Vladimir Schuko
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Alekseyevich Shchuko (October 17, 1878 – January 19, 1939) was a Russia
n architect, member of the Saint Petersburg
school of Russian neoclassical revival
notable for his giant order
apartment buildings "rejecting all trace of the moderne
". After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Shchuko gradually embraced the modernist ideas, developing his own version of modernized neoclassicism
together with his partner Vladimir Gelfreikh. Shchuko and Gelfreikh succeeded through the pre-war period of stalinist architecture
with high profile projects like the Lenin Library
, Moscow Metro
stations and co-authored the unrealized Palace of Soviets
. Shchuko has also been a prolific stage designer, author of 43 drama
and opera
stage sets.
in a military family, Vladimir Schuko joined Leon Benois
class of architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts
in 1896 and graduated in 1904. His academic mentors included Vladimir Mate and Ilya Repin; his classmates – Nikolay Lanceray
, Ivan Rylsky, Alexander Tamanian
and Nikolai Vasilyev; the class of 1904 was by far the strongest the Academy ever had. Shchuko's 1904 graduation project, a palace for the viceroy
of the Russian Far East
, was declared best in his class but had no chances of being ever built during or after the Russo-Japanese War
; it was undeniably neoclassical
and demonstrated uncommon ability to retain the neoclassical spirit in a design substantially larger than any preceding neoclassical buildings. Twice, in 1904 and 1906, the Academy awarded him with state-sponsored study tours of Italy
; in 1901 he also travelled to Svalbard
, and has been frequently engaged in preservation projects at home. Shchuko has been a member of the influential non-governmental Commission for Study and Description of Old Petersburg, a preservation society led by Leon Benois, and later served on the board of the Museum of Old Petersburg established in 1907. As Nicholas Roerich
said in a 1939 eulogy
, "He deeply understood the Russian Empire, he loved the Italian eighteenth century. He had a naturally fine sense; anything emanating from his was noble in form and function".
(Markov Buildings, 1908–1910), became instantly popular, copied by fellow architects and included in textbooks on Russian architecture. The first, at 65, Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, employing his novel giant order
, is still used as a reference in Russian textbooks on architecture. The building, with giant Ionic columns
spanning four floors and topped with a fifth, hidden into an elaborate cornice
, was based on the Italian Renaissance
. Shchuko decorated flat wall outside the main portico
with loggia
s interpaced with carved relief, a pattern that became common in 1930s stalinist architecture
. The second, at no. 63, puzzled contemporary critics as being monumental yet neither historic nor modern, "a style appropriate for contemporary urban architecture". Critics especially praised his stern treatments of windows recessed in a flat wall, another future staple of stalinist architecture. "The ramifications of Shchuko's neoclassicism appeared in many other, less obvious, forms during the retrospective phase of Soviet architecture—indeed, until the late 1950s." However, unlike his contemporary Ivan Fomin
, Shchuko built little in Saint Petersburg. His other notable pre-revolutionary projects, the empire style Russian Pavilions, were built in Rome
and Turin
for the 1911 International Exhibition of Art
and were soon dismantled.
In 1913 Shchuko launched construction of the neoclassical Municipal Building in Kiev
; it was partially completed during World War I
and rebuilt to Shchuko's revised draft in 1920s. The building later housed the Communist Party
headquarters in Ukraine
, the Gestapo
and currently the Security Service of Ukraine. Apart from the Kiev project, Shchuko had completed a single architectural job during the war, rebuilding the Memorial Hall at the Academy of Arts (1914–1915); another Saint Petersburg project, a bank building on Nevsky Prospect, was left unfinished.
's Purgatory of St. Patrick
). Shchuko's early theatrical production departed from the modernized revivalism of Mir iskusstva
as the artist settled for exact recreation of the early 19th century romanticism
. Later, in 1919-1920s, Shchuko was criticized for "schillerisation
of Shakespeare
" through introducing irrelevant romanticism into medieval settings.
