We recently had a rubric “Artists and Music” (with Sitnikov and Shostakovich, as well as with Yankilevsky and Rabinovich-Barakovsky). And today it is time to introduce the heading “Sculptors and Poets”. The case is unique. The ArtSale.info auction features two sculptures dedicated to the main poets of the Silver Age — Anna Akhmatova and Sergei Yesenin. And not just sculptures, but author's 30-centimeter castings for full-size monuments already installed in Moscow.

But let's not delay. Proceed.

SCULPTORS AND POETS

BICHUKOV Anatoly Andreevich (1934–2020) Monument to Sergei A. Yesenin. 1995

Bronze, patinated. Height 37 cm

A full-size monument to S. A. Yesenin by sculptor A. A. Bichukov was installed in 1995 on Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow.

SUROVTSEV Vladimir Alexandrovich (1951) Monument to Anna Akhmatova. 2001

A full-size monument to Anna Akhmatova by sculptor V. A. Surovtsev was installed in Moscow on Bolshaya Ordynka in 2000.

Many memoirs of contemporaries are devoted to the history of the relationship between Akhmatova and Yesenin. In short: Akhmatova did not like Yesenin, she spoke unflatteringly about him. And Yesenin knew about it. It was not even creative jealousy, but a mystical personal dislike. Perhaps it was provoked by Yesenin himself, who said after the first meeting with Akhmatova: “She is not at all what I imagined from her poems”. The poetess was outraged by Yesenin's riotous behavior, his deliberate rudeness, which she categorically did not accept. Moreover, she remembered the former young Yesenin, who “sat on the end of a chair, timidly recited poetry and said "merci"”. Akhmatova is also credited with the phrase said after the poet's suicide: “He lived terribly and died terribly”. Recall that Yesenin was found with a noose around his neck in the Leningrad hotel “Angleterre” in 1925. Prior to that, he had depression and was undergoing treatment at a neuropsychiatric clinic.

The monument on Tverskoy Boulevard is classic. The tall figure of an outstanding Imagist with an open shirt collar. But the monument to Akhmatova probably reminded art lovers of something else. Sure! It is inspired by the famous 1911 drawing by Modigliani. Akhmatova's meetings with Modi in Paris gave rise to rumors of a whirlwind romance. Modigliani painted the poetess several times — in one movement, with a bold virtuoso stroke. Not all drawings have survived. But one of the most famous silhouettes inspired Vladimir Surovtsev to create a sculptural composition. The monument to Akhmatova was erected in the courtyard of Viktor Ardov's house, where she loved to stay and work in Moscow. The late actor Aleksey Batalov petitioned for the installation of the monument. Viktor Ardov was his stepfather. Akhmatova helped young Batalov a lot. They say he considered her to be his adopted grandmother.

NONCONFORMIST ART

VOROSHILOV Igor Vasilievich (1939–1989) City landscape. 1988

Burlap on hardboard, oil. 61.5 × 120

It is a rarity. Museum level and museum format. The small portraits of Igor Voroshilov are well known to the participants of our auction. He made many of them, often to order, like his friend Anatoly Zverev. But this time we have a big — meter twenty — genre painting, city landscape, people hurrying on business, sounds of the city. Beautiful, effective work, expressionistic, energetic, almost semi-abstract.

Let us recall information about the author. Voroshilov received no formal art education. He studied at the Faculty of Film Studies at VGIK. There, as they say, under the influence of Valentin Vorobyov and Igor Vulokh, he became addicted to painting. Like many non-systemic artists, Voroshilov's exhibition halls were mostly the apartments of friends and art lovers. His paintings were bought by the same people who collected Zverev, Yakovlev, Pyatnitsky. The artist died early, before he reached fifty. Interesting memories of him can be found in the books of his friend, poet and artist Vladimir Aleinikov “The Name of Time” and “Feast”. Interesting and atmospheric — read them.

GRIGORIEV Alexander Efimovich (1949) Kinetic composition (author's repetition of 1969 work)

Tempera on cardboard. 60 × 60

Alexander Grigoriev. A little less than 60 years ago, he was a kinetic artist of the Movement group. Nussberg. Koleychuk. Infante. Legendary bold and vibrant kineticists. Ideological heirs of Tatlin and Alexander Calder. Young, indomitable, capable of terrifying even the almighty Furtseva. We remembered about Nussberg not by chance. On the back of the painting there is an inscription: “Author's repetition of 1969 work (Moscow, original at Nussberg in the USA) for the 2000 personal exhibition. Moscow (signed) A. Grigoriev”.

The Movement group became the brightest phenomenon in the Soviet post-war art. It cannot be fully called unofficial art, because there were exhibitions, but it can be called semi-official. Alexander Grigoriev left the Movement group in the mid-1970s, but remained committed to the kinetic culture. And the presented work is just a valuable memory and a kind of bow to those romantic times.

RARITIES

VULOKH Igor Alexandrovich (1938–2012) Still life. 1968

Hardboard, canvas, oil. 45.5 × 58

Another rarity. Pay attention to the year. 1968th. And pay attention to the theme — a work from a series of early abstract landscapes that collectors hunt for. Museum level again.

Igor Vulokh is a sixties man, another VGIK student. I like the words said about him by art critic Mikhail Bode, who called him a nonconformist not so much ideological as aesthetic. However, times are not chosen. And the apolitical artist was still expelled from the university. Formally, for “incompetence”. But in fact, for participating in an exhibition unauthorized by the authorities, and to which foreigners came. The authenticity of the presented work is confirmed by the artist's widow, Natalia Tukolkina-Okhota.