Moscow, I. Knebel edition, 1909-1917. Publisher's half-leather bindings with triple gold trim and gold embossing on spines and covers. With numerous illustrations in the text and on separate sheets. 4th volume in a modern soft cover, stylized as a publisher's.

Content:

Volume I. History of architecture. pre-Petrine era. , 513 p., 4 sheets. ill.
Volume II. History of architecture. Pre-Petrine era (Moscow and Ukraine). 480 p., 4 sheets. ill.
Volume III. History of architecture. Petersburg architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries. 584 p., 5 sheets. ill.
Volume IV. History of architecture. Moscow architecture in the era of baroque and classicism. Russian architecture after classicism (only 1 issue was out of print).104 p., ill., 1 sheet. ill.Rarity!
Volume V. Wrangel N.N. History of sculpture. 416 p., 4 sheets. ill.
Volume VI. History of painting. pre-Petrine era. 536 p., 4 sheets. ill.

Academician I.E. Grabar was the initiator and editor of the multi-volume work "History of Russian Art", the author of a number of its most important sections. The most valuable artistic and archival material collected in this work made it possible to widely show the richness and grandeur of Russian art. The most famous and outstanding figures of Russia took part in the processing and publication of numerous parts: Russian artists A. Benois, I.Ya. Bilibin, A.M. Vasnetsov, Baron Fon N.N. Wrangel, architects F.F. Gornostaev, S.P. Diaghilev, academicians of arts N.P. Kondakov, S.K. Makovsky, prof. G.G. Pavlutsky, architect. V.A. Pokrovsky, N.K. Roerich, Pr.-Assoc. N.I. Romanov, prof. M.I. Rostovtsev, Pr.-Assoc. A.A. Spitsyn, Rev. ON THE. Skvortsov, prof. archit. V.V. Suslov, V.K. Trutovsky, prof. A.I. Uspensky, prof. B.V. Farmakovsky, architect. I.A. Fomin, architect. A.V. Shchusev and others. It is no coincidence that it was I.E. Grabar became the creator of the complex multi-volume History of Russian Art. For the first time, the idea of ​​publishing The History of Russian Art came to Grabar in 1902, when the publisher of the Niva magazine A.F. Marx asked him to revise and supplement the History of Art by P.P. Gnedich. Refusing to "recycle" Gnedich, Grabar offered to publish the "History of Russian Art" and, having received consent, for many years delved into the study of the archives of the Academy of Arts, the Academy of Sciences, the Senate, the Synod, the Ministry of the Court, etc. The first version of the "History of Russian Art" program was ready in January 1907. The entire edition was to consist of 12 volumes (3000 illustrations); the architecture was supposed to be separated into special volumes. In 1909-16, 5 volumes were published, and Grabar was not only the editor, but also the author of the most important sections. The most valuable artistic and archival material collected in this work made it possible to widely show the richness and grandeur of Russian art. Until now, this study remains the most complete and thorough work on Russian painting, architecture and sculpture.

Let us consider in more detail, for example, the 6th volume: Igor Grabar. History of Russian art. Volume 6 "Painting. Pre-Petrine era". The book contains a large number of black and white illustrations and several color ones. The theme of the proposed sixth volume is pre-Petrine painting, the beginning of Russian artistic history. Monuments of ancient Russian painting can be divided into two main types: wall paintings and icons on wood.

Important, but auxiliary monuments are manuscript miniatures and church embroidery. I. Grabar notes that a serious study of mural monuments is still ahead: ancient Russian frescoes are few, poorly preserved, and a significant part of them have been distorted by unsuccessful restorations. He does not even realize that in a few years most of the church paintings will be barbarously destroyed by the Soviet authorities. The main part of the volume is devoted to icon painting. In Russian chronicles there are oppositions of the terms "icon painting" and "painting", but these oppositions, corresponding to the literal meaning of the words, do not go further than the opposition of idealistic art to art based on reality. Therefore, icon painting should certainly be considered as a kind of art of painting. After all, we do not distinguish between "icon painting" and "painting", for example, by Raphael. The term "icon painting" retains only a certain technical meaning, as well as "fresco" and "miniature". The peculiarity of icon-painting art is that the activity of the artist is largely limited by church tradition. Limitation to a certain, albeit a very large selection of topics, forced the Russian artist to focus all his talent on the stylistic essence of painting. In terms of style, Russian painting occupies one of the first places among other arts.