World War One and the subsequent Russian Civil War
put a hold on nearly all construction projects for a decade, yet the theatre prospered. The architect turned to theatre again, joined the board of Nikolai Evreinov
's Prival Komediantov cabaret in 1916. In 1918 Shchuko and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
collaborated with the Theatre of Artistic Drama as stage designers; the company collapsed after producing Tirso de Molina
's El Burlador.
In February 1919 Shchuko, Dobuzhinsky and Alexander Benois
moved to newly opened Bolshoy Drama Theatre
. Shchuko landed a full-time job as the chief designer, "amazingly appearing in the right time in the right place to create the atmosphere of a grand style theatre". The company, leaning towards classical works, earned cash through "lightweight" melodrama
s like Alexey Tolstoy
's 1925 Conspiring Empress, also designed by Shchuko, that became a long-running hit. Shchuko productions of the Civil War period (1919 Don Carlos
, 1920 Othello
and Arvid Järnefelt
's Destruction of Jerusalem) preceded the monumental stereotypes of social realism
of 1930s-1940s, however, starting with the 1921 Twelfth Night he reduced the apparent size and grandeur of his stage sets. Shchuko frequently employed theatre designer Orest Allegri, famous for his inventive handling of perspective illusion
. Contemporary critics rate the 1919 Don Carlos as the artist's highest mark in theatre.
In 1925-1927 Shchuko also designed a series of Der Ring des Nibelungen
opera shows and a ballet at Mariinsky Theatre
. After relocation to Moscow in the end of 1920s Shchuko collaborated with Bolshoi Theatre
and Maly Theatre
, producing the 1937 Boris Godunov
.
Vladimir Gelfreikh, Shchuko's junior partner in the Soviet period, graduated from the same Academy class of Leon Benois
in 1914. Their first extant practical work, reconstruction of the square in front of Smolny Institute, was executed in 1923–1924. In 1925 Shchuko designed the pedestal and architectural setting for Sergey Evseyev's iconic Lenin
on top of an armored car monument on the Finlyandsky Rail Terminal square. The monument was clearly designed "to provide a counterpoint
to the statue of Peter the Great
, the Bronze Horseman". Evseyev-Shchuko monument was the first one to establish a "canonical" image of Lenin and was widely repeated, and became the architect's last notable work in Saint Petersburg.
Second half of the 1920s was marked by high-profile architectural contests dominated by modernist architects. Shchuko and Gelfreikh lost the Kiev Passenger Railway Station
contest to Pavel Alyoshin and Andrey Verbitsky, but in 1928 secured a winning bid on the contest to design the Lenin Library
in Moscow. Initial draft comprised a complex network of lowrise buildings facing Mokhovaya Street
and a π-shaped highrise tower of the main depository in the back of block. Construction commenced in 1930 and was substantially complete in 1941; expansions continued into 1970s. As-built structure disposed with the complexity of the original proposal; the depository, completed in 1941, is a plain 19-floor elongated slab. Among many artists involved in decorating the Library, Shchuko is personally credited for the design of the sculptural frieze
facing Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka streets. Modern authors consider the Library, along with Mayakovskaya, to be Moscow's nearest approximations of Art Deco
style and compare it to the 1937 Palais de Chaillot
in Paris
.
In 1930 Shchuko and Gelfreikh launched construction of a large (2,500 and 850 seats) opera theatre in Rostov-on-Don
. The open contest to design Rostov theatre was won by Barkhin family partnership, however, after the results were announced, Shchuko personally arrived in Rostov and persuaded the commissioners to discard Barkhin drafts. The constructivist
theater was completed in 1935, when Shchuko was working on the Palace of Soviets. Elaborate set of rotating stages provided unprecedented freedom to producers and designers, even allowing live cavalry
marches on stage. Despite award-winning exterior and plans, Rostov theatre was never used for its intended purpose: poor acoustics
rendered it useless for music, and it has not produced a single opera show. It was destroyed in World War II
and rebuilt in 1963; this time, the main hall was reduced to 1,200 seats but acquired proper acoustics.
