Asya's many faces: 6 personal belongings of Anastasia Tsvetaeva reveal the facets of the poet's personality and the vicissitudes of fate

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

Anastasia Tsvetaeva is not just the sister of the famous poet. Her long life - she passed away at 98 years old - can be called an illustration of the national history of the 20th century. “The many-faced Asya,” as Alexander Kovaldzhi called her, was touched by many key events of those years - the revolution, the civil war, the creation and disintegration of the USSR, the Stalinist repressions … Throughout her life, she carried a love of work, becoming the author of many books, a teacher of young writers. educator of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her many years of work to preserve her sister's heritage helped create the Moscow House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva.

The exhibition "Asya's Many Faces: Personality, Fate and Creativity of Anastasia Tsvetaeva", which opened in the House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva, is timed to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the birth of Anastasia Ivanovna and covers all stages of her life. About several exhibits presented at the exhibition - in the material of MOSGORTUR.

Book by Ivan Tsvetaev with notes by Anastasia Ivanovna

The father of Marina and Anastasia, art critic Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev, was born into a poor family of a rural priest and from early childhood was drawn to knowledge. At the age of 29, he became a professor at Moscow University. There he not only taught, but also was the curator of a small museum, which kept casts of antique sculptures - Ivan Vladimirovich thought that his students needed a visual knowledge of the material being studied. Tsvetaev believed that every person should have the opportunity to join the cultural heritage of mankind and dreamed of creating a large museum of fine arts.

Long-term work has led to the fulfillment of a cherished dream. In 1912, with the assistance of Nicholas II, the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III was opened in Moscow. The museum funds were replenished thanks to patrons: someone donated significant sums, and someone donated personal collections of art objects to the museum. “Our giant younger brother,” - so called the brainchild of her father Marina Tsvetaeva. The museum works to this day, but it is known under a different name - the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin. The book, presented at the exhibition in the House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva, contains a transcript of Ivan Vladimirovich's speech dedicated to the creation of the museum. This copy belonged to Anastasia Tsvetaeva personally. The book was re-read by the writer many times - already in old age, once again studying the pages that had become native, she made notes about what of her father's behests had already been fulfilled, and what was still to come true.

Skates

The main sporting "passion" of Anastasia Tsvetaeva was skating. On Sundays, Asya and Marina loved to go out and ride in the city. Most often they visited the Patriarch's Ponds. One of the Sunday hikes turned into the most important acquaintance in the life of Anastasia Ivanovna.

At the rink, sixteen-year-old Asya met her first love - Boris Trukhachev. They got married and their beloved son Andrei was born, but family happiness was short-lived - in 1914 the marriage broke up. Together they lived for just over two years.

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Marina Tsvetaeva dedicated the poem "Skaters" to Ace and Boris:

By the way, Anastasia Ivanovna did not abandon her hobby even in old age - even at eighty years old she often skated on her beloved Patriarch's Ponds.

Book by Anastasia Tsvetaeva "Royal Reflections"

Anastasia Tsvetaeva's youth passed surrounded by great poets. In addition to Marina, these were Maximilian Voloshin, Boris Pasternak, and others. Asya herself in her work gave preference to prose. Her main work is the large book Memoirs, published in the 1970s. She wrote poetry very rarely - in her entire life, only one book of poetry was published, which was called “My only collection”.

The Silver Age became a time of renaissance not only for poetry, but also for Russian philosophical thought. The works of Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Vasily Rozanov occupied the minds of the intelligentsia of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Anastasia Tsvetaeva also experienced their tremendous influence. In 1914, she published her first book, Royal Reflections, in which she methodically and logically tried to refute the existence of God.

“Is it possible that God, creating mankind, could not have invented for him a different place of residence than a ball in the middle of the void, which, in addition, also flies? What an absurdity! " - wrote Tsvetaeva. In the text of the work, Asya mentions the godless heroes from the novels of her favorite writer Fyodor Dostoevsky: Ivan Karamazov, Alexei Kirillov, Nikolai Stavrogin. It was these characters that the writer liked in her early youth. Vasily Rozanov, with whom she had a friendly correspondence, after reading her work, wrote to Anastasia Ivanovna: "Yes, you will end up in a monastery … I now know this absolutely definitely - by the fervor with which you refute God." We can say that this "prophecy" of the Russian philosopher has come true.

