At different times its teaching staff included such artists and teachers as Ivan Kramskoy, Pavel Chistyakov, Leon Benois.
Following the 1917 October Revolution, in July 1918, by the initiative of the People's Commissar of Education Anatoli Lunacharsky, the Art School resumed as free "Courses of Drawing" relocated at Liteyny Prospect.
In the years 1930–1950, the sghool's director, Jan Konstantinovich Shablovsky, played a role in consolidating the Tavricheskaya Art School.
Graduates from this period included the future artists Alexander Semionov, Lev Russov, Valery Vatenin, Nina Veselova, Piotr Litvinsky, Maria Rudnitskaya, Galina Rumiantseva, Ivan Varichev, Vladimir Galba, Orest Vereysky, Vasily Golubev, Kapitolina Rumiantseva, Yuri Tulin, and others.
In 1943–1944, there were engaged in and students of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which remained in the besieged city.