(1931–1932); their best known draft was an oversized near copy of the Doge's Palace in Venice
. The last, closed, stage of the contest was won by Boris Iofan
. May 10, 1933 Iofan was announced as the winner and officially instructed to redesign his proposal so as to crown it with a gigantic, "50 to 75 meters" statue of Lenin. Four weeks later (June 4) Iofan was "supplied" with two "assistants" - Shchuko and Gelfreikh, both his seniors, and having a longer track of successful construction management practice dating from 1900s. According to mainstream history accounts, Shchuko and Gelfreikh were appointed because the immense project had to be completed quickly, and the establishment feared that Iofan was not experienced enough to handle it alone. Modern historians like Dmitry Khmelnitsky assert that the concept was Stalin
's own vision imposed through Shchuko and Gelfreikh and perfected through their expertise. All authors agree on the fact that the trio initially disagreed over the placement of Lenin's statue: Shchuko insisted on literally placing the statue on top of the main hall, as instructed by the decree, while Iofan proposed more complex solutions. Shchuko's concept prevailed. Later, former associates of Iofan and Shchuko commented about intense frictions and disarray in the early stages of their joint work; Schuko and Gelfreikh indeed imposed their vision over Iofan's, using contacts with Maxim Gorky
to get a direct line to Stalin. In 1934 the trio departed for the United States to study American skyscraper technology, meeting Frank Lloyd Wright
who was well aware of Iofan's work and disliked it.
Schuko was engaged in the Palace of Soviets project until his death in 1939, and lived long enough to witness the base of the Palace erected "like a spaceship that had landed in the center of Moscow". Concurrently, he designed extant Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge (with Nikolay Kalmykov, Vladimir Gelfreikh, Mikhail Minkus), a viaduct
and a city theatre in Sochi
(with Gelfreikh) and the original, 1938–1939, Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
.
Moscow Metro
station Elektrozavodskaya, initially designed by Shchuko and Gelgreikh in 1938 (the drafts were made public in April 1938), was completed five years after Shchuko's death. Stalin Prize
for Elektrozavodskaya was awarded to Gelfreikh and Igor Rozhin, omitting Shchuko; modern references on Moscow Metro reinstate Shchuko as one of three co-authors.
Architect Yury Shchuko, author of the 1954 Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
and a junior architect of the 1931-1932 Bolshoy Dom
, was Vladimir Shchuko's first cousin once removed
. Yury Shchuko, along with three other contributors, collaborated with Vladimir Shchuko on the 1936 draft of the Soviet pavilion for the 1937 World Expo in Paris
. This contest was won by Iofan.
Yury Shchuko's son, Vladislav Shchuko (1942–2007), was a structural engineer
and a professor at Vladimir State University.
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 architect, member of the Saint Petersburg
Saint 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...
school of Russian neoclassical revival
Russian neoclassical revival
Russian neoclassical revival was a trend in Russian culture, mostly pronounced in architecture, that briefly replaced eclecticism and Art Nouveau as the leading architectural style between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I, coexisting with the Silver Age of Russian Poetry...
notable for his giant order
Giant order
In Classical architecture, a giant order is an order whose columns or pilasters span two stories...
apartment buildings "rejecting all trace of the moderne
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
". After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
Shchuko gradually embraced the modernist ideas, developing his own version of modernized neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
together with his partner Vladimir Gelfreikh. Shchuko and Gelfreikh succeeded through the pre-war period of stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
with high profile projects like the Lenin Library
Russian State Library
The Russian State Library is the national library of Russia, located in Moscow. It is the largest in the country and the third largest in the world for its collection of books . It was named the V. I...
, Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
stations and co-authored the unrealized Palace of Soviets
Palace of Soviets
The Palace of the Soviets was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour...
. Shchuko has also been a prolific stage designer, author of 43 drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
stage sets.
Early years
Born in TambovTambov
Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...
in a military family, Vladimir Schuko joined Leon Benois
Leon Benois
Leon Benois was a Russian architect. He was the son of architect Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists Alexandre Benois and Albert Benois, and the grandfather of the actor Sir Peter Ustinov...
class of architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...
in 1896 and graduated in 1904. His academic mentors included Vladimir Mate and Ilya Repin; his classmates – Nikolay Lanceray
Nikolay Lanceray
Nikolay Lanceray was a Russian architect, preservationist, illustrator of books and historian of neoclassical art, biographer of Charles Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna and Andreyan Zakharov...
