Blinov Ivan Gavrilovich (November 5, 1872, the village of Kudashikha in Balakhna Uyezd, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate — June 8, 1944, same place, now Gorodetsky District) was a scribe and book artist, one of the last masters of the Russian illuminated manuscript book. He came from a family of Beglopopovtsy peasants (Old Believers who accepted fugitive priests); over the course of fifty years of work he created more than a hundred illuminated manuscript books, and was closely tied to the Gorodets Old Believer book-making tradition.[1]
Early Career and the Gorodets School
In his youth Blinov became absorbed in copying illuminated manuscript books, taking as his models the work of local Old Believer calligraphers, above all the masters of the Gorodets book-writing workshop owned by Grigory Matveyevich Pryanishnikov, a prominent figure of the Beglopopovtsy movement and Blinov's second cousin once removed. At 15 he wrote a large "Kanonnik" (book of canons), and a year later an illuminated "Commentary on the Apocalypse." His first works were sold in Gorodets, the largest center of the Beglopopovtsy in the 19th century.[1]
His acquaintance with the Gorodets merchant and collector Pyotr Alekseyevich Ovchinnikov proved a turning point: Ovchinnikov commissioned a number of books from Blinov and predicted a future for him as an outstanding scribe. For Ovchinnikov, Blinov copied and ornamented 25 books, including the "Izbornik of Svyatoslav of 1073," the "Adriatis," lives of Russian saints, and others. In his colophons the scribe briefly introduced himself: thus in the 1896 "Izbornik" he noted that the book was written at the commission of "the Balakhna merchant Pyotr Alekseyevich Ovchinnikov."[2] Among his other patrons were G. M. Pryanishnikov, N. P. Nikiforov, and P. P. Vedernikov.[1]
Work in the Capitals and Scholarly Activity
In December 1899, Blinov's "Canon to the Venerable Cross," written "in the antique manner" with ornamented decorations, was shown at the Slavic-Russian Paleographic Exhibition in Saint Petersburg.[1] In the 1900s the master lived in Balakhna and Gorbatov; in 1905–1906, on assignment from the Nizhny Novgorod Duma, he studied the manuscripts of the Solovetsky Monastery in the libraries of Kazan University and the Kazan Theological Academy. In the early 20th century he spent long periods in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, working with ancient illuminated manuscripts in the manuscript departments of the Historical Museum, the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, the Imperial Public Library, the Synodal Library, and the library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra; he studied iconographic subjects at the Tretyakov Gallery. In 1906 he took part in the 3rd Regional Archaeological Congress in Vladimir.[1]
In March 1907 the Council of the All-Russian Congress of Old Believers who accept the Belokrinitsa hierarchy commissioned Blinov to write a Slavic alphabet book. From 1909 to 1916 (with brief interruptions) he worked at L. A. Malekhonov's Moscow Old Believer printing house, under whose supervision a number of illuminated books were printed, including the "Apocalypse" with the commentaries of Andrew of Caesarea, reproducing a 13th-century parchment original. During the same period Blinov produced several copies of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" with miniatures. He collaborated with the artists V. M. Vasnetsov, B. V. Zvorykin, M. V. Nesterov, A. I. Savinov, and D. S. Stelletsky.[1]
In 1916, Blinov worked at the printing house of A. A. Levenson, fulfilling orders for the imperial court: he produced three copies of the statute of the Order of the Blessed Princess Olga for members of the imperial family, for which he was awarded a gold medal on the Ribbon of St. Andrew. That same year he was mobilized for service on Tsarskoye Selo Field Military Hospital Train No. 143, where he met Sergey Yesenin.[1]
The Post-Revolutionary Years
After the October Revolution, Blinov maintained ties with the Russian Historical Museum and the State Rumyantsev Museum, producing book miniatures as illustrations to commissioned works for them, for the Old Russian tales of Woe-Misfortune, Savva Grudtsyn, and Frol Skobeyev. On March 14, 1919, he was appointed to the scholarly commission of the museum. Between September and December 1918, Blinov, together with his son, created an illuminated copy of "The Tale of Ammonius the Monk on the Holy Fathers Slain at Sinai and Raithu."[1] The master spent his last years in his homeland, in Gorodetsky District, and died in the village of Kudashikha in 1944. In the encyclopedia of Old Belief and in regional historiography, Blinov is characterized as one of the key figures of Nizhny Novgorod Old Believer book culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.[2]
Sources
- pravenc.ru — BLINOV (archive)
- radilov.ru — Blinov I. G. — a Gorodets Scribe and Icon Painter — Volga Crossroads