The icon painter invested the entire volume of his soul in the formal interpretation of the theme, being able to be deeply individual in his composition, in his color, in his line, but he never dared to enhance the effect of holy images by adding his own feelings to them. “The Russian artist made little claim to depicting internal movements, and just as little was attracted by his depiction of external movement. Immobility stems from the idealistic basis of Russian painting. Its being does not need movement that could break the integrity of the sacred image and replace its timeless unity with episodicity. In Russian painting there is no idea of ​​succession in time. It never depicts a moment, but some infinitely lasting state or phenomenon. In this way, she makes the contemplation of a miracle accessible.

Volume content:

RUSSIAN PAINTING BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY I.

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF OLD RUSSIAN PAINTING II.

ORIGIN OF OLD RUSSIAN PAINTING III.

PAINTING OF THE PRE-MONGOLIAN PERIOD IV.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY V.

THE ERA OF RUBLEV VI.

NOVGOROD SCHOOL IN THE 15TH CENTURY VII.

Dionysius VIII.

NOVGOROD AND MOSCOW IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY IX.

MOSCOW SCHOOL UNDER GROZNY AND ITS SUCCESSORS X.

STROGANOVSKY SCHOOL XI.

THE EPOCH OF MIKHAIL FYODOROVICH Royal icon painters and painters of the 17th century XII.

FOREIGN PAINTERS IN MOSCOW XIII.

SIMON USHAKOV AND HIS SCHOOL Ukrainian painting of the 17th century XIV.

REVIVAL OF UKRAINE IN THE 17TH CENTURY Wall paintings in Russian churches of the 17th century XV.

THE LAST RESPONSE OF THE GREAT STYLE XVI.

FRESCO-LUBKI XVII.

WESTERN INFLUENCES.

