Video: Why the name of the most famous woman patron of the arts was forgotten at home: The dramatic fate of Princess Tenisheva
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
June 1 (according to the old style - May 20) marks the 153th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding woman, whose contribution to the development of Russian culture can hardly be overestimated. Princess Maria Tenisheva was a collector, philanthropist, public figure and enamel artist. Turgenev regretted that he did not have time to write a story about her, she posed for Repin, Serov, Korovin and Vrubel. Her contemporaries called her "the heroine of our time" and "the pride of all of Russia", and today her name is hardly known to the majority and undeservedly forgotten.
Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva, nee Pyatkovskaya, was born into a noble family, but was illegitimate. According to rumors, her father could be Emperor Alexander II. Her mother married after her birth, and therefore was not recognized in her stepfather's family. Maria did not need anything, but was completely left to herself. Later, in her memoirs, she wrote: “I was lonely, abandoned. When everything in the house was quiet, I silently, tiptoed into the living room, leaving my shoes outside the door. There my friends are pictures ….
After graduating from high school, Maria married the lawyer Rafail Nikolaev and bore him a daughter, but she was not happy in marriage, since the spouses did not love each other. Later, Maria called this marriage "a stuffy shell", because "everything was so gray, ordinary, meaningless." The husband was indifferent to everything in the world except playing cards. After 5 years, Maria sold part of the furniture and, with the proceeds, went abroad with her daughter.
In Paris, she began attending a vocal school, discovering a mezzo-soprano of rare beauty. Her mentor promised her a career as an opera singer, but Maria decided that the stage was not for her: “Singing? It's fun … This is not what my destiny wants. Abroad, she also took art lessons, spent a lot of time in museums and reading books.
A year later, Maria returned to Russia. The husband took away his daughter, sending her to a closed educational institution, and contemptuously spoke about his wife's creative successes: “I don’t want my name to be rattled on the fences!”. And the daughter gradually moved away from her mother, never forgiving her that she decided to leave the family in the name of self-realization.
In difficult times, a childhood friend came to the rescue - Ekaterina Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya, who invited her to her family estate Talashkino. Since then, Maria's life has changed dramatically. There she met Prince Vyacheslav Tenishev, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and public figure. Despite the significant age difference, they felt soul mates in each other and soon got married.
Together with her husband, the princess moved to Bezhetsk, where Tenishev had a large factory. Maria Klavdievna became the trustee of a local school, then founded several more schools, organized a public dining room and a theater, and opened vocational schools for the children of workers. Later, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where a music salon was organized in the Tenishevs' house, which was attended by famous composers.
On the advice of Ilya Repin, Tenisheva opened a studio-workshop, where students were prepared for admission to the Academy of Arts. The princess also co-founded the World of Art magazine, sponsoring exhibitions of the world of art. At the same time, she took up collecting, the princess later transferred many of the paintings to the Russian Museum. In 1893 g.she acquired an estate in Talashkino and turned it into a cultural center, not inferior to the workshops in Abramtsevo. Repin, Bakst, Vrubel, Serov and other famous artists have been here.
On the Flenovo farm near Talashkino, the princess opened a school for village children, in which the best teachers taught. A new school and a number of educational and economic workshops were opened in Talashkino. There they were engaged in woodworking, metal chasing, ceramics, embroidery, etc. Orders for the works of Talashkino masters came even from abroad. The princess was carried away by enamel and spent whole days in the workshop, fired up with the idea of reviving the enamel business. Her works were exhibited abroad and enjoyed great success.
In 1903, Tenisheva's husband died, and soon all her beloved brainchildren perished. After the revolution, life in "Russian Athens," as Talashkino was called, came to an end. Potatoes were stored in the church built by the princess and painted by Roerich, the tomb of Tenishev was ravaged, the workshops were closed. She wrote about these days: “There is no doubt that it was a spontaneous storm that flew over Russia. Blind, shameless people … These are those who stand up for the people, shout about the good of the people - and with a light heart destroy that little, those rare centers of culture that are created by single heavy efforts of individuals."
In 1919 the princess had to leave the country. She spent the last years of her life in exile, continuing to work on enamels, despite a serious illness. Maria Tenisheva died in 1928 and was buried in France, and at home the emigrant was consigned to oblivion.
On the Flenovo farm, Princess Tenisheva, together with Roerich, built a unique Temple of the Holy Spirit, renovated in 2016
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