Brailovsky Leonid Mikhailovich

Architect, painter, graphic artist, set designer, decorative and applied arts artist. Member of the Society of Architects and Artists and the Moscow Archaeological Society. In 1886–1894 he studied at the architectural department of the Imperial Academy of Arts. During his studies he was awarded several times: in 1890 - a small silver medal, in 1892 - a large silver medal, in 1893 - a small gold medal for the program “Hotel for visitors to the capital”. In 1890 he completed a course in science, in 1894 he received the title of class artist of the 1st degree and the right to a pensioner's trip abroad. In 1895–1898 - pensioner of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Paris and Rome. He studied with Bampani in Rome and at the Academy of R. Julien in Paris. From 1898 he taught at the Moscow School of Art and Industry and the Central Stroganov School of Technical Drawing (from 1906 - the Stroganov Central School of Art and Industry), professor, and from 1900 - member of the educational committee of the Stroganov School. He worked as an architect, but gained great fame thanks to his architectural sketches. He created watercolors with views of ancient ruins, architectural monuments, interiors of temples and palaces, and architectural fantasies. In his work he was close to the masters of the neo-Russian movement. In the 1900s, he studied and copied fresco paintings in churches in Yaroslavl, Rostov, and Novgorod. Author of projects for a private villa in Tuapse (early 1900s), a theater in Yekaterinoslavl (together with I.V. Zholtovsky), a new building for the Moscow School of Art and Culture on Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow, monuments on the graves of A.P. Chekhov at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow (1907) and composer V.S. Kalinikov in Yalta (1908). He was engaged in interior design, making sketches of furniture and bronze items. He was a member of the editorial committee of the MAO Yearbook (Moscow Architectural Society). Since 1909 he worked as a theater artist. He designed the performances of the Maly Theater (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov, 1911; “A Glass of Water” by O. E. Scribe, 1911; “The Duchess of Padua” by O. Wilde, 1912; “The Merchant of Venice” by W. Shakespeare, 1916) and the Bolshoi Theater (“Don Giovanni” by W.-A. Mozart, 1916) in Moscow. In 1918, together with his wife, artist R. N. Brailovskaya, he emigrated; lived in Constantinople, Belgrade, and from 1925 in Rome. He worked as a decorator at the Royal Theater in Belgrade. Member of the Union of Russian Art Workers in Belgrade. In 1933 he founded the Museum of Russian Religious Architecture at the Congregation of Oriental Churches in the Vatican. In the 1920s–1930s, in collaboration with his wife, he completed an extensive series of paintings, “Visions of Old Russia.” He exhibited his drawings and watercolors with architectural sketches in many European cities: Rome, Paris, Milan, London, Amsterdam, The Hague, Munich, Budapest, New York. Together with his wife, he held personal exhibitions in Paris (1930) and the Vatican (1932). Brailovsky's works are in many museum collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the State Central Theater Museum. A. A. Bakhrushin, the Sorbonne Museum in Paris, the Vatican Museums, the Museum of Russian Religious Architecture at the Congregation of Oriental Churches in the Vatican and others. A collection of 40 works was presented to Pope Pius XI. Participated in exhibitions of the Society of Russian Watercolorists, the Moscow Association of Artists, and the New Society of Artists. In 1932, a large exhibition of paintings by the Brailovskys was organized, depicting monuments of Russian religious creativity.