The exhibition "Arzamas Academy. To the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of the Founder of Russia's First Provincial Private Art School, A. V. Stupin" is a temporary exhibition that opened on 30–31 July 2026 at "NGKHM | Russian Art" (the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, Kremlin, Building 3) and runs until 15 November 2026.[1][2] The project is dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Vasilyevich Stupin (1776–1861) — an artist and educator who, in the early nineteenth century, founded in Arzamas the first private art school in Russia outside St. Petersburg and Moscow, training around 150 artists over the sixty years of its operation.[1] The exhibition is the first project of such scale dedicated to the legacy of the Arzamas School in all the time since its establishment.[1]

Exhibition contents

The exhibition features around 100 works of painting and graphic art: study drawings, portraits, landscapes, and genre compositions created by Stupin and his students at various stages of their careers.[1] The core of the display is drawn from the collections of the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum and the Arzamas Museum of History and Art.[1] The State Tretyakov Gallery partnered on the project, lending 20 canvases; the State Russian Museum and the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts were also involved in preparing the exhibition.[1][2]

In addition to works by Stupin himself and his students, the exhibition includes pieces by his teachers, friends, and contemporaries: Ivan Akimov, Vasily Shebuev, Aleksey Yegorov, Alexander Varnek, Karl Bryullov, Jean-Laurent Mosnier, and Johann Lampi.[2][1] Among the earliest exhibits is Alexander Stupin's work "Male Model" of 1801, painted during his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts.[1] One of the best-known later exhibits is Vasily Perov's painting "Hunters at Rest" of 1871, from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery; shortly before the exhibition it underwent restoration, during which new details in the depiction of the sky and foreground came to light. This very canvas greets visitors at the entrance to the exhibition.[1]

Exhibition Space

The exhibition is spread across five halls, each of which successively introduces visitors to different aspects of Stupin's life and creative legacy.[2] The first hall is devoted to the artist's family and close circle; its centerpiece is "Portrait of Artist A. V. Stupin with His Students" by Nikolay Mikhaylovich Alekseyev.[2][3] The second and third halls illuminate the educational dimension of the school's activities and invite comparisons with the teaching system at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.[2] The fourth hall is dedicated to Stupin's own teachers and to European artistic models.[2] A separate section of the exhibition is devoted to the decoration of the Spassky Staroярmarochny Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod — one of Stupin's most ambitious commissions, carried out in the 1820s, for which the artist received ten thousand rubles.

Of the cathedral's original interior furnishings, only individual objects have survived to the present day, among them Mikhail Ivanovich Skotti's work "Saint Alexander Nevsky," painted for the iconostasis: Skotti executed 28 images on canvas and cardboard for it.[2] The fifth and final hall sums up the achievements of the Stupin School and presents works by its most talented students.[2]

The Exhibition's Subjects

The exhibition traces the journey of Stupin's students from their earliest drawings to professional works.[1] On display are works by Rafail Stupin, Nikolay Alekseyev, Ivan Gorbunov, Vasily Rayev, Pavel Vedenetsky, Nikolay Rachkov, Yevgraf Krendovsky, and Vasily Perov.[1] Over the school's sixty years of operation, many of its graduates continued to work in the provinces, where demand for professional artists — including in the field of church painting — remained high.[1]

Assessments and Context

The exhibition's curator, Irina Basova, a research associate in the Department of Painting of the Second Half of the 18th – Early 19th Centuries at the State Tretyakov Gallery, noted that the organizers sought to create a holistic portrait of Stupin: to showcase not only his achievements but also to tell the story of his family, his circle, his institution, and the guiding principles he upheld.[2] Tatyana Yudenkova, Deputy Director General for Research at the State Tretyakov Gallery and Doctor of Art History, pointed out that the history of art schools in Russia's provincial heartland begins precisely with the Arzamas Academy, and that the collection of the gallery's founder, Pavel Tretyakov, includes a portrait of A. V. Stupin painted by Alexander Varnek as well as works by the school's graduates.[1] Natalya Sukhanova, Minister of Culture of Nizhny Novgorod Region, described the exhibition as an opportunity to rediscover for audiences the story of Stupin and his school — a school that in effect created a system for training artistic personnel for Russia's regions.[1] At the opening ceremony, Sukhanova also announced plans to revive Alexander Stupin's art school in Arzamas, in accordance with a directive issued by the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region, Gleb Nikitin.[2]

Sources

  1. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — 20 canvases from the Tretyakov Gallery exhibited at the NGSM to mark the 250th anniversary of Alexander Stupin. News of Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  2. Vremya N — To the 250th anniversary of A. V. Stupin: the exhibition "Arzamas Academy…" opens at the NGSM (archive)
  3. GTRK "Nizhny Novgorod" (Vesti) — � ������ ��������� ��������� �������� � 250-����� ���������� ������� (archive)