Varvara Baruzdina

Painter, draughtswoman, writer, teacher. Niece of Pavel Chistyakov. Born in the family of a craftsman called Matvei Baruzdin in the village of Krasny Kholm in Tver Province (1862). Moved to St Petersburg (1875), where she studied under Pavel Chistyakov and attended the Imperial Academy of Arts (1880–85). Awarded a major silver encouragement medal (1890). Drew a portrait of Vladimir Solovyov (1890). Visited Koktebel in the Crimea (1916). Occupied a room in Pavel Chistyakov’s house at 23 Moscow Highway in Detskoe Selo/Pushkin (1920s–30s), where she wrote memoirs of Pavel Chistyakov published posthumously (1953). Killed by German invaders during the Second World War and buried by friends in the garden (1941). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1888). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg/Petrograd (1888–1916), Kiev (1888–89) and Kazan (1889), Female Art Circle (1889), Blanc et noir (1890), Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1895–96), Society of Artists of History Painting in Nizhny Novgorod (1896), I State Free Exhibition of Works of the Arts at the Palace of the Arts (former Winter Palace) in Petrograd (1919), Community of Artists at the Academy of Arts in Leningrad (1925) and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis (1904).