His talent was respected in the Russian Empire. After the revolution, our hero was instructed to create a new look for the cities of the Land of Soviets.
To be modern means to be popular. The work of this amazing person kept pace with the times, and sometimes ahead of him. He knew how to admire the classics, but borrowing from it did not turn his creations into copies, or imitation of masterpieces. Such a subtle flair made Ivan Fomin in demand in a country where the political and social way of life had radically changed.
early years
Vanya was born in January 1872. A happy father worked at the post office in the city of Oryol. His position allowed him to earn good money and provide for his wife and two children - a son and a daughter, Olya. The husband will be the last artist. In 1876, the Fomins family moved to Riga, where the boy went to a gymnasium. This educational institution was not included in the list of the best in the country, however, it was there that our hero fell in love with mathematics.
The city of Oryol, where Ivan Fomin was born
In 1890, a graduate of the gymnasium went to Moscow, where he entered the university. The young man chose the faculty of mathematics. During his studies, Ivan became interested in architecture and decided to get an appropriate education in the capital's Academy of Arts. After the third year, the student fled to St. Petersburg, but failed his entrance exams at the university of dreams. Fomin came under the call. The dreamer served in the engineering forces.
Rebel
Our hero in the army did not waste time in vain - he devoted every free minute to self-education. In 1894, he managed to enter the architectural department of the recently opened Higher Art School in the city on the Neva. After 3 years, students distinguished themselves during the riots and closed the institution. Those who wanted to continue their education were offered to write a petition. Fomin refused to humble himself before the tyrants and went to study in Paris.
Caricature of students and gendarme
In the capital of France, a young man got acquainted with the new Art Nouveau style and became interested in it. Returning to Russia, Fomin was able to get a diploma in architecture. Soon he married and became the father of little Igor, who, when he grows up, will also become an architect. Changes in his personal life and material difficulties did not prevent Ivan from shocking the public with knowledge about advanced trends in art. In 1902, he became one of the organizers of the exhibition dedicated to the new style in Moscow. The public did not approve of the revolutionary Parisian ideas.
We change the course
Ivan Fomin made a significant contribution to the popularization of Art Nouveau in Russia. He himself experimented by combining this style with elements of ancient Russian architecture. In search of new ideas in 1910, he traveled to Egypt, and, returning home, drew attention to the development of Moscow. Now our hero with the same fanaticism began to popularize masterpieces of the times of Alexander I.
Authorities approved Fomin's new hobby. After the publication of several works in defense of the Moscow Empire, it became easier for him to build a career. The rich and aristocrats began to order houses in the neoclassical style to the architect, proposals for the project were received by monuments to the participants of the Patriotic War of 1812. At the time of the First World War, Ivan was working on a project to develop the Golodai Island in St. Petersburg. In 1914, all work was stopped, and a year later he was awarded the title of academician of architecture.
The Kurzal project on mineral waters (1909). Author Ivan Fomin
Power is changing
In the turbulent times of the two revolutions, Ivan Fomin was engaged in teaching. Among his students were the famous Mikhail Minkus, Leonid Polyakov, Lev Rudnev. The biography of this freedom-loving person was ideally suited for a responsible post in the field of urban planning. A democratically inclined architect was invited to the Commission of Artists, since 1919 he headed the first Architectural and Planning Workshop.
As soon as the state was able to start financing the construction of new buildings, Fomin began to propose his projects, which were successfully implemented. The first works of the Soviet period of the architect's work were the Palace of Workers of the Moscow-Narva District and a crematorium. He made them in 1919. The following year, the master was entrusted with a number of significant objects in the city on the Neva, including the memorial complex on the Field of Mars.
Champ de Mars in St. Petersburg
Heyday
The Land of Soviets was looking for its own architectural style. Ivan Fomin proposed an original combination of empire and constructivism. He called his invention proletarian classics. As the material for future buildings, this original saw reinforced concrete, which at that time was a novelty. In 1929 he was invited to work in Moscow.
The building of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army was designed by Ivan Fomin
In the throne, preparations were underway for the capital restructuring of the city. Since 1931, Fomin worked in a team that created the modern look of Moscow with magnificent multi-story buildings. Our hero also managed to design administrative buildings in other large cities of the USSR, including in the capitals of the republics.
Ivan Alexandrovich Fomin
