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Vera Lagutenkova: 'Russian School of Painting Is Very High-Profile'

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Vera Lagutenkova: 'Russian School of Painting Is Very High-Profile'

13.01.2016

The collision of tradition and modernity, the classical and the alternative has always been important for the creative community. Modern-day educational transformations have now come to Russia’s best art school. We met with Vera Lagutenkova, Vice Rector for Research at the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute, to discuss the school's prospects and young talent.


The Surikov Institute is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Russia; its education system is often called very traditional. Is it becoming more accepting toward modern art?


Our graduates do receive a state-recognized degree. Our education is very reputable. However, our Institute is hardly advocating for exclusively traditional and historically-oriented art. As soon as you complete professional education, you are free to experiment with alternative styles and movements. Besides, such conceptual artists and Sots Art figures as Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov and Oleg Vasilyev studied here. Last year, when Manege hosted an Erik Bulatov exhibition, our students were very interested; they attended it and asked many questions.

Modern art doesn’t have to be experimental. For the last two years, I’ve been teaching a course on latest art movements. We approach art using the synchronic and diachronic method, with realistic, traditional and experimental art forms coexisting in the same frame of reference. We analyze what happened in Russia and abroad at certain points in time. Because art transforms just as dynamically as language does. Third-year students can use the modern art palette in Aidan Salakhova’s studio. All five-year students take a course on latest art movements as part of the theoretical program.

There must be many foreign applicants willing to enter the Surikov Institute. Do you have any statistics?

As of today, we have about 15‒17 percent of foreign students who will continue their education as postgraduates. Most of them come from China, but we also have students from Kazakhstan, Uruguay, Armenia, Syria and other countries.

There was a time when Russian painters went abroad to study—to Italy or France, for example. Their technical skill was the main measure of their prowess. The situation changed gradually, and the Russian school of painting and graphic arts started to garner acclaim. What is the status of the Russian school today?

European art is still acclaimed for its traditions, of course; today, it is largely contemporary and partially commercial design-oriented. But the Russian school is very high-profile. I’ve already mentioned how popular our school is with Chinese students, especially thanks to education grants distributed by the Chinese government.

Why Chinese students in particular?

To them our school is a brilliant career opportunity. Immediately after finishing our school they can open schools of their own—this is how highly valued our education certificates are in China. By the way, in the spring of 2015 we signed an agreement on exchange programs with the Harbin University and the Heihe University. Our professors will go to China to teach fundamentals our school is known for. We are also developing programs for further Russian-Chinese cooperation, including an advanced training program.

Entering the Surikov Institute used to be treated like a ‘jackpot.’ Is it different now? What is the employment situation? Do your graduates succeed in life?

The competition is not as tough as it was ten years ago, partly due to the population decline in the 1990s. There are other factors, of course. For instance, most of our students are female. Men think one cannot make a living as a painter. If you’re a painter and not a designer, your profession seems rather non-specific these days, even though our graduates are multiskilled. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, we no longer have government contracts that used to be distributed by the Union of Artists and the Combine.

How does the government help young artists today?

There is, of course, a youth exhibition system, along with the Culture Ministry’s scholarships and grants. Our best graduates teach here and in middle schools. But that’s not nearly enough! It would be nice if our government wanted us: after all, it should be responsible for the well-being of Russia’s cultural elite.

At the age of five, we start learning to draw, then we study at academically demanding schools, colleges and universities, and eventually become postgraduates. What’s next? Artists create not for themselves but for the public; their talent should be well-known. When artists take up other jobs to survive, they become authors instead of service providers.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what to do. You can teach, but not everyone has a gift for it. A lecturer should be charismatic, and one’s charisma cannot be replaced with paint and brushes… And those who do nothing but paint have trouble finding customers. If you actively search for potential buyers, you won’t have time for painting. A student of mine told me recently, “I have a new order! For a gravestone!” Well, orders are a good thing, but if you paint nothing but gravestones, it will take a toll on you. It’s the same with interior painting. There are two qualifiers: beautiful and pretty. And it’s terrible when the boundaries between the two start to blur. Art patrons of the past (Morozov, Mamontov, Shchukin, the Tretyakovs) were very sophisticated people who purchased works by Matisse and supported Repin, Serov, Vrubel and many other painters who went on to become famous later. That culture of art patronage is basically lost now and it would be great to revive it.

Most of Western art schools teach modern students not only how to paint, but also how to self-promote. Do you do anything similar?

Our school is unique because our lectures are attended by both theorists and practitioners. We have a course on art curating that they all attend. We often send our students to various exhibitions organized by the Russian Union of Artists and the Moscow Union of Artists. In order to understand your position in the professional community, you should find your ‘flock’ by communicating with your colleagues and masters constantly. You should practice all the time. And every painter should have a studio. We help our students with that, too.

What projects is the Surikov Institute currently working on?

Speaking about recent events, our architect students Sofia Markova and Ilya Druzhinin and sculptor Alexander Markin took the second place at the contest for the best design of the Lubyanka Square fountain. On 27 November 2015, a charity event called ‘Angel Wings’ was held by the Union of Multi-Child Families led by Natalia Karpovich. Our students joined 350 children in drawing angels at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was followed by an auction, with funds raised for disabled children from multi-child families. In early December 2015, our project won a prize at an architectural contest organized by the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation in Florence.

In August 2015 our painters and sculptors took part in the Youth Forum in Crimea. Every stage of that wonderful event involved some 500 participants aged 18 to 30, including musicians, poets, actors, designers, architects and so on. That multi-disciplinary creative forum gave our students a unique opportunity to speak their minds, exchange ideas and contacts. The forum united many people who will stay in touch for years from now.

In May 2016, another event will take place at St. Basil’s Cathedral, with artists painting the cathedral inside or outside.

In June-July 2016, we will implement a joint project with the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery. The monastery will celebrate its 700th anniversary, and we want to take part in that.

April will see another All-Russian Youth Exhibition. It’s a very important event for us and our students, because it’s about the community every artist needs.

You often travel across Russia. What exhibitions have you enjoyed the most?

Indeed, we often travel with our Rector Anatoly Lyubavin and Andrei Kovalchuk, chairman of the Russian Union of Artists. I was especially impressed with the Fourth Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg at the opening of a new exhibition hall at the Manege. It was attended by all leading art experts—Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, State Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky, Russian Museum director Vladimir Gusev, National Center for Contemporary Arts director general Vladimir Mindlin, Pushkin Museum director Marina Loshak, Olga Sviblova and many others. The St. Petersburg Manege has always been the cornerstone of Leningrad nonconformist movement, and now it represents Russian conceptualists and members of other modern art movements.

My personal discovery was the Petersburg Artist exhibition center. There is a Leningrad school of painting and a Moscow one. Usually, they say St. Petersburg is known for graphic arts, while Moscow is famous for color compositions, brightness, bold strokes, pastose painting. We have some ideas for cooperation.

You mean the two schools no longer compete with each other?

I think everyone believes their alma mater is the best. But at your own school, you are just learning. And when you exchange ideas, your works look much more representative in contrast to what people from other cities and other schools do. As soon as we have an exhibition environment, we can compare ourselves with others, looking at works we don’t see every day. It’s always a revelation!

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