We invite you to take a look at the classrooms of the St. Petersburg Elizaveta Zvantseva school, whose students shaped the image of early Russian modernism. At the exhibition, the works of renowned teachers of this studio — Lev Bakst, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin — will be presented in dialogue with the works of their students: from the famous Marc Chagall and Mikhail Matyushin to those who are almost forgotten today.
Zvantseva’s school has developed an innovative teaching system in the spirit of French academies: a free atmosphere of co-creation instead of the usual drill, an experiment «against routine»
Under Bakst, students of Zvantseva’s school, the Zvantsevites, were looking for an exquisite line and expressive rich color. Inspired by Dobuzhinsky’s works, they mastered the techniques of drawing from nature and learned how to convey the psychology of urban space. Under the guidance of Petrov-Vodkin, they studied composition, the plastic possibilities of paints and went to a new monumentality.
