Mikhail Zhvanetsky:
“I walked my own path...”

From March 21 to April 23, 2024 at the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater named after. Vl. Mayakovsky will host the exhibition “Mikhail Zhvanetsky: I walked my own path…”. With this project, the Mikhail Zhvanetsky Cultural Foundation, with the support of the Norilsk Nickel company, opens a visiting Russian anniversary festival program dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Mikhailovich Zhvanetsky (1934 - 2020) - a famous, truly folk, writer, author and performer of satirical miniatures. The exhibition will feature drawings by the writer’s friends – Rezo Gabriadze, Yuri Norshtein, Francesca Yarbusova; rare photographs, fragments of manuscripts, and also the satirist’s beloved aphorisms, which visitors will find inside a special installation.

As part of the first festival “Zhvanetsky’s Portfolio,” exhibitions and concert performances/readings are planned in different cities of Russia - Zhvanetsky often toured, and he was always enthusiastically received by audiences in all parts of our vast country. Zhvanetsky treated himself with great irony: “I’m not a writer, but I’m not a very good writer.” And also: “I walked my own path, this is a path, but I paved it myself…”.

The idea of the festival arose from the “integral accessory” that was with “Michal-Mikhalych” for more than 60 years of his creative biography. They were simply inseparable from each other - no one could imagine Zhvanetsky without his pot-bellied, shabby briefcase in his hands. From here, from the portfolio, came the following: sheets with new stories and miniatures written – always by hand; photographs from a family album; drawings of friends. All this will form the main body of the exhibition project, starting in the world’s largest city with a population of 100,000 in the Arctic Circle - Norilsk. Visitors to the exhibition will see the interactive installation “Zhvanetsky’s Briefcase”, which gives the name to the entire festival and was specially made by the craftsmen of the Polar Theater for this project.

Over the past ten years, Norilsk has become a source of inspiration for many theater workers, as well as artists, writers, musicians, and can compete with capital cities in the richness of cultural life. After all, the city has deep traditions of theater, literature, and art. Norilsk Polar Drama Theater named after. Vl. It was no coincidence that Mayakovsky became the place for the opening of the exhibition. This is the northernmost theater in the world and the center of cultural life in Norilsk. Georgy Zhzhenov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky and other grandees of theatrical art served in it. Mayakovka invariably combines the capabilities of different theatrical directions, genres and styles in order to best meet the creative needs of modern audiences.

The exhibition in the theater lobby will feature drawings by the master’s friends, without exaggeration, great cultural figures like himself. These are illustrations for Zhvanetsky’s books, created by the director, artist, founder of the school of Georgian puppet theater - Rezo Gabriadze. By the way, the artist and director designed seven (!) books by the writer in total. The general public will see many of the exhibited drawings for the first time in Norilsk. I remember that Zhvanetsky, speaking about a close friend and spiritual ally, expressed himself this way: “… He has taste, humor and different life, in large pieces, and what irritates me is that he is also a great artist.”

Of course, Mikhal-Mikhalych was disingenuous: the greatness of his friends did not irritate him either in Gabriadze or in Yuri Norshtein. The works of the famous cartoonist-reformer and his wife Francesca Jarbusova will also become an important part of the project. And here too there will be a premiere. These are drawings for M. Zhvanetsky’s new book, which includes many stories about animals. The publication is being prepared for release at the end of 2024.

Zhvanetsky once wrote: “Never marry a woman with whom you can live. Marry the one you can’t live without.” Natalya Zhvanetskaya, the initiator of the festival in memory of her husband, talks about the plan: “We decided not to limit ourselves to metropolitan concerts and anniversary events, but to definitely travel to other cities of Russia with different festival projects. Misha loved to tour. He loved the public - of course, different in each city - for their mutual understanding, for their response. I hope that this first festival will continue in the future and we will organize interesting events in different cities.”

The exhibition will also include fragments of Zhvanetsky’s facsimile manuscripts and rare family photographs provided by the writer’s wife and son - the founders of the Foundation named after him - Natalya and Dmitry Zhvanetsky.