Les Frères Morozov

by Natalya Semenova

Les Morozov et les Chtchoukine, les deux principales familles qui ont dominé la vie culturelle moscovite du début du XXe siècle, ont inventé le concept de philanthropie artistique et directement contribué à la reconnaissance internationale des peintres modernes français. Leurs deux collections d’art moderne, parmi les plus belles, aujourd’hui réparties entre Moscou et Saint-Pétersbourg, forment un ensemble majeur de chefs-d’œuvre avec des toiles exceptionnelles de Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Bonnard, Denis, Matisse, Derain, Picasso...

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Russia, Biography, France, History

318 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2021

About the author

Natalya Semenova is a Russian art historian. She is coauthor of Matisse Et La Russie and coeditor of Selling Russia's Treasures: The Soviet Trade In Nationalized Art, 1917–1938.

Reviews

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is currently an exhibition in the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris on the Russian collector Ivan Abramovich Morozov (1871-1921) . As I have not been able to go I thought that I would find solace in the catalogue, but the reviews have been lukewarm due to the poor quality of the images and of the paper used. Sad. Instead, I opted for this biography by the art historian Natalya Semenova, book that has preceded the Paris exhibition. Back in 2016 a similar exhibition had been held on the other great and older Russian modernist collector, Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin (1854-1936), and Semenova wrote The Collector which I will be reading soon . Given the great success of the Shchukin exhibition, a great grandchild of Morozov asked Semenova to write this book about his forebear.

Both collections, the Shchukin and the Morozov, were appropriated by the Soviet State soon after the Revolution, were merged and then split again after having shuffled them. One of the mixed parts went to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the other to the State Hermitage Museum in what was then Leningrad.

I have enjoyed this book tremendously.

Semenova begins by tracing the Morozov family. Ivan was not the only noteworthy member. His great grandfather, Vasily, had been a serf. Vasily’s son, Savva the First, became a weaver and thanks to his very enterprising character succeeded in building up of a powerful textile company which by mid 19thC was the largest producer of high-quality cotton yarn. Semenova then tracks the lives of Ivan’s parents, Abram Abramovich and his strong and forceful Varvara (née Khludova), as well as his brothers, the elder Mikhail (1870-1903), who preceded Ivan in the collection fascination and his younger brother Arseny (1874-1908), who preferred hunting to art and whose taste was rather kitchy.

Both Mikhail and Ivan would go yearly to Paris, where Mikhail had his own apartment, while Ivan preferred to stay in a hotel, and would visit, assiduously,

The elder Mikhail was the first to begin collecting, in parallel to Shchukin, from 1898 while Ivan did not start until five years later, after Mikhail’s untimely death. All these collectors visited assiduously the galleries of Durand-Ruel, Vollard, and Bernheim-Jeune. From 1904 Ivan would visit the French capital at least once a year, with two target dates, April for the Salon des Indépendants and October for the Salon d’Automne. The year 1905 was particularly important in the French art scene, since that’s when the so called “Fauves” first made their public statement. Impressionism was by then well in the past.

Although I suppose Semenova considers Shchukin’s collecting style in greater depth in her other book, in this volume she compares between the characters and preferences of the two magnates. Shchukin was more impetuous in his decisions and had a strong preference for Matisse (one of his two Dances hangs in MoMA), although ironically, the iconic portrait of Morozov (heading this review) painted by Valentin Serov (1865-1911), shows Morozov sitting with a Matisse behind him. Morozov’s main obsession on Cézanne, building a strong collection over seven years that offered a wide representation of the painter’s various phases.



Both shared their fascination with Gauguin.



Morozov also commissioned two other French painters, more associated with the Symbolist movement, to decorate his house in Moscow with various murals. To Maurice Denis he offered his music room (now reconstructed in the Hermitage) while to Pierre Bonnard he commissioned the walls of the staircase. Denis painted a daring version of the Psyché myth while Bonnard was asked to bring the Mediterranean sun to frosty Moscow through glorious landscapes that could be admired, in a trompe l’oeil fashion through the architectural columns of the entrance hall.






There are two wonderful videos on this exhibition. The first is a virtual visit accompanied by Anne Baldassari, the curator of the exhibition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu7YZ...

And the second one is a documentary in which several people are interviewed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP6I8...

