the count's institutiondid more to define the massive problemsfacing industrial art education in Russia than to solve them. The Directorshipof Victor Butovsky (18604881) The firstof several metamorphosesin the historyof the Stroganov School took place in 1859, when the Ministryof Finance mergedit witha drawing school founded in 1836 by the Moscow Court Architectural Institute.The followingyear Victor Butovskywas appointed as the new school's director.A career bureaucrat in the Department of Trade and Industry,Butovsky had no formaltraining in the arts,but he did possess a keen appreciationof the measures needed to jolt Russian manufacturing out of its humiliatingrut. AfterEngland's successes at the international exhibitionsof the previousdecade, no European nation could ignorethe benefits of a state-sponsored industrial art education, and Russia's reputationfor slavishlyimitating the goods of other countrieswas now recognized as a significantdeterrent to industrial growth. Butovsky's solutionwas to promoteindustrial art education as "one of the best means of ensuringthe prosperityof the country,as well as strengtheningnational ideas." Under his direction,the Stroganov School was to lead a national campaign to give Russian manufacturing"that distinctivecharacter in This content downloaded from 206.211.139.204 on Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:06:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TheStroganov School
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