The house of Mikhail Matyushin, a well-known avant-garde artist, musician and teacher, is a wooden structure. Here the artist lived in apartment number 12 since 1912. This house is located in St. Petersburg, on the street of Professor Popov.
A brief history of the house
In the 19th century, a piece of land located between the Karpovka River and Pesochnaya Street was owned first by the merchant Balashov, and later by Alonkin. Around the mid-1800s, a wooden house with a mezzanine was built here, which 40 years later was acquired by V. Mikhnevich, a well-known journalist and writer, author of the popular atlas-guide "Petersburg is in full view." At the request of the new owner, the second floor was added. The design was done by the architect Weinberg. Without changes in appearance, this wooden structure exists today. However, it was completely rebuilt according to the surviving photo.
After Mikhnevich died (in 1899), most of his possessions were transferred to the Literary Fund of St. Petersburg, which was called the "Society of benefits to needy writers and scientists." From that moment only writers began to live in the house. Apartments were rented to them for a small fee, and sometimes even for nothing.
Arrival Matyushin
At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, the house became the abode of famous Russian writers, artists and poets. At one time V. Mayakovsky and V. Khlebnikov lived here. Petersburg artist and musician Mikhail Vasilyevich Matyushin, at that time already a well-known creator of the so-called “organic” avant-garde art, settled in apartment number 12. His wife, Elena Genrikhovna Guro, also a well-known artist and writer, moved with him.
The arrival of Matyushin for the house was a landmark event. His apartment became the center of the entire avant-garde movement of St. Petersburg. Frequent guests of the family were Malevich, Filonov, Rozanov, Mayakovsky and other famous people. Matyushin's wife Elena died in 1913 - she was never able to defeat leukemia. After the revolution of 1917, the Literary Fund ceased to be the master of the house, but Matyushin and his new wife Olga Gromozova continued to live in it.
After M.V. Matyushin died, the house, which is now popularly called by his name, traditionally remained the cultural center of the city.
Life at home after Matyushin
During WWII, Fadeev and Dudin often stayed here. From the summer of 1942 to November 1944, the writer Vsevolod Vishnevsky and his wife lived with the widow of Matyushin.
During the blockade, the vast majority of the wooden buildings of Leningrad were dismantled for firewood. Matyushin’s house was also threatened with being scrapped. However, Vishnevsky, having organized an initiative group of writers, ensured that the city administration retained the building.
The widow Matyushina Olga Konstantinovna lived in the house until her death in 1974. She carefully preserved the atmosphere of the apartment where they lived with the artist, his canvases, musical instruments, books. These things in the future became the basis for the museum of St. Petersburg avant-garde.
Hard times
In the summer of 1977, the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies handed Matyushin’s house to the city history museum. Two years later, tenants were relocated from here. However, despite the existence of a corresponding decision to create a museum of the St. Petersburg avant-garde, they were not in a hurry to translate the plan into reality. In 1987, Matyushin’s house was boarded up due to rapid destruction. It was homeless people who accidentally set fire. The fire completely destroyed the wooden structure.
The beginning of museum history
The house was rebuilt according to preserved photographs, sketches and drawings in 1995. Due to the small budget, work inside the building, as well as in the surrounding area, was carried out only in 1999. The final decision to open the St. Petersburg Avant-Garde Museum in it was made in 2004, the museum accepted its first visitors in 2006. From that moment, it is officially considered a branch of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.
The refuge of the Russian avant-garde
This term began to be widely used at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Russian avant-garde includes a wide variety of artistic and literary movements. These are constructivism, abstractionism, futurism, suprematism and cubism. The common thing is that they give up cultural heritage, contrast new traditions with old ones. So, the most popular and controversial works of the avant-garde era, which cause a variety of emotions, include Malevich's “Black Square”.
Museum expositions
A large collection of works by Filonov, Malevich, Kulbin, Remezov, Sterligov and other authors has been collected and exhibited at Matyushin’s house, the Museum of St. Petersburg Avant-Garde. There are many photographs on the walls in black and white: paintings, landscapes, newspaper clippings. A separate part of the exhibition tells about the history of the Institute of Artistic Culture, where Matyushin, Malevich, Filonov and other famous artists taught.
The museum of the St. Petersburg avant-garde also exhibited works of Mikhail Matyushin himself and his first wife Elena. The interiors are designed in such a way as to make visitors feel that a family of artists still lives here. For example, in the study, the situation is creative: the wooden chair is casually moved away from the table, and the piano and other paraphernalia seem to suggest that the owners of the house will enter here now.
Currently, the Matyushin House Museum is oversaturated with creativity. Seminars, lectures, temporary exhibitions, installations are organized in it and on the territory of the courtyard. He is a regular participant in the project “Museum Night”. The courtyard of the Museum of the St. Petersburg Avant-Garde of St. Petersburg is a platform where exhibitions are also held. It was given to demonstrate the work of young artists and sculptors who are trying through their works to convey to the viewer new views on the traditional Russian avant-garde. There are also directors who arrange unusual performances and performances in the courtyard.
Matyushin Museum House: reviews and opening hours
Reviews of the St. Petersburg Avant-Garde Museum are mostly positive, filled with positive emotions. Most people consider it a pleasant and outstanding place. Those who have already been here recommend visiting the institution to those who understand and appreciate art.
The Petersburg Avant-Garde Museum (Matyushin’s house) is open every day, except on Wednesdays, from 11:00 to 18:00. Tickets cost from 100 to 300 rubles. Those who wish can use the audio guide for an additional fee.
Nearest metro stations: Petrogradskaya, Gorkovskaya, Chkalovskaya. Address of the Museum of the St. Petersburg Avant-Garde: ul. prof. Popova, 10.
Regular visitors call the house Matyushin "hut." They note that the museum staff is polite and pleasant. Most like the atmosphere, which is called "country". The courtyard is decorated with a cozy garden.