The session was attended by 14 young artists from different countries, incl. Syria, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Spain, and France. In addition to the curriculum, which consisted of intensive courses in painting, sculpture, icon painting, and other artistic disciplines and professions, there were also cultural activities.
The students visited such iconic sights of the Northern capital as the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, Peter and Paul Cathedral, they saw the Swan Lake ballet and listened to the opera Eugene Onegin at the Mariinsky Theatre, they visited St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, as well as places associated with Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
They also learned a lot about the history of St. Petersburg and its role in relations between Russia and Europe, plunged into the atmosphere of the city, which inspired the best Russian and European artists, sculptors, and architects.
At the end of the session and their stay in Russia, each student had to create a final project, which could be a painting, a sculpture, or an installation, and present it in the Italian Hall of the Academy of Arts, telling about the concept of their work.
ABOUT ST. PETERSBURG ACADEMY OF ARTS
The Imperial Academy of Arts was founded in 1757 The very next year, a number of classes, including those in painting, sculpture, architecture and engraving, started functioning all at once.
The course of instruction there spanned nine years and included the study of the arts of engraving, portraiture, sculpture and architecture. They started with drawing, in order to comprehended simple techniques of drawing without a ruler, then proceeded to copying model works of art (by drawing plaster copies of antique sculptures or making engravings from paintings and drawings by the best artists of the past), and finally, to drawing nude sitters.
The Academy was giving courses in plastic anatomy, architectural graphics, general school subjects, and languages.
The international activities started since 1760, when the best graduates were sent abroad to continue their practical studies for the first time.
A whole constellation of outstanding Russian artists studied at the Academy, such as painters I.E. Repin, I.N. Kramskoy, V.I.Surikov, V.A.Serov, F.S.Rokotov, D.G. Levitsky, O.A. Kiprensky, K.P.Bryullov, architects V.I.Bazhenov, I.E. Starov, A.D. Zakharov, sculptors F.I.Shubin, M.I.Kozlovsky, S.S. Pimenov, P.K. Klodt, to name but a few.
Professors
Semyon Ilyich Mikhailovsky
RECTOR OF THE ST. PETERSBURG ACADEMY OF ARTS, CURATOR OF THE ART SESSION
Anastasia Nikolaeva-Berg
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THE PAINTING DEPARTMENT OF THE ST. PETERSBURG ACADEMY OF ARTS
Pavel Ignatiev
SCULPTOR, PROFESSOR’S ASSISTANT AT THE SCULPTURE DEPARTMENT OF THE ST. PETERSBURG ACADEMY OF ARTS.
Roman Olenich
SENIOR PROFESSOR OF THE GRAPHICS DEPARTMENT OF THE ST. PETERSBURG ACADEMY OF ARTS
