Viktor Aleksandrovich Gartman

Born Apr. 23 (May 5), 1834, in St. Petersburg; died July 23 (Aug. 4), 1873, in the village of Kireevo, Moscow Province. Russian architect.

Gartman graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1852-61). He was one of the creators of the “Russian style.” His idea of developing the national architecture was embodied in the abundant decoration of buildings built by him with designs copied from popular embroidery and wooden carvings (the Mamontov printing house, 1872, now No. 16 of the Main Administration of the Printing Industry, Moscow). Gartman was the architect of inventively decorated pavilions, in which prefabricated wooden structures were widely used, as well as of so-called studios in Abramtsevo (1872). He is also known as a graphic artist and water-colorist. In 1871 he designed scenery for operas by M. I. Glinka and A. N. Serov at the Mariinskii Theater in St. Petersburg. Gartman’s watercolor paintings were the theme of M. P. Mussorgsky’s Pictures From an Exhibition.