Chaliapin Memorial Apartment

St.Petersburg
2–B Graftio St., 197022, St. Petersburg
Phones: +7 (812) 234–10–56
Web site: https://theatremuseum.ru/filial/dom_muzey_shalyapina

The interiors of the beginning of the XX century are recreated in the house-museum of F. I. Chaliapin.
The exhibition recreates a corner of the artist's dressing room at the Mariinsky Theater and presents costumes from the wardrobe of the Imperial Theaters.
In the museum, the visitor will learn about the life, work and multifaceted personality of the great Russian artist.

The events of Chaliapin's life and work are represented in the exhibition by letters, photographs, posters and programs, his personal belongings and household items, paintings and drawings, theatrical costumes and sketches of scenery for the performances in which Chaliapin played. Of particular interest are the paintings of outstanding artists B. Kustodiev, A. Golovin, K. Korovin, A. Yakovlev, V. Shukhaev and N. Kharitonov, depicting Chaliapin in life and on stage.
From the artist's personal collection, the works of M. Nesterov, I. Brodsky, B. Grigoriev, A. Gaush and S. Vinogradov have been preserved.
The exhibition features caricatures made by Chaliapin and a sculptural portrait of his wife-M. Petzold, also authored by the artist.

The museum's exposition presents the famous portrait of F. I. Chaliapin, painted by B. M. Kustodiev in 1921.
At the request of Chaliapin, at his feet in the picture was depicted his pet-the French bulldog Roika. Kustodiev decided to portray Chaliapin in full growth, as a result of which the size of the canvas exceeded two meters. The picture had to be painted in parts. Chaliapin posed for a seriously ill artist who was confined to a wheelchair. Kustodiev sat down and painted the middle part of the portrait, while he was forced to work on the upper and lower parts of the portrait while reclining, looking up at a specially tilted canvas stretcher.
The artist painted a reduced repetition of the portrait in 1922 (stored in the collection of the State Museum of Fine Arts).

Fyodor Chaliapin’s Musem was opened on April 11, 1975 in his last flat in St Petersburg. Here, at Aptekarsky island, 2–B Permskaya street (now Graftio St.), the great singer had been living from 1915 to 1922, before he left Russia for good.

In 1927 the Communist government had accused the singer of supporting the white émigrés and he had been prohibited to come back to the Soviet Russia. The flat had become communal and the property had been given to the new owners. Fortunately, Isai Dvorishchin, the singer’s secretary and loyal friend, had managed to preserve the most belongings, documents and other memorabilia, which had been delivered to the Theatre Museum after the Great Patriotic War by Dvorishchin’s heirs.

In 1998, the year of the 125th anniversary of Fyodor Chaliapin’s birth, the museum opened its doors to the public once again after seven years of restoration and reconstruction. Letters and photos, playbills and theatre programmes, personal belongings, paintings and drawings, stage costumes and scenery designs for Chaliapin's performances tell about the main events of the great artist’s life and his artistic career. The Museum also houses a unique collection of weapons, which Maxim Gorky had presented to Chaliapin. Paintings by renowned artists Alexander Golovin, Konstantin Korovin, Boris Kustodiev portraying Chaliapin in ordinary life and on stage are of particular interest. Chaliapin had been particularly fond of Kustodiev’s work and had taken it with him abroad. His daughters Marfa and Marina delivered the portrait to the Museum in 1968.

In December 2013, the famous scenery and costume designs collection, assembled by Nina and Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, was donated to the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music. The International Charitable Foundation "Konstantinovsky", which had acquired 810 objects of this unique collection in 2008, delivered the collection to the Museum. The collection features the works by Mikhail Vrubel, Konstantin Korovin, Alexander Golovin, Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois and many other prominent artists, who had contributed into the rise of Russian scenery art and the world wide glory of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

Of particular interest are the paintings of outstanding artists A. Golovin, K. Korovin, A. Yakovlev, depicting Chaliapin in life and on stage. The famous portrait by B. Kustodiev (1921) is also on display. Chaliapin was very fond of this portrait and took it with him abroad. In 1968, the singer's daughters Marfa and Marina donated the portrait to the Theater Museum.