Grabar, Igor Emmanuilovich(March 25, 1871, Budapest, Austria-Hungary - May 16, 1960, Moscow, USSR) - Russian Soviet painter, restorer, art critic, educator, museum figure, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1956). Laureate of the Stalin Prize of the first degree (1941). Nature endowed I. E. Grabar with many talents, which, to the considerable surprise of those around him, he managed to realize. He became a significant artist, art historian, art critic, restorer, teacher, museum figure, a wonderful organizer, even an architect. At the same time, for almost sixty years, thanks to his frantic temperament, he was one of the most active participants and leaders in the artistic life of the country. Born in the family of Emmanuil Grabar, Galician-Russian public figure, member of the Austrian Parliament. Baptized by an Orthodox priest of Serbian origin, the godparent was Konstantin Kustodiev, uncle of the artist Boris Kustodiev. Grabar's maternal grandfather was Adolf Dobryansky, an outstanding figure in the Galician-Russian movement, and his mother was Olga Grabar, who was also engaged in Russian educational activities in Galicia. Soon after the birth of his son, the father and his family were forced to flee from Hungary to Italy, where he got a job as a home teacher for the children of the millionaire P.P. Demidov, and after about three years he moved with them to Paris. In 1876 the family moved to the Russian Empire. From 1880 to 1882 he lived with his family in Yegorievsk, Ryazan province, where his father taught at the local gymnasium; studied at the gymnasium and attended the classes of Varvara Zhitova, the half-sister of the writer Ivan Turgenev. From 1882 to 1889, Igor Grabar studied in Moscow - at the Lyceum of Tsarevich Nikolai (graduating in 1889 with a gold medal), then - at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, from which he graduated in 1893. Unlike his older brother, Vladimir, who became a well-known lawyer, Igor chose a career as an artist. Back in Moscow, he attended drawing classes of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers and in 1894 entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where I. E. Repin was his leader for some time. He graduated from the Academy in 1898, and then studied in Paris and Munich. Participated in the work of the creative associations "World of Art" and "Union of Russian Artists". In 1900 Grabar returns to Russia, and here begins, according to the artist, his most "creative period". After a long separation, he again falls in love with Russian nature, is stunned by the beauty of the Russian winter, endlessly writes "a supernatural tree, a fairy tale tree" - a birch. His most famous works were created in the Moscow region: "September Snow" (1903), "White Winter. Rook's Nests", "February Blue", "March Snow" (all 1904), "Chrysanthemums" (1905), "Untidy Table" ( 1907) and others. Grabar writes in the open air, taking into account the achievements of the French Impressionists, but, not wanting to blindly imitate them, writes in Russian, loving "substantiality and reality." "February Blue" is a majestic "portrait" of a birch. We look at it from the bottom up, from a deep trench in the snow, which the author dug and in which he worked, despite the severe frosts, overflowing with joy from "the chimes and echoes of all the colors of the rainbow, united by the blue enamel of the sky." The landscape is written in pure colors, strokes are laid in a dense layer. "March Snow" - "a brightly impressionistic thing in concept and texture" - the artist also wrote in the open air "with such enthusiasm and passion that he threw paints onto the canvas, as if in a frenzy, without thinking too much and weighing, trying only to convey the dazzling impression of this cheerful major fanfare". In these works, Grabar managed to create another, new (after the Russian landscape painters of the 19th century), a generalized image of Russian nature. Back in the autumn of 1902, Grabar made a trip to the Russian North, to the Vologda and Arkhangelsk provinces (he had visited Novgorod and Pskov even earlier). This trip awakened in him a passion for Russian art, which became the basis of his whole life. Traveling along the rivers Vychegda, Sukhona and Northern Dvina, where he sketched and measured churches, mills, huts, photographed icons, utensils, ancient sewing, confirmed his desire to comprehend and publish the collected material. Some of the drawings and photographs made in those years in the North were published in Russia on postcards. In 1903 he moved to Moscow. Since that time, Grabar took part in the exhibitions of the World of Art in the Salon and the Union; his works were also exhibited abroad - in Munich, Paris, at the Salon d'Automne, in 1906 at an exhibition of Russian art organized by Sergei Diaghilev, in Rome at an international exhibition in 1909, etc. Soon after moving to Moscow, Igor Grabar met with the artist Nikolai Meshcherin; repeatedly visited the Meshcherins' estate Dugino (now the village of Meshcherino in the Leninsky district of the Moscow region). After the October Revolution, Grabar was also actively engaged in painting, creating both landscapes and official, "court" compositions. In addition to creating paintings, research and educational work played an important role in the life of the artist. I. E. Grabar wrote a lot about art in magazines - in the "World of Art", "Scales", "Old Years", "Apollo", "Niva", etc. He wrote the text in the publication "Paintings of Contemporary Artists in Paints" , of which he also served as editor; he was also the editor and the largest collaborator of the publication “History of Russian Art” undertaken by I. N. Knebel, as well as the series of monographs “Russian Artists”. In early 1913, the Moscow City Duma elected Grabar as a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery; he remained in this position until 1925. 1910-23 the artist called the period of departure from painting and passion for architecture, art history, museum activities, and the protection of monuments. He conceives and carries out the publication of the first "History of Russian Art" in six volumes (1909-16), writes the most important sections for it, publishes monographs on V. A. Serov and I. I. Levitan. For twelve years (1913-25) Grabar headed the Tretyakov Gallery, significantly changing the principles of museum work. After the revolution, he did a lot to protect cultural monuments from destruction. In 1918, on the initiative of Grabar, the Central Restoration Workshops were created, with which he would be associated all his life and which now bear his name. Many works of ancient Russian art were discovered and saved here. Grabar was a key figure in the artistic life of Soviet Russia. He was friends with the wife of Leon Trotsky, Natalya Sedova, whom he met while working together in the museum department of the People's Commissariat for Education. At the very beginning of the Stalinist purges, Grabar left all his responsible posts and returned to painting. He painted a portrait of a girl named Svetlana, which suddenly became incredibly popular.

