Table of contents:
- Gift from God
- Turning the pages of a biography
- A disease that struck down, but did not break …
- There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped
- A master's legacy worthy of respect
Video: How a blinded Soviet ballerina became a world famous sculptor: Lina Po
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
We are always impressed by the fate of extraordinary people who, literally by the strength of their human spirit, managed not only to survive in difficult life situations, but also to become a shining example for others. And today in our publication there is an amazing story of a talented Soviet ballerina, choreographer and sculptor - Polina Gorenstein, who, being deprived of sight, learned to live anew, having developed in herself a rare gift of "inner vision", brought to a high degree of perfection and made the whole world talk about her.
The work of Lina Po, under such a pseudonym, she became known at the beginning of her creative career as a ballerina, is a brilliant example for those who fell into the millstones of the villainous fate and for those who are not used to giving up under any circumstances. This amazing woman, having lost her sight, in an incredible way, could not only "see" objects in her imagination in volume, but also skillfully reproduced them by touch in the form of sculptures and figurines. Her creative success inspired and inspired the artist. And despite the terrible physical illness, she was truly happy, and sometimes even said:
She could, by touch, catch details and subtleties unnoticed by sighted professional sculptors. This is not easy to believe. But it was so in reality. Lina Mikhailovna had a special visual and auditory memory - eidetism. Curiously, people endowed with such a gift do not remember, do not imagine the image in their imagination, but see and hear it. After losing her eyesight, this ability developed especially sharply in her. This is evidenced by the works created by Lina Po, which are carefully preserved in domestic museums.
Gift from God
For some lucky ones, the Almighty generously measures out beauty, and versatile talents, and luck, and the opportunity to make a choice. Among them was Polina Gorenstein, at first a successful ballerina, and later a dance director, with an extraordinary gift for drawing. But, as often happens in life, merciless fate at one moment decided to play a trick on the lucky dancer.
Turning the pages of a biography
Polina Mikhailovna Gorenstein was born in Yekaterinoslav (now the city of Dnipro, Ukraine) at the turn of the century in 1899. Even as a teenager, she was fond of music and dance, wrote poetry, painted and sculpted. And from the age of fourteen, Polina seriously began to study in a choreographic studio and take lessons in drawing and modeling in an art studio.
She succeeded in everything she undertook, but the girl chose ballet as her profession. And this despite the fact that her parents wanted their daughter to become a lawyer. For this purpose, in 1916, they sent her to Kharkov. But, there Polina entered the school of ballerina Tagliari and at the same time in the studio of the sculptor L. Bloch. Of course, each of the hobbies required complete dedication. And over time, it became more and more difficult to combine them. As a result, Polina stopped at ballet.
Three years later, she became a professional ballerina and under the stage name "Lina Po" began performing in theaters in Kiev and Kharkov, and later staging dances in the theater of Mariupol. Everywhere the talented girl was accompanied by success and recognition. Deciding to improve her skills, Lina went to Moscow. In 1920-24 she studied at the Higher Choreographic Workshops and at the same time at the sculpture department of the VKHUTEMAS.
After graduation, Lina danced, taught, worked as a choreographer for ten years. And her sculpture lessons helped her in staging dances: As a choreographer, Lina often "rehearsed" scenes of future performances with the help of … plasticine, first making pencil sketches, and then creating plasticine mise-en-scenes.
She adored art with all her heart and loved life …
A disease that struck down, but did not break …
In 1934, disaster struck unexpectedly. Lina fell seriously ill: paralysis of the arms and legs, loss of vision caused by complications from the flu. The medical language is encephalitis. The woman spent two years in the hospital, fighting for her life. Hands and feet gradually returned to normal, but vision did not recover. Life seemed to have completely lost its meaning, but, nevertheless, it continued … And the woman was faced with an acute question: how to fill her life in pitch darkness, how to be useful to people again … and how not to hate fate for such a heavy blow.
