Stroganoff School Celebrates 200th Anniversary

A jubilee exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the Stroganoff School—the cradle of Russian art—has opened in Zaryadye. From Count Stroganoff's free drawing school to a university of world renown: the exposition reveals two centuries of triumphs by masters from Vrubel and Shchusev to contemporary designers.

The jubilee exhibition in Zaryadye is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the founding of the School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, known worldwide as Stroganoff University. For the first time outside the walls of the renowned university, it tells the story of this unique educational institution. Count Sergei Grigorievich Stroganoff—a Russian officer from the wealthiest and most illustrious Stroganoff family—became the founder of Russia's first drawing school, which was free and open to all talented children regardless of their social origin. The school's goal, according to Stroganoff, was to give young people aged 10 to 16 the opportunity to master the art of drawing. Originally called the "Drawing School in Relation to the Arts and Crafts," it opened in Moscow on October 31, 1825. Count Sergei Grigorievich Stroganoff led the drawing school for twelve years before donating it to the Russian state.

The exhibition's section on the school's second development period, from 1900 to 1917, was a time of flourishing for the Stroganoff School. It achieved significant success in educational activities, expanded its material and technical base, and strengthened ties with the artistic industry. During this time, the school transformed into the Imperial Central Stroganoff Art and Industrial School, becoming a center for training specialists in decorative and applied arts and architecture.

The next section of the exhibition covers the birth of a new era from 1920 to 1932, when the institution's traditions merged into the new system of artistic education in Soviet Russia. The transformation of the Stroganoff School into VKhUTEMAS and VKhUTEIN represented a profound reform that rethought the role of the artist in society. The decorative and applied arts master evolved into a designer of new object-spatial environments capable of meeting the challenges of the industrial era.

The revival of the Stroganoff School from 1945 to 1955 helped restore the country's artistic culture after the war, train specialists for large-scale urban construction and reconstruction, and preserve traditions in decorative and applied arts and monumental sculpture. This period laid the foundation for the further development of art and industrial education in the USSR.

The following section, "Under the Sign of Change: From Thaw to Perestroika (1960s–1980s)," and the final block, "Stroganoff University in Contemporary Artistic Culture (1990–2025)," feature works by current faculty and alumni, reflecting contemporary directions in design, restoration, and monumental-decorative art. The exposition includes architectural projects, painting, graphics, and decorative-applied works, as well as pieces by famous university alumni, such as building and urban environment projects, portraits, and decorative items. Special attention is given to the interplay of historical and modern materials, allowing visitors to trace the evolution of the artistic school and its representatives' contributions to Russian culture.

This large-scale exhibition project was prepared with the participation of 30 Russian museums, four foundations, and private collectors. The exposition features works by more than 140 authors from different eras. Among them are renowned architects, sculptors, painters, graphic artists, and engineers such as Fyodor Shekhtel, Lev Kekushev, Alexei Shchusev, Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Vrubel, Yuri Pimenov, Ilya Mashkov, Olga Rozanova, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Alexander Deineka, Vladimir Favorsky, Geliy Korzhev, Dmitry Prigov, and others. The university can rightfully be called a national treasure of Russian culture, having made a huge contribution not only to domestic but also to world artistic heritage. Many works created by Stroganoff alumni have become iconic, marking milestones in the history of our country's artistic culture. These include the Kazan Railway Station and Marfo-Mariinsky Convent (architect Alexei Shchusev), the Ryabushinsky mansion, Moscow Art Theatre, and Yaroslavsky Railway Station in Moscow (architect Fyodor Shekhtel), masterpieces from the court jewelers Fabergé and Khlebnikov, Mikhail Vrubel's painting "The Swan Princess," Konstantin Korovin's portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin, Moscow Metro stations, the ruby stars on the Kremlin towers, and the main building of Moscow State University on Sparrow Hills.

Today, Stroganoff University is represented by three faculties—"Design," "Monumental-Decorative and Decorative-Applied Art," and "Art Restoration"—which unite 18 departments with their centuries-old histories and unique educational programs. University alumni are featured at the most prestigious Russian and international exhibitions, and their works are displayed in the world's leading museums.