, Ivan Rylsky, Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian was a Russian-born Armenian neoclassical architect, who is remembered today for his work in the city of Yerevan.Born in the city of Yekaterinodar in 1878 in the family of a banker. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1904. His works portrayed sensitive and...
and Nikolai Vasilyev; the class of 1904 was by far the strongest the Academy ever had. Shchuko's 1904 graduation project, a palace for the viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
, was declared best in his class but had no chances of being ever built during or after the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
; it was undeniably neoclassical
Russian neoclassical revival
Russian neoclassical revival was a trend in Russian culture, mostly pronounced in architecture, that briefly replaced eclecticism and Art Nouveau as the leading architectural style between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I, coexisting with the Silver Age of Russian Poetry...
and demonstrated uncommon ability to retain the neoclassical spirit in a design substantially larger than any preceding neoclassical buildings. Twice, in 1904 and 1906, the Academy awarded him with state-sponsored study tours of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
; in 1901 he also travelled to Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, and has been frequently engaged in preservation projects at home. Shchuko has been a member of the influential non-governmental Commission for Study and Description of Old Petersburg, a preservation society led by Leon Benois, and later served on the board of the Museum of Old Petersburg established in 1907. As Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...
said in a 1939 eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
, "He deeply understood the Russian Empire, he loved the Italian eighteenth century. He had a naturally fine sense; anything emanating from his was noble in form and function".
Pre-revolutionary practice
His first real project executed upon return from Italy in 1907 - the facades of two adjacent apartment blocks on Saint Petersburg's Kamenny IslandKamenny Island
Kamenny Ostrov, Kamenny Island, or Stony Island is one of the islands in the Neva delta. It is part of Saint Petersburg, Russia....
(Markov Buildings, 1908–1910), became instantly popular, copied by fellow architects and included in textbooks on Russian architecture. The first, at 65, Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, employing his novel giant order
Giant order
In Classical architecture, a giant order is an order whose columns or pilasters span two stories...
, is still used as a reference in Russian textbooks on architecture. The building, with giant Ionic columns
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
spanning four floors and topped with a fifth, hidden into an elaborate cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
, was based on the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
. Shchuko decorated flat wall outside the main portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
s interpaced with carved relief, a pattern that became common in 1930s stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
. The second, at no. 63, puzzled contemporary critics as being monumental yet neither historic nor modern, "a style appropriate for contemporary urban architecture". Critics especially praised his stern treatments of windows recessed in a flat wall, another future staple of stalinist architecture. "The ramifications of Shchuko's neoclassicism appeared in many other, less obvious, forms during the retrospective phase of Soviet architecture—indeed, until the late 1950s." However, unlike his contemporary Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
, Shchuko built little in Saint Petersburg. His other notable pre-revolutionary projects, the empire style Russian Pavilions, were built in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
for the 1911 International Exhibition of Art
International Exhibition of Art (1911)
International Exhibition of Art was a world's fair held in Rome in 1911 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy in the same year as another world's fair in Turin . It marked the beginnings of the National Roman Museum...
and were soon dismantled.
In 1913 Shchuko launched construction of the neoclassical Municipal Building in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
; it was partially completed during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and rebuilt to Shchuko's revised draft in 1920s. The building later housed the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
headquarters in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and currently the Security Service of Ukraine. Apart from the Kiev project, Shchuko had completed a single architectural job during the war, rebuilding the Memorial Hall at the Academy of Arts (1914–1915); another Saint Petersburg project, a bank building on Nevsky Prospect, was left unfinished.
Stage design
Shchuko's first theatrical production was made for the 1907–1908 season of the Old-Time Theatre in Saint Petersburg, followed by another season in 1911–1912 (CalderonPedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
's Purgatory of St. Patrick
Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick
L'Espurgatoire Seint Patriz or The Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick is a 12th century poem by Marie de France. It is an Old French translation of a Latin text Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii by the monk Henry of Saltrey. However, Marie's version is amplified from the original...
