Nikolai Punin
Encyclopedia
Nikolay Nikolayevich Punin was a Russia
n art
scholar and writer
. He edited several magazines, such as Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo among others, and was also co-founder of the Department of Iconography in the State Russian Museum. Punin was a lifelong friend and common-law husband of poet Anna Akhmatova
who is famous for writing the poem Requiem.
and attended the classical gymnasium where he first met young student Anna Akhmatova
. From 1907 to 1914, Punin attended the St. Petersburg University, studied history of art under professor D. V. Aynalov, graduating in 1914, as an art historian, and began a career as an art critic and editor. Punin's involvement in such schools as Acmeism, Constructivism, Formalism, and other developments in art and culture, eventually made him one of the key figures in the Russian art world.
Punin was among the first art critics who focused on the emerging new trends and styles. Punin's own multi-cultural exposure, as well as his diverse education and broad vision, made him the leading ideologist of the "Left Art," embracing and representing many innovative and experimental movements. Punin was nicknamed a "Futurist" and a "Leftist" by both artists and historians. His circle of friends included artists Kazimir Malevich
, Vladimir Tatlin
, Vladimir Lebedev
, Lev Bruni, Nikolai Tyrsa, and others.
In 1917, Punin married Anna Arens, a physician; they had one daughter, Irina.
In 1918, Punin was appointed by Anatoli Lunacharsky to several important positions, such as the Head of the Petrograd Committee for Education (Narkompros), People's Commissar of the Russian Museum
and the Hermitage Museum
. For the next thirty years, Punin held several posts at the State Russian Museum.
during the 1920s and 1930s. Punin and Akhmatova had much in common since the years of their youth, when both were students in Tsarskoye Selo
. They had regular meetings since 1913, when both worked with the "Apollon" publishing in St. Petersburg. At that time Akmatova was married to Nikolay Gumilev, and Punin was a regular guest in their home during the 1910s. In 1922, Akmatova came to visit Punin at his home in the garden wing of the Sheremetyev Palace. She eventually moved in with Punin, and their relationship lasted fifteen years. The home of Punin and Akhmatova was a meeting place for the St. Petersburg's cultural milieu, and later became a museum of Anna Akhmatova.
Akhmatova had saved Punin's life after his first arrest, in the 1930s, regardless that their relationship ended at that time. Punin was released after Anna Akhmatova's written petition to Joseph Stalin
, but later he was arrested again. Nikolay Punin was twice arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet secret service under the dictatorship of Stalin.
's portraits are tasteless. The Soviet government punished Punin by imprisonment in the Gulag
camp in Vorkuta
, northern Russia. This time nobody could help Punin, because the intellectual elite of Leningrad was devastated by the Leningrad Affair
. Most intellectuals who could help, were imprisoned, killed, exiled, or silenced by fear of Stalin's attacks.
A secret file on Nikolay Punin was created with numerous accusations of his anti-Soviet activity. Most accusations were fabricated by various agents of the former Soviet KGB office in Leningrad, such as Lt. Prussakov, who accused "former professor of Leningrad University and Academy of arts, Punin" of "anti-Soviet" propaganda. Punin's popular lectures about European artists, such as Rembrandt and Impressionists were seen by the communists as evidence of his anti-Soviet activity.
In 1953, just months after Stalin's death, Nikolay Punin died in the Gulag camp of Vorkuta, after spending the four last years of his life under harsh conditions of cold and hunger, in an old barrack crowded with two hundred prisoners lit by one light bulb.
and the Russian museum
Punin saved many important masterpieces of art from destruction by revolutionary mob and undereducated communists. He was severely attacked by the Soviet communists for his efforts in preservation of "Western" art in Soviet museums. He was respected by artists and intellectuals as the key figure in Russian art history.
Punin was also a remarkable lecturer; his lectures were extremely popular among open-minded members of the Soviet Academia, and among his numerous students.
Nikolay Punin's art essays and his memoirs were published in English and in Russian.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
scholar and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He edited several magazines, such as Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo among others, and was also co-founder of the Department of Iconography in the State Russian Museum. Punin was a lifelong friend and common-law husband of poet Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
who is famous for writing the poem Requiem.
A key figure in the Russian art world
Nikolay Punin was born in Helsinki, Finland, into the family of Nikolay Mikhaylovich Punin, a Medical Doctor of the Imperial Russian Army stationed in Helsinki. Young Punin moved to St. PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
and attended the classical gymnasium where he first met young student Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
. From 1907 to 1914, Punin attended the St. Petersburg University, studied history of art under professor D. V. Aynalov, graduating in 1914, as an art historian, and began a career as an art critic and editor. Punin's involvement in such schools as Acmeism, Constructivism, Formalism, and other developments in art and culture, eventually made him one of the key figures in the Russian art world.