From 1924 until the end of the 1940s. Grabar again paints a lot and is especially fond of portraiture. He portrays his loved ones, paints portraits of scientists and musicians. The artist himself called the best "Portrait of a Mother" (1924), "Svetlana" (1933), "Portrait of a Daughter against the Background of a Winter Landscape" (1934), "Portrait of a Son" (1935), "Portrait of Academician S. A. Chaplygin" (1935 ). Two self-portraits of the artist are also widely known ("Self-portrait with a palette", 1934; "Self-portrait in a fur coat", 1947). He also refers to the thematic picture - "V. I. Lenin at the direct wire" (1933), "Peasant walkers at the reception of V. I. Lenin" (1938). Of course, he continues to paint landscapes, still preferring snow, the sun and the smile of life: "The Last Snow" (1931), "Birch Alley" (1940), "Winter Landscape" (1954), a series of paintings on the theme "Frost Day" . Grabar works in the traditions of Russian realistic painting of the late 19th century, remaining, as in other areas of his activity, the guardian of Russian culture. "The best rest is a change of work," said the artist. If he did not paint, he taught, performed, prepared exhibitions, or was engaged in art history research. In addition, in 1918-1930, Grabar led the Central restoration workshops in Moscow, and since 1944 he worked as the scientific director of the workshops and headed numerous commissions involved in the seizure, which was more often a form of salvation from inevitable destruction, paintings from estates and icons from monasteries. He was directly involved in the restoration of Andrei Rublev's icon "Trinity". The modern All-Russian Artistic Research and Restoration Center, which grew out of the Central Restoration Workshops created by Grabar, bears his name. He was a consultant of the Academic Council for restoration work at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where Ignaty Trofimov was appointed scientific director and chief architect. In early 1943, Grabar put forward the idea of ​​compensating for the losses of Soviet museums by confiscating works from museums in Germany and its allies. He headed the Bureau of Experts, which compiled lists of the best works from museums in Europe, prepared "trophy brigades" sent to the front, and received trains with works of art. It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the war, the Nazis confiscated the works of the territories they conquered as part of the Linz project, and a large part was confiscated from the territory of the USSR. Death found him at work on a new multi-volume edition of the History of Russian Art. "We must consider it a blessing for Russian art that such a person really existed," S. V. Gerasimov. Full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943). Active member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947). He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (site No. 8).

"History of Russian Art"
I. Grabar

Edition I. Knebel, 1910

Edition in luxurious semi-leather bindings with artistic gold stamping. Triple gold trim! Quality coated paper. Large format: 30x25 cm. the publishing house did not have enough skin, they used a lighter one. This outstanding publication on art is considered the most luxurious of all the books published by I. Knebel's publishing house. Excellent preservation. The publishing boxes in which the books were delivered to the store at the time of release for sale have been preserved. In this condition - a rarity!

The publication is of great artistic and historical value.

The luxurious edition of I. Grabar "History of Russian Art", which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, still remains the most complete and thorough work on Russian painting, architecture and sculpture. The publication presents the entire history of the art of the Russian Empire, from ancient Russia to the beginning of the twentieth century. Numerous color and black-and-white illustrations on separate sheets and in the text.

