“The House on Fontanka”: Formation of the Image of Petersburg in Mstislav Dobuzhinsky’s Works

The article examines a number of gra­phic works by M.V. Dobuzhinsky: the drawings “Magnificent City, Poor City...”, “View of a Petersburg House”, and a decorative drawing with a fragment of a house in the style of classicism. In spite of the fact that M.V. Dobuzhinsky’s creativity is quite well stu­died, these works are considered for the first time in the article, in order to explore the process of finding the original artistic language in which the master “spoke” about his favorite city. The article identifies the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg that served as prototypes of those depicted, reveals the sources (visual and literary), analyzes the stylistic features. The scientific novelty of the article is defined by a new methodological approach to studying M.V. Dobuzhinsky’s graphic heritage consi­dered in the context of intersection of literature and fine arts — Russian, Western European and Japanese. For the first time, the author makes an attempt to determine the stylistic affiliation of the mentioned works. Their traditional (formal) analysis, in comparison with works by Hiroshige, A. Dürer, G.B. Piranesi, E.E. Lansere, and J. Whistler, is supplemented by an analysis of M.V. Dobuzhinsky’s memoirs and letters. This significantly expands the existing ideas about the visual sources of the artist’s work. The article reveals that the drawings “Magnificent City, Poor City...”, “View of a Petersburg House”, as well as the decorative drawing with a fragment of a house in the style of classicism, depict the house of Galashevsky — V.Ya. Lebedev (87, Fontanka Embankment). The author ascertains the influence of Hiroshige’s woodcuts from the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” on the artistic solution of the drawing “Magnificent City, Poor City...”, as well as on the drawing “Market” by E.E. Lansere, who, in turn, had influenced the abovementioned drawings by M.V. Dobuzhnisky. The article shows that A. Dürer’s and G.B. Piranesi’s engravings influenced the artistic solution of the drawing “View of a Petersburg House”, likewise J. Whistler’s etchings and lithographs exerted influence on a number of works by M.V. Dobuzhinsky and E.E. Lansere. The author concludes that M.V. Dobuzhinsky’s works over various versions of images of the house of Galashevsky — V.Ya. Lebedev were in line with his intensive creative experiments: the search for his own vision of the ima­ge of Petersburg.