“Alexei Petrovich Bogoliubov” – for the artist’s 190th anniversary (english version)

Alexei Bogoliubov is an outstanding and significant figure for Russian culture – but one unfortunately not well known to a wide circle of art lovers. He lived a long and eventful life. He began his career as a naval officer at the fortress of Sveaborg (in Helsinki, Finland; today known as Suomenlinna), studied at the St Petersburg Academy of Art, and became a noted painter of seascapes.

As a painter he was very productive; he painted seascapes of the places he visited as well as historical canvases portraying famous sea battles in which the Russian navy took part. He was a true connoisseur of art, close to the Imperial court in the reign of Alexander II, a tutor of the future Alexander III, and an advisor to the Emperor on the purchase of pictures for his personal collection. He also created a unique album of sketches consisting of architectural views of all the cities along the Volga from Tver to Astrakhan.

But possibly the most significant achievement of his life was the founding of the first State art gallery. It was opened in Saratov in June 1885 and named the Radishchev Museum in honour of the artist’s grandfather, the famous writer Alexandr Radishchev. Pieces collected by Bogoliubov himself, as well as some of his own works, formed the basis of the museum’s collection To house it, a special building was constructed which still serves today as the home of the Saratov art gallery. Together with the museum, an art school was also opened in Saratov – the Bogoliubov School of Art.

Alexei Petrovich was a talented and very active person. He left a memoir of his life which he called “A Seaman-Artist’s Sketches”: an astonishing and very well-written account of his life which recounts with humour the events in the life of this artist, public figure and genuine citizen of Russia.

This book also forms the basis of our multi-media programme. Alongside a collection of the artist’s pictures, largely from the Saratov museum but also from other museums of Russia, the user can learn about the artist’s biography and read extracts from his memoirs. The programme is published in both Russian and English. It can be obtained from the State Radishchev Museum in Saratov.