Russian Inspectors arrive
in New York (1916) |
In
1913, Djeneeff took up residence at Kostroma, the ancestral seat of the
Romanovs, where in conjunction with the Romanov Tercentenary Celebration,
he worked alongside other conservators to restore the frescoes and icons
in the cathedral. Despite his increasing good fortune in receiving important
commissions and exhibiting in well-known galleries, Djeneeff’s world was
undermined by the outbreak of World War I and swept away by the Revolution
and chaos that followed. Called back to active duty as a Cavalry Reservist,
he was sent for training at a Saint Petersburg munitions factory in 1915.
The Russian Supply Committee, created to oversee the production in allied
nations of war materiel destined for use by the Imperial armed forces, required
trained inspectors in the United States. Djeneeff was sent overseas in mid-1916
to look after the manufacture of artillery shells in a General Electric
plant in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Separated from family, friends, the Saint Petersburg art community, and
his young fiancée, Olga, Djeneeff settled into a routine in Erie,
and in his free time continued to paint. Sometime after his arrival in Pennsylvania,
Olga traveled to America. With the outbreak of Revolution shortly afterward,
the gates to Russia slammed shut. In the subsequent upheaval, Djeneeff’s
studio on Vasilevskii Island and many of the 600 artworks housed there were
lost. Trapped in America, without sufficient funds and little knowledge
of English, Ivan and Olga soon relocated to New York City where they joined
other Russian exiles in an unsettling waiting game. |
