Russian Neoclassical Revival - Origin of The Style - Development

Development

Practicing architects followed Benois; for example, in 1903 Ivan Fomin, a successful 30 year old enthusiast of Art Nouveau, switched to purely Neoclassical, palladian architecture and returned from Moscow to Saint Petersburg to practice neoclassicism on its own territory; his studies of early 19th century, culminating in a 1911 exhibition of historical architecture, were followed by a wide public interest to classical art in general. The conceptual statement of neoclassicism - and the term itself - were further developed in 1909 in Apollon magazine by Benois and Sergei Makovsky.

The new style took over specific niches, starting with nostalgic country estates and upper-class downtown apartment buildings. By 1914 it also became the preferred choice for schools and colleges. In Moscow, all new cinemas of the period were built in neoclassical stylem, continuing the old theatrical tradition. Neoclassicists celebrated victory: "Classical tendencies in architecture have replaced the sinuously agitated, 'temperamental', and riotously 'dashing' modernistic efforts of architects like Kekushev, as well as the simplified structures faced with brilliant walls of yellow brick of architects like Schechtel." This time, the concept shifted from preservationism to shaping a new, wholesome art, opposed to all diverse styles of 19th century. "There was a difference, but not a leap, and here lies the subtlety of understanding the problem of neoclassicism."