The most famous and outstanding figures of Russia took part in the processing and publication of numerous parts: Russian artists A. Benois, I. Ya. Bilibin, A. M. Vasnetsov, Baron Von N. N. Wrangel, architects F. F. Gornostaev, S .P.Dyagilev, academicians of arts N.P.Kondakov, S.K.Makovsky, prof. G.G. Pavlutsky, architect. V.A. Pokrovsky, N.K. Roerich, Rev.-Assoc. N.I. Romanov, prof. M.I.Rostovtsev, Pr.-Assoc. A.A. Spitsyn, priest. N.A. Skvortsov, prof. archit. V.V.Suslov, V.K.Trutovsky, prof. A.I.Uspensky, prof. B.V. Farmakovsky, architect. I.A. Fomin, architect. A.V. Shchusev and others.

T.1: History of Architecture: Pre-Petrine Epoch. - 508 pages
T.2: History of architecture: Pre-Petrine era: Moscow and Ukraine. - 479 pages
T.3: History of architecture: Petersburg architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries. - 584 pages
T.5: N.N. Wrangell. History of sculpture. - 416 pages
T.6: History of painting: pre-Petrine era. - 536 pages

Only I - III, V - VI vols. were published. Of volume IV, only one issue was printed, and it burned down in the printing house in a fire.

I.E. Grabar(1871-1960) - famous painter and art critic, People's Artist of the USSR (1956), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943) and full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1947). He painted cheerful, light-filled impressionistic landscapes (“March Snow”, 1904), still lifes, portraits (“N.D. Zelinsky”, 1932). Supervised the publication of the first scientific "History of Russian Art" (1909-16); monographs on Russian artists. One of the founders of Russian museology, restoration and protection of art and antiquity monuments.

PS: To sell a similar antique edition

The Beginning of Russian Art History.

I have previously presented volumes of essays devoted to architecture. The topic of the sixth volume proposed today is pre-Petrine painting.

Monuments of ancient Russian painting can be divided into two main types: wall paintings and icons on wood. Important, but auxiliary monuments are manuscript miniatures and church embroidery. I. Grabar notes that a serious study of mural monuments is still ahead: ancient Russian frescoes are few, poorly preserved, and a significant part of them have been distorted by unsuccessful restorations. He does not even realize that in a few years most of the church paintings will be barbarously destroyed by the Soviet authorities. The main part of the volume is devoted to icon painting. In Russian chronicles there are oppositions of the terms "icon painting" and "painting", but these oppositions, corresponding to the literal meaning of the words, do not go further than the opposition of idealistic art to art based on reality. Therefore, icon painting should certainly be considered as a kind of art of painting. After all, we do not distinguish between "icon painting" and "painting", for example, by Raphael. The term "icon painting" retains only a certain technical meaning, as well as "fresco" and "miniature". The peculiarity of icon-painting art is that the activity of the artist is largely limited by church tradition. Restriction to a certain, albeit a very large selection of topics, forced the Russian artist to focus all his talent on the stylistic essence of painting. In terms of style, Russian painting occupies one of the first places among other arts. The icon painter invested the entire volume of his soul in the formal interpretation of the theme, being able to be deeply individual in his composition, in his color, in his line, but he never dared to enhance the effect of holy images by adding his own feelings to them. “The Russian artist made little claim to depicting internal movements, and just as little attracted his depiction of external movement. Immobility stems from the idealistic basis of Russian painting. Its being does not need movement that could break the integrity of the sacred image and replace its timeless unity with episodicity. In Russian painting there is no idea of ​​succession in time. It never depicts a moment, but some infinitely lasting state or phenomenon. In this way, she makes the contemplation of a miracle accessible.

Russian painting until the middle of the 17th century

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF OLD RUSSIAN PAINTING
II. ORIGIN OF OLD RUSSIAN PAINTING
III. PAINTING OF THE PRE-MONGOLIAN PERIOD
IV. FOURTEENTH CENTURY
V. THE ERA OF RUBLEV
VI. NOVGOROD SCHOOL IN THE 15TH CENTURY
VII. DIONYSIOUS
VIII. NOVGOROD AND MOSCOW IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY
IX. MOSCOW SCHOOL UNDER GROZNY AND ITS SUCCESSORS
X. STROGANOV SCHOOL
XI. THE EPOCH OF MIKHAIL FYODOROVICH

Royal scribes and painters of the 17th century

XII. FOREIGN PAINTERS IN MOSCOW
XIII. SIMON USHAKOV AND HIS SCHOOL

Ukrainian painting of the 17th century

XIV. REVIVAL OF UKRAINE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

Wall paintings in Russian churches of the 17th century

XV. LATEST RECALLS OF GREAT STYLE
XVI. FRESCO-LUBKI
XVII. WESTERN INFLUENCES

A feature of this volume is the presence of colored tabs.

