Mikhail Zhvanetsky:
“And humor is life!” Automatic translate

“Mikhail Zhvanetsky. And humor is life!” – the name of the exhibition project of the ARTSTORY gallery, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Mikhailovich Zhvanetsky (1934 – 2020). The exhibition will open to the general public on March 6 – the birthday of the popular satirist! The exhibition will include several thematic sections and layers related to the personality and work of Zhvanetsky. These include concert posters starting from the 1970s; original manuscripts and notes from the hall; rare personal photographs; as well as drawings and portraits donated to Zhvanetsky by his friend, screenwriter, director, artist Rezo Gabriadze; photographic portraits taken by photographer and writer Yuri Rost - they were also friends for many years.

An important part of the exhibition will be some of the writer’s personal belongings. Among them is the main indispensable attribute of all his performances - the briefcase that his father once gave Zhvanetsky. The portfolio, which, without exaggeration, is remembered by the whole country, will be exhibited for the first time. Most of the exhibits for the exhibition were provided by the Mikhail Zhvanetsky Cultural Foundation, which is headed by the writer’s wife and son: Natalya and Dmitry Zhvanetsky.

In one of the sections of the exhibition, viewers will see original drawings that artists and caricaturists prepared for the ironic magazine “Zhvanetsky’s Store.”

The magazine was published from 1991 to 2003, where famous writers and artists published their stories and drawings. A special “Zhvanetsky Prize” was even established for the best publications of the year. Among the authors of the drawings presented in the exhibition are: Andrey Bilzho, Andrey Basanets, Vladimir Burkin, Victor Balabas, Victor Bogorod, Sergey Gorshkov, Mikhail Zlotkovsky, Alexander Nozhkin, Leonid Tishkov, Oleg Tesler, Nikolay Kraschin and others.

Mikhail Mikhailovich was a great friend of the ARTSTORY gallery. He visited various exhibitions in the gallery many times. In 2021, co-owner of ARTSTORY Mikhail Opengeim erected a monument to the writer at the Novodevichy Cemetery. The author of the monument is the famous sculptor Vladimir Soskiev, whose works are stored in many Russian museums, including the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. The monument reminds us of the image of the writer - a familiar silhouette with an unchanging briefcase, which seems to be leaving us for eternity.

Zhvanetsky’s works helped us live in the most difficult times. Although not everyone knew who the author of the monologues by Arkady Raikin, Viktor Ilchenko and Roman Kartsev was. For example, the famous: “In the Greek Hall”, “You respect me”, “I saw crayfish… for five rubles”… From Zhvanetsky, each of us has something of our own, very close and for all times: “Okay Grigory, excellent Konstantin"; “One careless move and you’re a father”; “Wisdom plus youth – genius. Wisdom minus youth – loneliness”; “I’m getting lower. Less and less. I’m not shrinking, gentlemen. I’m leaving…". And finally, from the monologue “What is humor”: “Not about yourself. In defense of the genre. He himself became tearful and thoughtful. He began to delve into the words himself. He himself lost his life and from this - humor. And, having lost it all, walking around in the worn jacket of a tattered philosopher, I will say - there is nothing better than life. And humor is life. This is a state. This is not a joke. It’s the sparkle in the eyes. This is falling in love with your interlocutor and the willingness to laugh until you cry.”

Every visitor to the exhibition will be able to feel simultaneously on stage, in the auditorium, and even at home with their favorite author. And among those who want to try themselves in the genre of artistic recitation (read fragments of monologues by M. M. Zhvanetsky), a special competition will be held.

As part of the project, it is planned to show performances by M. M. Zhvanetsky.