Professor D. A. Shamburov, under whose leadership the ballerina was treated. Having learned about his patient's old hobbies for drawing and modeling, he once put a bread crumb in her hand and asked Lina to sculpt something. Carefully, overcoming the pain, the young woman crumpled it with her fingers for a long time until she blindly blinded the mouse. I checked the molded figure with a touch. Looks like …
Then they brought her plasticine, from which the woman began to sculpt dolls and animals, and then give them to the children who were in the hospital. This pleased both the children and Lina herself. But most of all, the doctors were pleased - this lesson helped their patient to normalize her paralyzed hands and find herself in a state of complete blindness. The young woman developed a belief that she would be able to do real creativity.
After being discharged from the hospital, Lina decided to show her still imperfect statuettes to the artist M. V. Nesterov. Demanding in everything related to art, Mikhail Vasilyevich sincerely approved her works, which the artist liked for the grace and precision of proportions, as well as the love with which they were made. It was he who told Lina that she would become a good sculptor if she continued to work in this direction. By this, the old master strengthened in the woman the belief that she had regained a place in life. It was from that day until the end of his life that Nesterov constantly supported Lina with advice and kind words, full of paternal care and wisdom.
There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped
In 1937, a year after her discharge, Lina Po's first works were exhibited at the All-Union Exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Art. And a year later, a personal exhibition of sculptures was opened, about which the entire press of that time spoke a lot and enthusiastically, with good reason: all the works of the blind sculptor were distinguished by an optimistic and life-affirming character. In truth, this was in stark contrast to the challenges of the once successful young ballerina.
It was then that the sculptural works "Jump", "Boy with a Snake", "Little Negro" were purchased from the author for the museum's collection. In 1939, Lina Mikhailovna was admitted to the Union of Artists. Moreover, many members of the commission who accepted her into the union did not believe that the woman was absolutely blind.
During World War II, Lina Po was evacuated to Ufa. There she weaved camouflage nets for armored vehicles, and at night she sculpted military-themed sculptures. Lina Mikhailovna loved to work at night, so that no one was distracted and could concentrate on work. She kneaded the clay with one hand, skillfully finished the smallest details with her little fingernail. But with the other hand, as if scanning, she was checking what had been done. Unusual endurance and diligence, patience and love for creativity gave the artist both strength and confidence to bring her plans to the end.
Lina Mikhailovna said that her sculptures are born
Unfortunately, fate did not give her much time for life and creativity. Illness did not leave Lina Mikhailovna alone, her body was very weakened and at the end of November 1948 she died practically on the operating table …
A master's legacy worthy of respect
Over the years of hard work, Lina Po managed to create about 120 sculptural works, which still amaze the viewer with their expression and vital flow of energy, saturated with joy, dreams and inspiration. With incredible power, they also attract the eye and the accuracy of the transfer of movements, lyricism and spirituality of images, harmony and exquisite workmanship.
It is difficult to understand how a blind person could so incredibly realistically convey not only the external resemblance, but also the character, and the mood, and the movement of the soul of the historical figures portrayed. It was like a miracle. The sculptural portraits of Pushkin and Chekhov truly shocked their contemporaries with their vitality and character. So, when for the anniversary of Anton Pavlovich Lina Mikhailovna sculpted his bust, the writer's wife Olga Leonardovna, wiping away her tears, said that no one had ever managed to portray Chekhov so truthfully.
Lina Po was known as a very hardworking, cheerful and kind person. In addition to sculpting sculptures, she made theatrical puppets for the children's theater. Her life feat was admired by her contemporaries, who put her name on a par with the names of Nikolai Ostrovsky and Alexei Maresyev. They do not cease to admire her willpower even today.
And in conclusion, I would like to note that Polina Mikhailovna Gorenstein poured out her soul not only in her sculptural creations, but also in her poems, imbued with a sense of bitterness about what was lost and a sense of faith and hope for the future.
This fragile woman did not allow herself to die either as a person or as a person. She showed people that under no life disasters one should not give up. No matter how much fate has let go - you need to go this way strongly, with dignity and beautifully!
And in continuation of the theme of incredibly gifted women of a bygone era, faced with the machinations of the villainous fate, read our publication: Sarah Bernhardt's Unknown Talents: As an outrageous actress, she sculpted sensual sculptures and wrote books.
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