Two sides of the same coin: little-known pages of the life and work of Ilya Glazunov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the 60-70s of the last century Ilya Glazunov (1930) for the authorities he was "too Russian", but now many ordinary people and critics think the artist is "too close to those in power." The public was divided into two camps: some view the canvases as prophetic brilliant creations, others give a sharp assessment, calling the same works collages and posters made on topical topics.

And Glazunov is also reproached for his addiction to gigantic canvases of an allegorical nature, for his inability to build a multi-figured composition “turning into a vinaigrette”; for the abundance of religious, political and ideological symbols, for the primitiveness in solving plastic and pictorial problems, for the sweetness and pathos of style and much much more.

But there is also another Glazunov. A painter in whom viewers see such the highest spirituality and deep philosophy that no other artist of the times of socialist realism has. In connection with the sensational exhibition at the Manege in 1978, the writer O. Volkov wrote:

Some of the brightest pages of the life and work of I. Glazunov

As a native Leningrad, Ilya was brought up from early childhood in the best traditions of Russian culture and the Orthodox religion. Parents consciously prepared the boy for a creative destiny. But the Patriotic War went like a black tornado through their lives. At the age of 12, Ilya miraculously survived, and was taken out of besieged Leningrad through Ladoga along the "Road of Life". Having lost all his relatives in the besieged city, Glazunov early faced the pain and bitterness of loss, which tempered spiritually and taught him to look fear in the face. In 1944, having returned to his hometown, he studied at the Secondary Art School. Drawing saved Ilya in difficult moments of despair.

The first realization of his destiny came to Ilya when, as a 16-year-old graduate of an art school, he came to Kiev to visit the holy places - St. Sophia Cathedral, the Pechersk Lavra. And so great was the impression from what he saw and experienced that Ilya plucked up courage and asked the minister of the church what was needed for tonsure a monk. And Father Tikhon, in turn, asked the young man about his life, and whether he represented what monastic life is, answered:

Ilya remembered these words for the rest of his life. And apparently for this, the artistic ideas of most of Glazunov's paintings resonate with biblical images, with the Orthodox faith. The artist's canvases very often feature the image of Christ - the savior of the world, towards whom the spiritual movement of the Orthodox is directed. They seek and find in it philosophical answers to the questions of life. And the image of crucified Russia in the twentieth century, created by Ilya, is an integral part of both philosophy, and worldview, and spirituality, and the work of the artist himself.

It is not a secret for anyone that Ilya received a "three" for his thesis at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, but few people know the true value of this assessment. The theme of the thesis was originally the painting "Roads of War", seeing which the teachers were confused. One of them, unable to bear it, turned to shout: A few years later, the canvas was really burned.

And Ilya had to exhibit a painting, painted in his first year, "The Birth of a Calf", in which the members of the commission also saw a slander against the Soviet peasantry. The verdict was passed: fit to work as a drawing teacher at school. And the young specialist went on assignment to Izhevsk. But due to the lack of a free bet, Ilya was given a certificate and released to all four sides.

Returning to Moscow, the young artist and his young wife Nina Benois huddled in different corners until they met with Sergei Mikhalkov (1913-2009), a writer who took care of Ilya for all subsequent years. He then put in a word for him in front of a high-ranking official.

At a reception in the Kremlin, Mikhalkov, inviting E. A. Furtseva to a waltz, said: "I want to ask for a good person, for the artist Glazunov." To which Ekaterina Alekseevna replied: Mikhalkov mildly objected:

And very soon the married couple received eighteen square meters in the "mansion" of the communal apartment. Then Ilya asked Furtseva for an empty attic for his studio, and began to work hard and fruitfully. Although at twenty-five years old the artist already had his own unique style, masterfully mastered his "Glazunov corporate style", but he was not accepted into the Union of Artists for very long years …

In 1964, Glazunov sought permission to hold an exhibition in the Moscow Manege. And five days after its opening in "Evening Moscow" published a letter of several Moscow artists with a protest. With the exposition of this exhibition, Ilya decided to exhibit his ill-fated thesis "On the Roads of War". And since the exhibition "contradicted Soviet ideology", the Union of Artists makes an urgent decision: to withdraw and destroy the painting, and close the exhibition itself.

There were many other incidents and censures in the artist's creative career. When Glazunov was commissioned to paint portraits of the soloists of the opera La Scala on tour in Moscow, the artistic council decided the question: is Glazunov worthy to represent Soviet art, and whether his paintings are suitable for presentation to foreign artists from the USSR government. The scandal broke out again. Furtseva spoke publicly about portraits:

But be that as it may, soon Glazunov, on the recommendation of A. Gromyko, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, goes to Spain to decorate the interiors of the Soviet embassy in Madrid. It was there that the artist's worldwide fame began. He brilliantly proved himself as a court painter.

His portraits filled with outright flattery were in great demand among politicians and celebrities of the world magnitude. This list included: Salvador Allende, Urho Kekkonen, Indira Gandhi, Kurt Waldheim, Spanish king Juan Carlos I, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro; artists - Federico Fellini, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Gina Lollobrigida, Mario del Monaco, Domenico Modugno. Later, the list included Russian politicians and cultural figures L. Brezhnev, S. Mikhalkov, I. Smoktunovsky, V. Sevastyanov, S. Smirnov, I. Kobzon, I. Reznik and many others.

These are just a few bright pages from the biography of the meter. His work is multifaceted and boundless: more than three thousand paintings, a huge number of theatrical scenery, a large number of illustrated literary works. The phenomenon of Glazunov, crowned with laurels, is indefatigable diligence on the one hand, and on the other, the business acumen of an entrepreneur. He managed to create his small empire, starting with a multi-storey museum of his own painting in the center of Moscow on Volkhonka, and ending with an old estate, which houses the workshop and residence of Ilya Sergeevich.

The entrepreneurial spirit and talent of the meter have always irritated and continue to irritate colleagues of artists, critics, art connoisseurs, and simply envious people. Ilya Glazunov "lost many close friends over the years, but did not lose any of his enemies."

The artist's personal life, seething with passions and tragedies, also arouses great interest in the press, critics, and ordinary people. About this in the review "Love triangle"