). Shchuko's early theatrical production departed from the modernized revivalism of Mir iskusstva
Mir iskusstva
Mir iskusstva was a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it inspired and embodied, which was a major influence on the Russians who helped revolutionize European art during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1909, many of the miriskusniki also contributed to the Ballets Russes...
as the artist settled for exact recreation of the early 19th century romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. Later, in 1919-1920s, Shchuko was criticized for "schillerisation
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
" through introducing irrelevant romanticism into medieval settings.
World War One and the subsequent Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
put a hold on nearly all construction projects for a decade, yet the theatre prospered. The architect turned to theatre again, joined the board of Nikolai Evreinov
Nikolai Evreinov
Nikolai Nikolayevich Evreinov was a Russian director, dramatist and theatre practitioner associated with Russian Symbolism.- Life :The son of a French woman and a Russian engineer, Evreinov developed a keen interest in theatre from an early age, penning his first play at the age of 7. Six years...
's Prival Komediantov cabaret in 1916. In 1918 Shchuko and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early twentieth-century city....
collaborated with the Theatre of Artistic Drama as stage designers; the company collapsed after producing Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and a Roman Catholic monk.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4, 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara,...
's El Burlador.
In February 1919 Shchuko, Dobuzhinsky and Alexander Benois
Alexandre Benois
Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois , an influential artist, art critic, historian, preservationist, and founding member of Mir iskusstva , an art movement and magazine...
moved to newly opened Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Tovstonogov Theater
Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater , formerly known as Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater , often referred to as the Bolshoi Drama Theater and by the acronym BDT , is a theater in Saint Petersburg, that is considered one of the best Russian theaters...
. Shchuko landed a full-time job as the chief designer, "amazingly appearing in the right time in the right place to create the atmosphere of a grand style theatre". The company, leaning towards classical works, earned cash through "lightweight" melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s like Alexey Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy , nicknamed the Comrade Count, was a Russian and Soviet writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels...
's 1925 Conspiring Empress, also designed by Shchuko, that became a long-running hit. Shchuko productions of the Civil War period (1919 Don Carlos
Don Carlos (play)
Don Carlos is a historical tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Schiller; it was written between 1783 and 1787 and first produced in Hamburg in 1787...
, 1920 Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
and Arvid Järnefelt
Arvid Järnefelt
Arvid Järnefelt was a Finnish judge and writer.Arvid's parents were general and governor August Aleksander Järnefelt and Elisabeth Järnefelt .Arvid had nine siblings: Kasper, Erik, Ellida, Ellen, Armas, Aino, Hilja and Sigrid.Arvid Järnefelt married...
's Destruction of Jerusalem) preceded the monumental stereotypes of social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
of 1930s-1940s, however, starting with the 1921 Twelfth Night he reduced the apparent size and grandeur of his stage sets. Shchuko frequently employed theatre designer Orest Allegri, famous for his inventive handling of perspective illusion
Perspective (visual)
Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
. Contemporary critics rate the 1919 Don Carlos as the artist's highest mark in theatre.
In 1925-1927 Shchuko also designed a series of Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
opera shows and a ballet at Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
. After relocation to Moscow in the end of 1920s Shchuko collaborated with Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
and Maly Theatre
Maly Theatre (Moscow)
Maly Theatre is a drama theater in Moscow, Russia. Established in 1806 and operating on its present site on the Theatre Square since 1824, the theatre traces its history to the Moscow University drama company, established in 1756...
, producing the 1937 Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (drama)
Boris Godunov is a play by Alexander Pushkin. It was written in 1825, published in 1831, but not approved for performance by the censor until 1866. Its subject is the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar from 1598 to 1605. It consists of 25 scenes and is written predominantly in blank...
.
Modernism to stalinism
Leon Benois
Leon Benois was a Russian architect. He was the son of architect Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists Alexandre Benois and Albert Benois, and the grandfather of the actor Sir Peter Ustinov...
in 1914. Their first extant practical work, reconstruction of the square in front of Smolny Institute, was executed in 1923–1924. In 1925 Shchuko designed the pedestal and architectural setting for Sergey Evseyev's iconic Lenin
Vladimir 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...
on top of an armored car monument on the Finlyandsky Rail Terminal square. The monument was clearly designed "to provide a counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
to the statue of Peter the Great
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
, the Bronze Horseman". Evseyev-Shchuko monument was the first one to establish a "canonical" image of Lenin and was widely repeated, and became the architect's last notable work in Saint Petersburg.
