An article about my personal exhibition "The first step of the porch" is published in the newspaper "Vechernyaya Ufa"

03.08.2020

Article "The first step of the porch" in the newspaper "Vechernyaya Ufa" from July 31, 2020 №53 (13432).

http://vechufa.ru/culture/17781-pervaya-stupenka-krylca.html

The personal exhibition "Aksakov places" of Moscow artist Natalya Shomovskaya devoted to places associated with the life and work of our great countryman is held in the Memorial house-Museum of S.T. Aksakov in Ufa from 7 July to 14 August. We offer our readers a conversation with the author of the exhibition.

- Natalya Yurjevna, you are an artist from Mytishchi near Moscow, and your exhibition "Aksakov places" is held in Ufa. How did you come up with the idea to hold it and why exactly here - in the memorial house-Museum of Aksakov?
- The exhibition began with the works of Sergey Timofeyevich. We all read Aksakov, starting with the fairy tale of the housekeeper Pelageya in childhood and then "Family chronicle", "Childhood years of Bagrov-grandson", "Notes about fish angling" and others. The winter before last, I read Aksakov from Sytin's publishing house of 1913, still with comments and no editorial edits. And to the beauty of the description a certain delicacy and beauty of the word was added. Having visited Bashkiria for the first time in 2019, I began to admire almost the same things that Aksakov shows the reader from the first pages - boundless expanses, fertile rich land, high skies, grazing herds, rivers - from small streams to large, restive, carrying the current through the steppes, between mountains and hills. And then I visited the house-Museum of Aksakov in Ufa, where the future writer grew up. Therefore, it is a special joy and responsibility to exhibit here. It was planned to take the exhibition to places related to the life and work of Sergey Timofeyevich. But this topic is long and endless to study, so now it is only "the first step of the porch to enter the house." Aksakov places are represented in the exhibition so far a little - the Bashkir cycle, the Moscow and Moscow region cycles, the Kazan cycle, a total of 46 works - paintings and sketches in oil, as well as graphics in pencil and ink.
This is my first personal exhibition, and it has already faced certain challenges. The exhibition was supposed to be held in April, but due to the coronavirus, it opened only on July 7 and will run until August 14.

- What do you mean by the term "cycle" and what is included in it?
- In the Bashkir cycle, there is only the nature of Bashkiria – 5 paintings of the spring period, and almost all reflect the expanses of your region in one way or another. When I dismantle my exhibition, I plan to go for more sketches for a couple of days and add summer works to the cycle. The Kazan cycle is dedicated to the period of Aksakov's training in Kazan. The largest one near Moscow is the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad and the Abramtsevo manor, where Aksakov spent his creative years. The Moscow cycle is still quite small, only 2 sketches from the oldest Moscow Simonov monastery, where Sergey Timofeyevich is buried.

- How did you collect material for the exhibition, how did you decide what to write, what do you like best?
- I worked primarily with the works of Sergey Timofeyevich, because they are autobiographical - Aksakov was the first who initiated the style of everydaylife writing. Then I searched the mentioned places to find out what was preserved, what was not, what was rebuilt or remained the same as Aksakov saw it. I read literature about it. For example, churches in Kazan. Aksakov parents together with young Sergey were praying there before starting in school and at the end of the first year, when he was taken for health to their village, it were two churches - the Cathedral of Peter and Paul in Kazan and the Cathedral of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God in Mother of God monastery, but in the first Cathedral in the upper church decoration is the same as it saw Aksakov, and the Cathedral in the monastery is just beginning to be recreated after the destruction. I contacted the vicar of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, Father Sergiy, and after the blessing I arrived last fall directly from the train at 6 a.m. to write a sketch in the church before the early Liturgy. It was an unforgettable experience and an amazing day. The mood, reverent attitude, love and respect for the place that you have chosen or that has chosen you, must be in the work of the artist. I also visited the Museum at Kazan University and from there also started my Kazan search after a conversation with a local researcher, then I went out and wrote a sketch of the building of the University. By the way, the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Kazan is the most outstanding monument of Baroque architecture in Russia. Based on the sketches in the church, I painted a picture "To the Kazan mother of God".
And Abramtsevo sketches! It is also a great joy to come to the place where Aksakov fished on the bank of the river Vorya and thought out his works, and see almost through his eyes all the beauty of those places, already another beauty, more intimate and quiet - our Moscow region. In his poem, Aksakov called this place "a diverse nature, a secluded corner". Indeed, the manor occupies 50 hectares, and there are many beautiful places and views, infinitely different in different weather, time of year and day. I remember the mood of each sketch - the summer heat and sweet smell of water lilies, the autumn silence and the amazing malachite color of the shore and water in autumn, when green firs were reflected in the blooming dam of Vorya. From Aksakov's buildings there is a slightly rebuilt manor house, everything else was already constructed or changed at Savva Ivanovich Mamontov, who bought the manor from the Aksakovs after the writer's death. The example of Abramtsevo manor, which has twice become a powerful cultural center for writers, poets, artists and musicians, shows how one can live the life – and the Aksakov family, and the Mamontov family, who dedicated themselves to serving the Motherland and the people.
I also received a blessing from the vicar Father Eugene for my sketches at the Simonov monastery. When I was a student, I was very impressed with this monastery. And so it happened that I wrote sketches there. Simonov monastery was founded in the 1370s by the monk Feodor, a nephew of Sergius of Radonezh. Sergius of Radonezh always stayed at the monastery when traveling to Moscow, often came to his nephew Fyodor, worked here with the brothers. The monastery, after some of its buildings were blown up and the churchyard was destroyed, crushed by buildings of the Soviet era, on the one hand the ZIL plant, on the other - the stadium, still gives the impression of a giant, but a wounded giant. But now the monastery is slowly being restored.
And the picture "At St. Sergius" was written based on the impressions of an early November morning in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad - after the confession before the earliest Liturgy, it was drizzling, there was no snow, the city was hazy from the night lights, and the illumination in the Lavra added a magical light that dissipated in the fog of drizzle. I was very lucky to see this and keep my memories in a picture that is one of my favorites.

- And how is the Trinity-Sergius Lavra connected with the fate of Sergey Aksakov?
- Aksakov was named after Sergius of Radonezh - so his grandfather wished and advised his son and daughter-in-law to order a prayer service from Sergius, and if a son is born, then call him Sergey. And there was also buried with honors the son of Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov - Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov for services to the Church. I think Sergey Timofeyevich himself has repeatedly visited the Lavra and prayed there, especially since it is not very far from the Abramtsevo manor.

- What are your plans for the future, will you continue the Aksakov theme in your work?
"Yes, I will continue. First of all, to grow further, because this is my first solo exhibition. Secondly, I have not visited half of the places associated with Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov, the geography is very extensive - the Ulyanovsk, Orenburg and Samara regions are not covered at all yet, Bashkiria is not reflected much, I can work more productively in Moscow, I would like to feel the quiet comfort of the Abramtsevo manor in winter too.

- Natalya Yurjevna, thank you very much for telling us about the exhibition and plans. We wish you further success!

The questions asked by Galina Kholoshevskaya-Kuzina.
Photos of Lilia Zagirova and from open sources.