Unfortunately, The History of Russian Art remained unfinished. Presented today, the 6th edition is the last in this edition.
(the missed 4th 5th volumes, devoted to the history of sculpture, I can’t offer yet).
In the 50-60s of the last century, under the editorship of the same Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar, a new version of the History of Russian Art was published in 13 volumes (16 books). However, this is a completely different edition: it is built according to the chronological principle, and some of the volumes are devoted to Soviet art.

Foreword

Chapter I. The most ancient art of Eastern Europe. V.D. Blavatsky

Chapter II. Art of the ancient Slavs. B.A. Rybakov

Chapter III. Art of Kievan Rus
Kievan Rus. V.N. Lazarev
Architecture of Kievan Rus. N.N. Voronin
Painting and sculpture of Kievan Rus. V.N. Lazarev
Applied art of Kievan Rus. IX - XI centuries and the southern Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. B.A. Rybakov
Applied art in everyday life
Artistic craft and its technique
Ornament
Plots of applied art
Cultural heritage of Kievan Rus. V.N. Lazarev

Chapter IV. Art of Western Russian Principalities. N.N. Voronin and V.N. Lazarev
Introductory remarks
Galnian-Volyn land
Polotsk principality
Smolensk principality

Chapter V. The Art of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus
Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. V.N. Lazarev
Architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. N.N. Voronin
Sculpture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. V.N. Lazarev
Painting of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. V.N. Lazarev
Applied art of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. B.A. Rybakov
Tatar yoke and the fate of Vladimir-Suzdal art. V.N. Lazarev

Bibliography
Pointer
List of illustrations

Foreword

To describe the history of Russian art, covering the entire path of its development from ancient times to the present day, is a scientific task of great difficulty and great political significance. An attempt to resolve it, undertaken in 1908-1915, in connection with the First World War, was not completed: only five volumes of the intended edition were published (I.E. Grabar. History of Russian Art. Vol. I-III, V-VI. M., publishing house Knebel).

Now this task is being posed again in conditions that are completely incomparable in terms of their capabilities. They were created by the Great October Socialist Revolution, which opened up unprecedented prospects for scientific research and artistic creativity, armed science and art with Marxist-Leninist theory, and raised the interest of the broad masses of the people in the culture and art of the great Russian people to unprecedented heights.

The new "History of Russian Art" is conceived as a large multi-volume work carried out by a team of researchers united around the Institute of Art History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The first four volumes are devoted to the history of ancient Russian art, two volumes are devoted to the art of the 18th century; three volumes - to the art of the 19th century and three volumes - to Soviet art.

The main goal of this work is to give the Soviet reader a picture of the development of Russian art in connection with the general processes of development of Russian social life, the struggle of various class ideologies. The authors set themselves the task, first of all, of revealing that independent and original thing that the Russian people have contributed to the treasury of world art and of which they can rightfully be proud. Particular attention is paid to the folk foundations of Russian art, which make themselves felt so clearly already at the earliest stages of development and which subsequently showed themselves with such force.

Based on the fundamental principles of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics, the group of authors deliberately brought to the fore the realistic searches and trends that were leading throughout the development of Russian art. They are discussed both in the first volumes and in the volumes devoted to the art of the 18th-19th centuries, and especially in those volumes where the reader will find the history of Russian ideological realism. In the volumes on Soviet art, which marks a new stage in the development of both Russian and the entire world artistic culture, the central problem is socialist realism, the struggle for which determined all the best creative searches of Soviet artists.