Second half of the 1920s was marked by high-profile architectural contests dominated by modernist architects. Shchuko and Gelfreikh lost the Kiev Passenger Railway Station
Kiev Passenger Railway Station
Kiev Passenger Railway Station is a complex of Kiev's Central Station and adjoining "Southern Station," plus the adjacent Suburban Station, together serving more than 170,000 passengers per day . "Southern Station" is a misnomer in virtually universal usage in Kiev, referring to an entrance on the...
contest to Pavel Alyoshin and Andrey Verbitsky, but in 1928 secured a winning bid on the contest to design the Lenin Library
Russian State Library
The Russian State Library is the national library of Russia, located in Moscow. It is the largest in the country and the third largest in the world for its collection of books . It was named the V. I...
in Moscow. Initial draft comprised a complex network of lowrise buildings facing Mokhovaya Street
Mokhovaya Street
Mokhovaya Street, is a one-way street in central Moscow, Russia, a part of Moscow's innermost ring road - Central Squares of Moscow. In 1961-1990 it formed part of Karl Marx Avenue...
and a π-shaped highrise tower of the main depository in the back of block. Construction commenced in 1930 and was substantially complete in 1941; expansions continued into 1970s. As-built structure disposed with the complexity of the original proposal; the depository, completed in 1941, is a plain 19-floor elongated slab. Among many artists involved in decorating the Library, Shchuko is personally credited for the design of the sculptural frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
facing Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka streets. Modern authors consider the Library, along with Mayakovskaya, to be Moscow's nearest approximations of Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style and compare it to the 1937 Palais de Chaillot
Trocadéro
The Trocadéro, , site of the Palais de Chaillot, , is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. The hill of the Trocadéro is the hill of Chaillot, a former village.- Origin of the name :...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In 1930 Shchuko and Gelfreikh launched construction of a large (2,500 and 850 seats) opera theatre in Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
. The open contest to design Rostov theatre was won by Barkhin family partnership, however, after the results were announced, Shchuko personally arrived in Rostov and persuaded the commissioners to discard Barkhin drafts. The constructivist
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
theater was completed in 1935, when Shchuko was working on the Palace of Soviets. Elaborate set of rotating stages provided unprecedented freedom to producers and designers, even allowing live cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
marches on stage. Despite award-winning exterior and plans, Rostov theatre was never used for its intended purpose: poor acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
rendered it useless for music, and it has not produced a single opera show. It was destroyed in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and rebuilt in 1963; this time, the main hall was reduced to 1,200 seats but acquired proper acoustics.
Palace of Soviets
Schuko and Gelfreikh participated in the early, public stages of the contest for the Palace of SovietsPalace of Soviets
The Palace of the Soviets was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour...
(1931–1932); their best known draft was an oversized near copy of the Doge's Palace in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. The last, closed, stage of the contest was won by Boris Iofan
Boris Iofan
Boris Mihailovich Iofan was a Russian Soviet architect, known for his Stalinist architecture buildings like 1931 House on Embankment and the 1931-1933 winning draft of the Palace of Soviets.- Background :...
. May 10, 1933 Iofan was announced as the winner and officially instructed to redesign his proposal so as to crown it with a gigantic, "50 to 75 meters" statue of Lenin. Four weeks later (June 4) Iofan was "supplied" with two "assistants" - Shchuko and Gelfreikh, both his seniors, and having a longer track of successful construction management practice dating from 1900s. According to mainstream history accounts, Shchuko and Gelfreikh were appointed because the immense project had to be completed quickly, and the establishment feared that Iofan was not experienced enough to handle it alone. Modern historians like Dmitry Khmelnitsky assert that the concept was 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...