Punin was among the first art critics who focused on the emerging new trends and styles. Punin's own multi-cultural exposure, as well as his diverse education and broad vision, made him the leading ideologist of the "Left Art," embracing and representing many innovative and experimental movements. Punin was nicknamed a "Futurist" and a "Leftist" by both artists and historians. His circle of friends included artists Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, born of ethnic Polish parents. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.-Early life:...
, Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin was a Russian and Soviet painter and architect. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Russian avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became the most important artist in the Constructivist movement...
, Vladimir Lebedev
Vladimir Lebedev
Vladimir Lebedev is a Russian freestyle skier who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Lebedev won bronze in the men's aerials event.-References:...
, Lev Bruni, Nikolai Tyrsa, and others.
In 1917, Punin married Anna Arens, a physician; they had one daughter, Irina.
In 1918, Punin was appointed by Anatoli Lunacharsky to several important positions, such as the Head of the Petrograd Committee for Education (Narkompros), People's Commissar of the Russian Museum
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg....
and the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
. For the next thirty years, Punin held several posts at the State Russian Museum.
Union with Anna Akhmatova
Nikolay Punin was in a civil union with poet Anna AkhmatovaAnna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
during the 1920s and 1930s. Punin and Akhmatova had much in common since the years of their youth, when both were students in Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
. They had regular meetings since 1913, when both worked with the "Apollon" publishing in St. Petersburg. At that time Akmatova was married to Nikolay Gumilev, and Punin was a regular guest in their home during the 1910s. In 1922, Akmatova came to visit Punin at his home in the garden wing of the Sheremetyev Palace. She eventually moved in with Punin, and their relationship lasted fifteen years. The home of Punin and Akhmatova was a meeting place for the St. Petersburg's cultural milieu, and later became a museum of Anna Akhmatova.
Akhmatova had saved Punin's life after his first arrest, in the 1930s, regardless that their relationship ended at that time. Punin was released after Anna Akhmatova's written petition to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, but later he was arrested again. Nikolay Punin was twice arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet secret service under the dictatorship of Stalin.
Under Stalin's dictatorship
In 1949 Punin was arrested on accusations of "anti-Soviet" activity, because he said that many thousands of LeninVladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
's portraits are tasteless. The Soviet government punished Punin by imprisonment in the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
camp in Vorkuta
Vorkuta
Vorkuta is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at the Usa River. Population: - Labor camp origins :...
, northern Russia. This time nobody could help Punin, because the intellectual elite of Leningrad was devastated by the Leningrad Affair
Leningrad Affair
The Leningrad Affair, or Leningrad case , was a series of criminal cases fabricated in the late 1940s–early 1950s in order to accuse a number of prominent members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of treason and intention to create an anti-Soviet organization out of the Leningrad Party...
. Most intellectuals who could help, were imprisoned, killed, exiled, or silenced by fear of Stalin's attacks.
A secret file on Nikolay Punin was created with numerous accusations of his anti-Soviet activity. Most accusations were fabricated by various agents of the former Soviet KGB office in Leningrad, such as Lt. Prussakov, who accused "former professor of Leningrad University and Academy of arts, Punin" of "anti-Soviet" propaganda. Punin's popular lectures about European artists, such as Rembrandt and Impressionists were seen by the communists as evidence of his anti-Soviet activity.
In 1953, just months after Stalin's death, Nikolay Punin died in the Gulag camp of Vorkuta, after spending the four last years of his life under harsh conditions of cold and hunger, in an old barrack crowded with two hundred prisoners lit by one light bulb.
Legacy
Punin was known as "savior of art collections" because he protected many valuable paintings of western artists, which were labeled "decadent bourgeois art" by the communist propaganda. In doing so, Punin took many risks by raising his voice in opposition to the Soviet officials. As curator of the Hermitage MuseumHermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
and the Russian museum
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg....
Punin saved many important masterpieces of art from destruction by revolutionary mob and undereducated communists. He was severely attacked by the Soviet communists for his efforts in preservation of "Western" art in Soviet museums. He was respected by artists and intellectuals as the key figure in Russian art history.
Punin was also a remarkable lecturer; his lectures were extremely popular among open-minded members of the Soviet Academia, and among his numerous students.
Nikolay Punin's art essays and his memoirs were published in English and in Russian.