Nikolay Punin

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Nikolayevich and the family name is Punin.
Nikolay Punin
BornNikolay Nikolayevich Punin
November 28 [
Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
OccupationScholar, writer
Subjectcontemporary art, art history
Notable worksDiaries
SpouseAnna Arens (1917–?)
PartnerAnna Akhmatova
ChildrenIrina

Nikolay Nikolayevich Punin (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Пу́нин; November 28 [

Requiem
.

Biography

A key figure in the Russian art world

Nikolay Punin was born in Helsingfors (now Helsinki),

St. Petersburg University, studied history of art under professor Dmitry 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

Vladimir Lebedev, Lev Bruni [ru], Nikolay Tyrsa
, and others. He welcomed the October revolution as an opportunity to establish new art.

In 1917, Punin married Anna Arens, a physician; they had one daughter, Irina.[1]

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.

Union with Anna Akhmatova

Nikolay Punin was in a civil union with poet

GULAG.[2] The home of Punin and Akhmatova was a meeting place for the St. Petersburg's cultural milieu, and later became the Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum
.

Akhmatova had saved Punin's life after his first arrest, in the 1930s, regardless that their relationship ended at that time. Nikolay Punin was released only after Anna Akhmatova's written petition to Joseph Stalin, but later he was arrested again. Punin was twice arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet secret service under the dictatorship of Stalin.[3]

In November of 1941, during the

Leningrad to Tashkent and Samarkand for three years until 1944.[4]

Under Stalin's dictatorship

GULAG. It is still there, now in the Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum

A secret file on 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

Impressionists were seen by the communists as evidence of his anti-Soviet activity.[5]

In 1949, Punin was arrested on accusations of "anti-Soviet" activity, because he said that many thousands of

Komi ASSR, where he died.[6]

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

Russian museum Punin saved many important masterpieces of art from destruction by revolutionary mob and undereducated communists.[citation needed] He was severely attacked by the Soviet communists for his efforts in preservation of "Western" art in Soviet museums.[citation needed
] He was respected by artists and intellectuals as a 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.[7]

Punin's art essays and his memoirs were published in English and in Russian.[8]

In June 2012, the first biography of Punin, The Unsung Hero of the Russian Avant-Garde. The Life and Times of Nikolay Punin, written by art historian Natalia Murray, was published by Brill.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
  2. ^ Russian source: "The Keeper of the Future" Archived October 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ N. N. (Nikolai Nikolaevich) Punin. Diaries and correspondence
  4. ^ [1] Anna of All The Russians: The Life of Anna Akhmatova by Elaine Feinstein retrieved 13/8/2018
  5. ^ "Punin's files at Sakharov center". Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2008.
  6. ^ Экспонаты /Портрет Н.Н. Пунина. Фотография, Virtual Museum of the Gulag
  7. ^ Russian source: НИКОЛАЙ НИКОЛАЕВИЧ ПУНИН (1888–1953) – ИСКУССТВОВЕД, ПЕДАГОГ, МУЗЕЙНЫЙ РАБОТНИК. [2]
  8. ISBN 0-292-76589-4 [3]
  9. ISBN 9789004204751 [4]

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