The interest of specialists and art lovers in the history of artistic life in Russia in the post-revolutionary period contributed to the creation of a broad picture of its dramatic events. However, the period of “sturm and stress” of the early 1920s still reveals many gaps. One of these “blank spots” is suggested by historian Mikhail Biryukov in his book. His focus is on the amazing story of the development of an educational artistic structure - the “Rural Academy” in Mstera, an ancient center of icon painting. Unprecedented in scale and longevity, this provincial educational institution had high authority in the fine arts department of the People's Commissariat for Education and actively collaborated with Vkhutemas. Such different artists as Olga Rozanova, Alexander Rodchenko and Fedor Modorov had a hand in its birth. The pedagogy of local icon painters and painters of the academic school, who were at the origins of the Rural Academy, was later tested to the breaking point by avant-garde artists. Victor Palmov, Anton Lavinsky, Sergei Svetlov, Victor Kiselev brought with them a completely different aesthetic program. As a result of these multidirectional efforts, many notable artists, sculptors, and architects emerged from Mstera.