's own vision imposed through Shchuko and Gelfreikh and perfected through their expertise. All authors agree on the fact that the trio initially disagreed over the placement of Lenin's statue: Shchuko insisted on literally placing the statue on top of the main hall, as instructed by the decree, while Iofan proposed more complex solutions. Shchuko's concept prevailed. Later, former associates of Iofan and Shchuko commented about intense frictions and disarray in the early stages of their joint work; Schuko and Gelfreikh indeed imposed their vision over Iofan's, using contacts with Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
to get a direct line to Stalin. In 1934 the trio departed for the United States to study American skyscraper technology, meeting Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
who was well aware of Iofan's work and disliked it.
Schuko was engaged in the Palace of Soviets project until his death in 1939, and lived long enough to witness the base of the Palace erected "like a spaceship that had landed in the center of Moscow". Concurrently, he designed extant Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge (with Nikolay Kalmykov, Vladimir Gelfreikh, Mikhail Minkus), a viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
and a city theatre in Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
(with Gelfreikh) and the original, 1938–1939, Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
.
Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
station Elektrozavodskaya, initially designed by Shchuko and Gelgreikh in 1938 (the drafts were made public in April 1938), was completed five years after Shchuko's death. Stalin Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
for Elektrozavodskaya was awarded to Gelfreikh and Igor Rozhin, omitting Shchuko; modern references on Moscow Metro reinstate Shchuko as one of three co-authors.
Shchuko family
Shchuko was married twice. According to Tatyana Shchuko (born 1934), her father remained a religious person, despite all political assignments, until his death and did not hide his faith from public.- His son Boris, a theatrical designer, was arrested for counterrevolutionary chargesArticle 58 (RSFSR Penal Code)Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on 25 February 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times...
, and managed to survive the labor camps of UkhtaUkhtaUkhta is an important industrial town in the Komi Republic of Russia. Population: Oil springs along the Ukhta River were already known in the 17th century. In the mid-19th century, industrialist M. K. Sidorov started to drill for oil in this area. It was one of the first oil wells in...
. Family members were confident that persecution of Boris provoked the architect's untimely death at the age of sixty. - Daughter, Marina Schuko (1915–1979) was an actress trained at the Bolshoy Drama TheaterTovstonogov TheaterTovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater , formerly known as Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater , often referred to as the Bolshoi Drama Theater and by the acronym BDT , is a theater in Saint Petersburg, that is considered one of the best Russian theaters...
college. After escaping the trap of the Siege of LeningradSiege of LeningradThe Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
in 1941 she wandered through different provincial theatres until landing a 25-year career at a drama theatre in VologdaVologdaVologda is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River. The city is a major transport knot of the Northwest of Russia. Vologda is among the Russian cities possessing an especially valuable historical heritage...
. - Another daughter, Tatyana Shchuko, born in 1934, has also become a drama actress. She has played at Saint Petersburg theatres for 50 years since 1958 and is still active as at the end of 2008. Her most recent awards include the 2002 State Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian Federation is a state honorary prize established in 1992 as the substitute for the USSR State Prize. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award was significantly changed making them closer to such awards as Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin...
for the Maly Drama Theatre (Lev DodinLev DodinLev Abramovich Dodin is a modern Russian theater director, the leader of Saint Petersburg Maly Drama Theater.-Biography:Lev Dodin was born in Siberia in 1944. He first experienced theatrical production as a child at the Leningrad Young Viewers’ Theatre directed by Matvey Grigorievich Dubrovin...
theatre) production of Moscow Choir.
Architect Yury Shchuko, author of the 1954 Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
and a junior architect of the 1931-1932 Bolshoy Dom
Bolshoy Dom
The Big House is an unofficial name of the building in Saint Petersburg, Russia, shared by the headquarters of the local Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast branch of the Federal Security Service of Russia and the Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Main Department of Internal Affairs...
, was Vladimir Shchuko's first cousin once removed
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
. Yury Shchuko, along with three other contributors, collaborated with Vladimir Shchuko on the 1936 draft of the Soviet pavilion for the 1937 World Expo in Paris
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)
The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937 in Paris, France...
. This contest was won by Iofan.
Yury Shchuko's son, Vladislav Shchuko (1942–2007), was a structural engineer
Structural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants...
and a professor at Vladimir State University.