Problems of attribution of A.N. Maikov's articles on exhibitions in the Imperial Academy of Arts. Article Two

Presented is the first attempt of attributing an important part of A.N. Maikov's artistic legacy, which are his reviews of the Imperial Academy of Arts annual exhibitions published in Otechestvennye Zapiski and Sovremennik in the period from 1847 to 1853. In Article One, the attribution of the seven exhibition reviews posted in Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1847 and 1849-53 to Maikov was proved. However, as Maikov himself stated in the autobiography, the number of the articles posted was ''up to eight'', and, besides Otechestvennye Zapiski, they were also published in Sovremennik. This fact brings us to attribute another article by Maikov published in this journal. The article mentioned proves Maikov's authorship of the Academy of Arts exhibition review published in Issue 11 of Sovremennik of 1847. The evidence is logical principles of text building, statement of essential theoretical problems which are first realized in here and will be developed in later articles, general approach to analysis of some of the works presented in the exhibition (prime interest in the ''poetic thought'' lying in the basis of paintings, original interpreting of the plot as opposed to formal characteristics), and broad historical-cultural context, as well as characteristic peculiarities of the poet's style. Maikov's turn to the activity of an art critic in the period from 1847 to 1853 resulted from his own intensive creative pursuits, rising from the young poet's sensing the new missions laid upon the art, and his realizing the urgent problems of the art culture of those days. Another impulse to A.N. Maikov's public speaking was Val.N. Maikov's consent to edit Finsky Vestnik (The Finnish Herald) and, later, Otechestvennye Zapiski, and his own strategy of the journal development. The cease of his activity as an art critic was caused by the process of evaluation and a kind of creative and ideological crisis the poet underwent in the mid-1850s, which crucially changed his artistic interests. He probably turned to this work time and again in the 1860-70s (if not as an author then as a participant of discussions), especially, in connection with Dostoevsky's publishing projects. However, the archives do not allow us to surely confirm his authorship of any other articles about the condition of Russian painting art. Perhaps, the reason was the young writers specializing on art criticism (V.V. Strakhov, etc), but more probably it was that the poet's artistic inclinations prevailed over his aesthetic reflection.

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