Repin Art Academy

The purpose of our visit to St. Petersburg was to visit Erkki's son Kaspar, student of Faculty of Painting in  Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. It is informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, or Repin Institute of Arts.
Kaspar is a talented young artist who made sort of unusual choice. In the times when young men of young European democracies flee to the Western countries Kaspar decided to pursue his art education in the East - in Russia.
Studying at art schools of Tallinn and attending international workshops he came to conclusion that painting taught in Western countries tends to be more and more abstract. Splashes and drops, blots and stain become the main techniques used while traditional education is more often then not being neglected.
He decided to get "classic" education mastering among others perspective, plastic anatomy, art history and philosophy and then use it as a foundation for building his own unique style.
He is right. According to Wikipedia

After the advancement of 20th century modernism, European and American art schools embraced thinkers who rebelled against nineteenth century academic and historicist traditions. They believed the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated. While art education in the West was changing, traditional academic teachings were nourished in the Soviet academy.  ©Wikipedia

As a school, Soviet Socialist Realism surpassed the best naturalist and realist genre painting in the West during the third quarter of the twentieth century! It was a 'renaissance of realism' behind the Iron Curtain. — Vern Grosvenor Swanson. 

His hopes and aspirations came true and his level of realistic art jumps every time we see him. Here you can see some examples of his work.


Repin State Art Academy occupies huge 18th century building alongside Neva river.

The edifice for the academy was built in 1764-89 to a design by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe and Alexander F. Kokorinov.

However our acquaintance did not start from the facade.
As we lived around the corner we approached the building from its backyard and were surprised to see... horses and ponies there. 

Academy boasts huge ceilings, long corridors and a series of 5 interconnected courtyards.
To our surprise the central, most beautiful courtyard was beautifully restored and well-kept but... locked. As to the other 3 instead of an outdoor summer cafe or an open-air  modern sculpture exhibition there was... junkyard.
All high-ceiling corridors and wooden stairwells were ragged and overall building made impression of really missing a thrifty administrator, not an artist as its head. We were told though that most money paid by foreign students does not stay at the Academy but goes to its headquarters in Moscow and this is the reason why the building is so neglected.
The reason is sure valid. However we felt if the Academy authorities mobilized all students for a big cleaning day some of the problems could have been solved...

Warning signs: "Do not enter. Naked models" can be found throughout the Academy. Due to large quantities of Chinese students some are translated into Chinese...

All sorts of "Do not enter" signs on the atelier doors

We also visited one of the ateliers shared between the 4th and 5th year students :