Exhibition "Enchanted by the Classics. Etchings by Ivan Fomin"

State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchuseva opens a new exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the neoclassical architect Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin. At the exhibition, visitors can get acquainted with etching boards made by the master’s hand, author’s prints and later prints of his architectural etchings of the 1960s.

The Museum of Architecture presents the outstanding architect as a master of etching for the first time. This artistic aspect of his work, known mainly to a narrow circle of specialists, helps to better understand the original handwriting and palette of the architect. Ivan Alexandrovich Fomin, fascinated by the classics from his student years, plunged into the laborious and delicate art of etching in the workshop of the famous engraver and professor Vasily Mate. In the thesis work "Kursaal at Mineral Waters" (1909), made at the Academy of Arts, the hand-made graphic presentation of the project was accompanied by a series of illustrations-etchings. In these etchings, Fomin showed himself as a talented graphic artist, who masterfully mastered the stroke and technique of aquatint. He skillfully combined unexpected angles of architectural forms with poetic genre scenes. For this work, Ivan Alexandrovich received the title of artist-architect and was awarded a pensioner’s trip abroad. The report on this trip was numerous drawings and prints, the best of which are distinguished by the sharpness of the compositional construction and detailed detailing. This gives the well-known architectural monuments of Italy and Greece a special monumentality and internal dynamics.

In etchings, Fomin also develops individual techniques, angles, details that later appear on his drawings: for example, various masks are an indispensable attribute of neoclassical architecture. The architect translates into etching and design drawings, in which he simultaneously “plays”, as on a theater stage, scenes of life in still non-existent interiors. The works of Ivan Fomin, made for the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, are interesting: this is a competition project of the Museum of 1812 and monuments to Russian soldiers - obelisks in Vitebsk and Borisov.

The process of making etching boards and prints is quite complex and time-consuming. Fomin could print one etching in different colors (black-white-gray or brownish sepia shades) or in two colors. Work in printed graphics was for him an internal need, a culture of self-expression that has formed over the years, and finally, the pleasure of comprehending such a difficult process and its expressive results. Many of Fomin’s etchings have his engraved initials - "I. F. ”, and on the best prints he put his hand-made signature and date. This makes them extremely valuable.

Ivan Fomin’s serious passion for printed graphics is also evidenced by the fact that he himself designed a machine for printing etchings and photogravures. Here, the architect opens before us as a universal creator, who is equally subject to the elements of inspired creativity and strict technical thought.

Curator: Elena Zheludkova.

Ivan Fomin (1872-1936) - Russian and Soviet neoclassical architect, teacher, historian of Russian architecture. He studied at the Academy of Arts under L. N. Benois and in the workshop of easel engraving under V. V. Mate. In the neoclassical style, he designed museums, banks, mansions in St. Petersburg, the development of Golodai Island, and the Laspi resort in the Crimea. In 1915 he received the title of academician of architecture. He taught at the Petrograd State Free Art and Educational Workshops and the Polytechnic Institute, created his own architectural school. The author of the new formative style of "red dorica" and the theoretical concept of "proletarian classics". According to his projects, a residential building of the Dynamo society, a new building of the Moscow City Council, the building of the People’s Commissariat of Railways (NKPS) and the Krasnye Vorota metro station were built in Moscow.