Sergei Yesenin. Endless Legend Automatic translate

The Russian Academy of Arts and the Voronezh People’s Museum of Sergei Yesenin present the exhibition project "Sergei Yesenin. Endless Legend", dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the writer’s birth, which will demonstrate more than 100 works of painting, graphics and sculpture by contemporary artists on the theme of S. Yesenin’s work. The exposition will be supplemented by unique items and publications related to the life of one of the most touching Russian poets of the Silver Age.

The exhibition will be based on works from the museum’s art collection, a significant part of which was replenished thanks to regular "Yesenin Plein Airs" held in the poet’s homeland - in the village of Konstantinovo in the Ryazan Region since 2012. Russian artists took part in the plein air in different years, including academicians of the Russian Academy of Arts Anatoly Lyubavin, Alexander Bystrov, Oleg Savostyuk (1927-2021), Mikhail Kudrevaty, Andrey Dubov, Sergey Gulevsky, corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Arts Vladimir Pimenov, Alexander Lavrov, honorary members of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexander Zolotykh, Viktor Mikityuk, Pavel Zolotov, Anatoly Kostyanikov and honorary foreign member of the Russian Academy of Arts Gleb Otchik, intern of the Creative Workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts Evgeny Yachny. Their life studies and paintings became some of the first acquisitions of the Sergei Yesenin People’s Museum in Voronezh.

In 2012, sculptures by Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Anatoly Bichukov (1934-2020) were transferred to the museum’s collection, which can be seen at the exhibition: a plaster model of Yesenin’s bust for the monument, solemnly opened in Voronezh in April 2007 and a number of other works by the master dedicated to the famous writer - a bronze model of the monument to Sergei Yesenin on Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow and in the village of Konstantinovo. In 2023, the collection was replenished with a bas-relief "Yesenin S.A." made by People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli.

Unique exhibits will include items from the personal "Yesenin collection" of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Sergei Bezrukov, donated by him to the Sergei Yesenin People’s Museum. These are lifetime editions of the poet’s works, two issues of the rare imagist magazine "Hotel for Travelers in the Beautiful", a Swiss bell from the Moscow mansion of Isadora Duncan, donated to Bezrukov by the poet’s niece Svetlana Petrovna Yesenina.

Among other rare items in the museum is part of the former collection of Pavel Propalov, which he collected over more than half a century. This is the first collection of poems written during his lifetime, "Radunitsa" from 1916, with the poet’s autograph to the literary critic and poetess Zoya Bukharova, an open letter with a photograph of Aseydora Duncan, a handwritten copy of the poem "The Black Man" made by the poet’s last wife, Sofia Tolstaya. The pride of the museum is the lifetime pencil portrait of Sergei Yesenin, made in 1919 by the theater artist, one of the members of the Imagist association Boris Robertovich Erdman, which can also be seen in the exhibition.

The first traveling exhibition "Sergey Yesenin. The Endless Legend" was first presented in 2019 at the VIII St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, and then took place in Moscow, Magadan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Kuril Islands, and also in the S.A. Yesenin Museum-Reserve in the village of Konstantinovo.

The Sergei Yesenin People’s Museum in Voronezh was created as part of a philanthropic project by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Bubnov, an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts. The original, one-of-a-kind cultural facility was established in 2010 and opened on March 23, 2012. The museum is located in the historical part of the city on one of the old streets - Karl Marx (Bolshaya Sadovaya), which was called the "literary alley" among Voronezh residents. The permanent exhibition entitled "Yesenin. Endless Legend" includes unique items related to the life and work of the poet, including documents about Yesenin’s birth and education, autographs of poems, a foreign passport and a Belgian visa, photographs of the poet and his entourage, books, household items and writer’s work.

The museum also permanently displays rare newsreels from 1918, which Voronezh did not have before – Yesenin reading poetry at the opening of the monument to Alexei Koltsov in Moscow. A special place in the exhibition is occupied by the “Yesenin collection” of Sergei Bezrukov, as well as the costumes he donated, which he wore when he starred in the film about Yesenin directed by Igor Zaitsev. The museum’s art collection contains about 200 works. The first painting was a formal portrait of the writer (2011) by Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Shcheglov. After the “Yesenin plein airs,” the collection was replenished with works by leading masters, academicians of the Russian Academy of Arts.

The text was compiled by the Information Department (press service of the Russian Academy of Arts) based on the press release of the Sergei Yesenin People’s Museum in Voronezh.