[Nadya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хорошая книжка, только вот очень неудобная. В первой части и так очень легко запутаться в членах семьи, потому что их довольно много, так автор упоминает людей, которых в принципе можно было и не упоминать. Зачем они здесь? Не понятно.
Дальше подробно написано о процессе приобретения картин французских художников, но и только. Им посвящено несколько глав, а русские упоминаются лишь в конце и все вместе.
Слишком много упоминания Щукина, про которого вообще-то есть отдельная книга, а такое ощущение, что он член этой семьи. Про него говорится больше, чем о младшем брате Морозове.
А ещё все сноски в конце, что очень неудобно, и хотя на страницах бы тогда осталось совсем чуть-чуть текста, но как-то не круто перелистывать в самый конец, только чтобы узнать, что «данная информация не корректна».

[liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

это так странно, но так интересно, что вообще существовали такие люди и так любили искусство, и все это выросло в то, что коллекция россии - одна из наиболее богатых в мире

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a digital copy of this book for free via NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a generally quite interesting account of one of the more famous Russian art collections and the family that founded it. The author is a Russian art historian, and while the translation is good, the text in many ways remains clearly intended for a Russian audience. I don't mind this, but some readers may find it occasionally odd in style or content. Although the book is at some level presented as a biography specifically of Ivan Abramovich Morozov, it's in many ways an overview of art collecting in late 19th/early 20th century Russia (mainly Moscow) with an emphasis on the Morozov family as a whole.

As an accompaniment to an exhibition, it would undoubtedly be fascinating. Unfortunately, without most of the paintings being featured in the book's illustrations, I don't recognize many of them by title alone. A significant portion of the book is a fairly detailed account of what was purchased and when, presumably reconstructed from the apparently very meticulous record of receipts left by Ivan Morozov, and I'm not really enough of an art aficionado to fully appreciate this.

Nevertheless, it's a really interesting look at the changing fortunes of a family of Old Believer peasants turned giants of the textile industry, and how they came to make a permanent mark on the Russian art world through their activity as collectors. While the collection was nationalized after the Revolution and later dispersed, the book very strongly demonstrates its overall importance.

The notes and bibliography are extensive, and I think it would be of interest to many people who enjoy art history regardless of whether they are primarily interested in Russian or Western European artists.

I do wish the cover design hadn't gone for pseudo-Cyrillic, though.

[Olga Samsonova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасная книга! Советую всем интересующимся импрессионизмом и великими русскими коллекционерами - братьями Морозовыми и Сергеем Щукиным (про которого есть не менее интересная книга того же автора). Наталья Семёнова удивительно переплетает собранные факты о коллекции, картинах, художниках и самих купцах-собирателях и превращает все в интереснейшую и динамичную историю. Несмотря на малое количество личной информации об Иване Морозове, Семёновой удалось создать цельное и подробное описание всех произошедших событий последством стороннего наблюдения, дневников, встреч и документов.

[AcademicEditor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting portrait of a family whose experience reflected various facets of the Russian and Soviet systems. The Morozovs rose from serfdom, became Old Believers, amassed a fortune as textile manufacturers, and then the brothers Mikhail and Ivan became art collectors, only to have their treasures confiscated after the Revolution. Ivan was even appointed "assistant curator" when his mansion was turned into a state museum. In the years after Ivan's death, the collection was seen as too opulent and too distant from Soviet aesthetics and so was not exhibited for decades. The author began with minimal primary sources and reconstructed a narrative that spans generations. It can feel a little unfocused at times, but all in all, it is an interesting read.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully compelling account of the life and times of Ivan Morozov and his passion for collecting art, and whose comprehensive and valuable collection ultimately had to be handed over to the new Bolshevik regime – but one which was preserved and which can still, thankfully, be viewed today. A must read for anyone interested in Russian culture – or indeed anyone interested in art history in general.

[Zina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Сходила на выставку и после решила книжку прочесть. Сначала было разочаровалась, что внутри только чб иллюстрации (только увлекающиеся искусством меня поймут), но потом поняла, что рано — текст потрясающий! Очень захватывающая история, временами читается как детектив 🤌 особенно круто то, что после Ивана Морозова не осталось дневников и мало свидетельств, но у автора ��се равно получилось сделать и портрет героя, и рассказать про его коллекцию, и дать исторический контекст.

Восторг!

[Janie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

# ' Morozov' is the newest novel by #Nataya Semenova. For those of you that enjoy art history this is very interesting. The pictures are the bonus they are nice. Overall a nice read.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Natalya Semenova, and #Yale University Press