Notebook with prayers

Anastasia Ivanovna's religious perception was turned upside down by a meeting with the poet, philosopher and mystic Boris Zubakin. This educated young man came from the Scottish family of Edward, many of whom were members of the Masonic lodge. The Christian faith was an important part of his life for him - they say that he could devote a whole day to prayer. Zubakin spoke with Patriarch Tikhon more than once.

Boris Zubakin and Anastasia Tsvetaeva talked a lot about God, about Orthodoxy. The writer listened attentively to his numerous lectures on the faith and diligently wrote down each of them. Under the influence of Zubakin, Asya began to lead an ascetic lifestyle - she stopped eating meat, drinking wine, smoking, and entering into relationships with men. She devoted most of her time to prayer.

ALSO READ: Boris Pasternak and Marina Tsvetaeva: An Epistolary Novel Without a Happy Ending

Anastasia Ivanovna said about her difficult path to faith: “The fact is that in those years I tried to perceive God with my mind, not my heart, I tried to squeeze Him into my consciousness, but He did not fit there …” Anastasia Ivanovna wrote down prayers in separate notebooks, where she marked church holidays and memorable dates. One of them is presented at the exhibition. It was opened on August 31, important for Anastasia Ivanovna - the anniversary of the death of Marina Tsvetaeva, which coincides with the church day of memory of the martyrs Florus and Laurus.

Suitcase

The infamous 58th article of the USSR Criminal Code did not bypass many representatives of the Tsvetaev family. Anastasia Ivanovna was no exception.

Her first arrest took place in April 1933. Then the writer was under investigation for 64 days, and only the petition of Maxim Gorky, a close friend of Anastasia Ivanovna, influenced her release. The second detention took place in September 1937, when she was in Tarusa. Andrei, the son of Anastasia Ivanovna, who was visiting her at that time, was also arrested. The reason for their detention was the writer’s acquaintance with Boris Zubakin, who was a member of the Masonic association “Order of the Rosicrucians”. During the search, the NKVD officers seized the manuscripts of works that existed in a single copy.

Anastasia Ivanovna was accused of "counter-revolutionary activities" and sentenced to ten years in labor camps. While she was in prison, Marina committed suicide in 1941. But Asya learned about the fate of her sister only two years later. In 1947, her term of punishment ended, but her free life did not last long - soon the arrests of “repetitives” began, among whom was Anastasia Ivanovna. The writer was sent into exile in the Novosibirsk village of Pikhtovka. 5 years later, after Stalin's death, she was released forever, and in 1959 she was completely rehabilitated due to the lack of corpus delicti.

The suitcase, on which "Tsvetaeva" was carved with a sharpened nail, was Anastasia Ivanovna's constant companion during his stay in the camps.

Handmade hook

Even at the age of ninety, she continued to work - she wrote and took pictures, corresponded and helped people. Until the end of her life, Anastasia Ivanovna did not stop moving forward - both literally and figuratively. Asya didn’t like lifts. She preferred every time, with a little respite on the stairwells, to climb to the ninth, and even to the eleventh floor. Anastasia Ivanovna said: "The staircase is life." She went down and up the escalator almost at a run, forcing the surprised Muscovites to look back at the energetic old woman.

The symbol of Anastasia Tsvetaeva's ascetic and indefatigable nature can be considered her stick, which is presented at the exhibition - it was carved from a solid wood by the writer herself. As her granddaughter Olga Trukhacheva said, Asya had many canes, but she never leaned on them. Anastasia Ivanovna used the stick in a different way - she hung heavy bags with groceries on it when she went to the store.

These and other exhibits can be seen at the exhibition "The Many Faces of Asya", which is held at the House-Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva until October 13.

And here is the story Anastasia Tsvetaeva herself told about who she dedicated her poem to "I like that you are not sick with me …" Marina Tsvetaeva.