The Return of Konstantin Somov. Diaries without cuts from "Dmitry Sechin"

MOSCOW. The publishing house "Dmitry Sechin" published the next volume of the diaries of the artist Konstantin Somov.

The era of the “Silver Age”, refined and resurrected in atmosphere, is one of the brightest pages in the history of Russian culture. A constellation of names and currents: modernism, constructivism, avant-garde, futurism, the cult of creativity, the search for new means of expression., Mysticism and romanticism. Tsvetaeva and Kandinsky, Blok and Akhmatova, Balmont and Severyanin, Goncharova and Diaghilev, Jack of Diamonds and Donkey’s Tail.

The main line of work of the small publishing house Dmitry Sechin is the publication of works by classics of a unique era. Collected works of Eugene Zamyatin, Arkady Averchenko, Andrey Bely, Zinaida Gippius, Velimir Khlebnikov. One of the latest projects is the diaries of Konstantin Somov, a talented artist, one of the fathers of the World of Art. They are published without cuts, with comments and additions. Fragments extinct previously censored are restored. The artist recorded events, sorrows and doubts, joyful events and plans for the future for several decades.

The first volume covers the period from 1917 to 1923. Anniversary exhibition in the Tretyakov Gallery, publication of the Book of the Marquise with erotic drawings and texts in French, teaching at the Zvantseva and Petrograd free educational workshops.

The second volume is the diary of 1923-1925. - devoted to a turning point in the artist’s life: the organization of the “Russian Exhibition” in New York, cooperation with Grabar, the decision not to return to his homeland, the life of a Russian emigrant in America. Family secrets of the Rachmaninovs, relations with Methodius Lukyanov. Departure to France, to Normandy (Granville). Diary entries are frank, ironic and witty, they contain a lot of sharp, sometimes unpleasant comments to fellow artists. The artist, whose name was practically forbidden in Soviet times, buried in the Russian cemetery Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois), returns to his homeland. The next volume of diaries is just around the corner.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru