Ostroukhov Ilya Semenovich

Ilya Semyonovich Ostroukhov is known not only as a landscape painter and a member of the Travellers' Society, but also as a major collector, who held a long-standing senior position in the Tretyakov Gallery. His contribution to the development of Russian art was not limited to paintings, but his creative path certainly contributed to the formation of taste and position in artistic society, which as a result allowed Ilya Semyonovich to multiply his achievements in this branch. И. S. Ostroukhov was born in 1858 in Moscow, in a poor merchant family of Semyon Vasilievich and Vera Ivanovna Ostroukhov. The boy showed interest in drawing in early childhood and his uncle, a graduate of the Academy of Arts, Sergei Vasilyevich Ostroukhov, drew attention to his nephew's talent when he was only eight years old. However, the future artist began to take seriously this hobby only in adulthood, initially devoting himself to natural history. Since 1870, Ostroukhov studied at the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences and it was there that he became interested in zoology. It was then that his passion for collecting first manifested itself - the entomological collection he collected in the 70s was presented to the Moscow University. Surprisingly, natural history indirectly led Ilya Ostroukhov to painting, as in 1974 he met the publisher Anatoly Ivanovich Mamontov, to whom he brought his zoological sketches, and through the publisher got into the art society. Having befriended the Mamontov family, known for their passion for art, in 1880 Ostroukhov first visited a travelling exhibition in the company of Anatoly Ivanovich, under the impression of which he asked Alexander Alexandrovich Kiselev, who gave painting lessons to Mamontov's children, to teach him to paint as well. Ostroukhov especially liked the landscapes of Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, which he repeatedly copied during his studies. Later Ilya Semyonovich met not only Polenov, but also Surikov and Repin, the latter of whom also gave Ostroukhov some lessons and advised him to enter the Academy of Arts. Around Savva Mamontov, the younger brother of Anatoly Ivanovich, by that time had already formed a circle of artists, which in 1882 joined and Ilya Ostroukhov. Together with V.A. Serov, V.M. Vasnetsov and other artists of the circle, he was engaged in a popular occupation in Mamontov's society at that time, namely the design of theatre productions. In the same year 1882, Ostroukhov's attempt to enter the Academy failed and he began his studies at the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, while privately attending the workshop of P. P. Chistyakov and the lessons of I. Repin. Constant striving for training and development, many summers spent at Mamontov's estate and a circle of acquaintances, despite the difficult financial situation and rejection of the Academy, allowed Ostroukhov to continue collecting and begin to participate in exhibitions. In 1884, the artist made his debut at the Society for the Encouragement of Arts exhibition, and in 1885, according to the painter's own recollections, P. M. Tretyakov authorised Ostroukhov to inform him if he saw something of potential interest to the museum. It is known that Tretyakov believed that Ilya Semyonovich knew painting better than anyone else, so the latter had great influence on Tretyakov's acquisitions and even had the right to make purchases on behalf of Pavel Mikhailovich on condition of his absence. Ostroukhov participated in travelling exhibitions from 1886 and was also valued by Tretyakov as a landscape painter. In 1891 Ilya Memenovich became a member of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions. In 1906 I. S. Ostroukhov was elected a full member of the Academy of Arts and stopped exhibition activity for a long time, although of course he did not give up painting. Only in 1918, after many years of break, he took part in the exhibition of the Union of Russian artists with several landscapes. Up to that moment, Ostroukhov continued his collecting activities, but the October Revolution dramatically changed the whole way of life in Russia. In the same year, his personal collection, located in his house in Trubnikovsky Lane, became state property, becoming a branch of the Tretyakov Gallery under the name ‘I. S. Ostroukhov Museum of Iconography and Painting’. S. Ostroukhov Museum of Iconography and Painting, which opened in 1920.