Pushkin and Ivan Zholtovsky’s creative method

The influence of Alexander Pushkin on the creative method of the great Russian and Soviet architect I.V. Zholtovsky is considered for the first time. Judging by the records of the architect’s students, the name of Pushkin very often occurs in conversations with him. The poet seems to be constantly present in his conversations on various topics as a model and beacon of perfection. The most important for the architect was Pushkin’s idea of imitation, which he emphasised and often quoted. The article briefly reveals the origins of ‘imitation’ methodology, which was formed in the aesthetics of classicism and developed in the educational process of the Imperial Academy of Arts throughout the 19th century. This methodology largely predetermined Zholtovsky’s worldview. Important sources of his views were also the ideas of the artistic milieu of the Silver Age, to which he belonged. All this was clearly manifested in one of the most famous works of the architect – the mansion of G. A. Tarasov in Moscow. The material for the study includes bibliographic sources and records of students of Zholtovsky’s school-studio from a private archive, mostly unpublished.