The first volumes of this publication are devoted to ancient Russian art and its origins. Since during the period of feudal fragmentation, local art schools were of exceptionally great importance, the material in the first and second volumes is grouped in such a way as to highlight the historical role of these schools more clearly. That is why the earliest stages in the development of Novgorod art, although they are inextricably linked with the art of Kyiv, are nevertheless united with later stages in the history of Novgorod artistic culture. Therefore, a number of later monuments of Novgorod and Pskov art are dealt with in the second volume, although they arose at a time when Moscow became a center for gathering Russian national forces. Such an approach to Russian art of the 11th-15th centuries allowed the team of authors not to split the history of individual art schools into small historical segments, but to give them in large arrays, which helped to more clearly outline their contours and determine their creative originality. Adhering to the same principle, the team of authors in the third volume sets out the history of Moscow art from its origins in the 13th century to its heyday in the 16th century.

In the field of studying ancient Russian art, the old pre-revolutionary science worked hard. The works of the largest scientists of the past (V.V. Stasov, F.I. Buslaev, N.P. Kondakov, D.V. Ainalov and their students, as well as the historians of architecture V.V. Suslov, N.V. Sultanov, A. M. Pavlinov, I. E. Zabelin, M. V. Krasovsky and others) marked the beginning of the development of the history of ancient Russian art. However, in terms of their historical views and applied methodology, the old researchers were far from the correct formulation of questions of the history of ancient Russian art. The study of painting was dominated by the comparative and iconographic method, and only in the pre-revolutionary years were the tasks of stylistic analysis put on the agenda, but the latter was understood extremely narrowly and incorrectly, as an analysis of only one form. In the field of architectural studies, interest in the purely archaeological study of monuments prevailed; a general, sufficiently complete history of ancient Russian architecture was not created, the problem of the architectural image remained almost undeveloped, since the main attention was paid to typology and moments of a technological order. In general, ancient Russian art was interpreted mainly as an art that arose only with the adoption of Christianity and was entirely dependent on Byzantine culture for almost the entire course of its centuries-old development. These views were partly due to the state of knowledge about the monuments of art themselves: the discovery and restoration of monuments of painting and architecture had only begun in the pre-October years, the sight of an art historian had not yet turned to archaeological monuments, and the general historical perspective disappeared behind the study of individual monuments.

The Soviet era was marked by a particularly intensive research in this field of knowledge. It can be said without exaggeration that more has been done in the last thirty-five years than in the entire previous century.

Archaeological research by Soviet scientists has now made it possible, albeit sketchily and only in general terms, to determine the origins of Russian art, dating back to the artistic culture of the Slavic tribes and to the art of the ancient and Scythian Black Sea region. The Byzantine contribution lay on the solid ground of strong Slavic artistic traditions, which led to a decisive creative processing of imported Greek forms and the originality of the most ancient monuments of Russian monumental art.

The grandiose work on the discovery and restoration of monuments of ancient painting, carried out in our time, confronted researchers with an unprecedented abundance of wonderful creations of the Russian people, which had to find a place in its artistic development. It was necessary to reveal in the works of worship, but for their purpose, created by the brush of ancient Russian artists, those folk features that invariably penetrated the world of religious ideas and which contributed to the mitigation of medieval asceticism; it was necessary to trace this path in the dialectical changes in the content and form of art, in the growth of its national identity. His understanding was greatly enriched by the consideration, along with painting, of monuments of artistic craft, which had previously hardly been included in the general history of Russian art.

In the same way, first-class monuments discovered by Soviet archaeologists entered the history of ancient Russian architecture. Of the previously known most important monuments, many, as a result of architectural and archaeological research, appeared before us in their new, authentic form. The authors saw the contours of the most important historical stages of ancient Russian architecture: the architecture of the Kyiv state of the 10th-11th centuries; architecture of the period of feudal fragmentation of the XI-XIV centuries, with a striking richness of shades of style of regional architectural schools; finally, the period of the formation of the national features of Russian art, when the dominance passed to Moscow. From the depths of centuries rose the names of great Russian architects who firmly held the fate of the building art in their hands. In the history of architecture of the 17th century, facts were discovered that testify to the development of many elements of the architecture of the new time in the depths of pre-Petrine Russia and, therefore, to the deep organic nature of this new stage.

In other words, it was necessary to build a completely new history of Russian art on the basis of the richest new material. The authors strove, on the basis of the only scientific Marxist methodology, to evaluate in a different way the connection between Russian artistic culture and world art, they strove to determine its independence and national identity.

Naturally, not all of these problems are solved in this work with equal completeness and indisputability. There is still not enough factual material to answer many questions, others require special studies. So, for example, the most difficult question of determining the national characteristics that crystallized in the course of the development of ancient Russian art cannot be considered finally resolved: these national characteristics changed in the course of the historical life of the Russian people, and it is not yet possible to show this process in all its completeness and specificity. . There are also many controversial issues in resolving more specific issues related to the definition or evaluation of certain monuments or masters. The authors and editors of The History of Russian Art therefore considered it necessary to present the monuments themselves in descriptions and illustrations as completely as possible, so that the reader could independently judge what was presented by comparing it with the data of art history.

To wait for the time when everything will become indisputable and clear would mean depriving the Soviet reader for a long time of a book that reveals to him a majestic picture of the artistic creativity of the Russian people. And this cannot be delayed: the knowledge of all the best that was created by the people in the distant and near past is one of the foundations of conscious patriotism and ardent love for the Motherland.

Antiquarian edition, printed in St. Petersburg, I. Knebel's printing house, in Russian. The books are in good condition, in luxurious semi-leather bindings with artistic gold embossing on the spine and binding covers, triple gold edge, silk lace, format 30x23 cm.

Volume I. History of architecture. pre-Petrine era. , 508, pages, illustrations, 4 sheets. ill.,

Volume II. History of architecture. Pre-Petrine era (Moscow and Ukraine). 478, pages, illustrations, 4 sheets. ill.,

Volume III. History of architecture. Petersburg architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries. 584 pages, ill., 4 sheets. ill.,

Volume V. Wrangel N.N. History of sculpture. 416 pages, 4 sheets. ill.

Volume VI. History of painting. pre-Petrine era. 536 pages, 5 sheets. ill.

The presented edition is truly outstanding and will be an excellent exhibit in any collection. Created on the initiative of I.E. Grabar, it was published by a successful book publisher I.N. Knebel. The best connoisseurs of that time were involved in the multi-volume work, many of whom were themselves the most prominent creators - Sergei Diaghilev, Alexander Benois, Sergei Makovsky, Apollinary Vasnetsov. The study contains a lot of unique materials related to painting, architecture and sculpture, and even after a hundred years is considered one of the most fundamental. The design of the books and the illustrations accompanying the text deserve special attention. Extremely rare in a complete set - great value!

Editor Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (March 25, 1871, Budapest - May 16, 1960, Moscow), Russian and Soviet art critic, painter, restorer and publicist. Born in Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the family of a public figure. Many members of his family were associated with Russian-Galician educational activities. The future art historian spent his childhood traveling with his parents, and he received his education in the Russian Empire - at the Lyceum of Tsarevich Nikolai, and then at St. Petersburg University and a number of private art schools. He participated in the associations "World of Art" and "Union of Russian Artists", Grabar's paintings were repeatedly exhibited in salons, and articles about art appeared in leading magazines of that time. Even before the revolution, he was appointed trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery and stayed in this post until 1925. Under Soviet rule, he led the Central Restoration Workshops, and was also director of the Institute of Art History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He actively contributed to the development of Soviet museums and made a significant contribution to the preservation of the historical heritage of Russia. Laureate of the Stalin Prize, People's Artist of the USSR.