"Exhibition of a painting" dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky

On June 1, in the main exposition of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Lenin 104), the exhibition “One painting exhibition” began, dedicated to the 125th birthday of Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky (1892 - 1968) V. G. Shatunovskaya (1922 - 1990). Portrait of K. G. Paustovsky. Wood. 72x69x66.

In 2010, by order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the work of Moscow sculptor Valentina Shatunovskaya “Portrait of K. G. Paustovsky” was transferred from ROSIZO’s storerooms to the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. This original work came to the museum for a reason: a classic of Russian literature, a singer of nature, a passionate traveler in the last years of his life was closely connected with the Kaluga Territory. In 1955, “Doctor Paust,” as his friends called him, bought half of the house on the banks of a picturesque river in Tarusa. He lived in a small house with a fragrant garden for 13 years, until his death in 1968. KG Paustovsky was buried in Tarusa, in the city cemetery.

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky came to Tarusa as a famous, successful writer. His books were published in huge editions, translated into many languages of the world. In Tarusa began a new fruitful stage in the work of Paustovsky. Here he wrote the novels “A Time of Great Expectations”, “Throw to the South” from the autobiographical novel “Tale of Life”, chapters from the popular book “Golden Rose”, the stories “Asleep Boy”, “Laurel Wreath”, “Ilyinsky Whirlpool”. Here was born the plan of the “Tarusa Pages”, an almanac that became the most famous publication in the Soviet Union. The hospitable house on Proletarskaya Street eventually became a place of pilgrimage. Paustovsky was visited by young writers and students of the Literary Institute: Yuri Kazakov, Yuri Trifonov, Bulat Okudzhava, Naum Korzhavin, Vladimir Tendryakov, Vladimir Soloukhin, Yuri Bondarev. Many readers, who were very impressed by his romantic hero with a youthful soul, also went to bow to his beloved author.

In the vicinity of Tarusa, the writer found that he loved most of all, which he was reaching for with all his soul: the low-key, sweet-hearted beauty of Central Russian nature. “I won’t exchange Central Russia for the most famous and stunning beauties of the globe… I will give all the elegance of the Gulf of Naples with its feast of paints to a willow bush wet from the rain on the sandy banks of the Oka River or to the winding small river Taruska,” wrote Konstantin Georgievich. He spoke enthusiastically about Tarusa, like a real nature reserve, “the domestic Barbizon”: “The places around Tarusa are truly charming, they are immersed in the pure light air… Such places fill us with spiritual lightness and reverence for the beauty of their land, before the Russian beauty”.

The grateful residents of Tarusa carefully preserve the memory of Konstantin Georgievich. He is the “Honorary Citizen of Tarusa”, his name is cast on the main bell of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the writer’s house, preserved in its original form, turned into a museum. Every year on May 31, the birthday of Paustovsky, a holiday is held in Tarus, to which many guests come from all over Russia and from abroad.

Turning to the creation of the image of K. G. Paustovsky, Valentina Shatunovskaya chose her own, precisely verified approach to the model. The author created a complex composition, including a portrait of the writer on his chest and the natural environment. At the same time, Shatunovskaya did all the work from a whole piece of a tree trunk. She intentionally left the back of the sculpture uncultivated, covered with rough bark, in order to thus emphasize the organic connection of the figure of the writer with the surrounding world of nature. From an awkward inert massif of wood under the sculptor’s tool an image of exceptional strength was born.

Paustovsky is captured at the moment of an instant surge of emotion, inspiration. A high open forehead, a careful look from under overhanging eyebrows, kind wrinkles at the eyes, sharp folds at the edges of a smiling mouth. A memorable, almost picturesque face, in which, according to the writer himself, several bloods mixed. Shatunovskaya is attentive to portrait similarity and at the same time romanticizes her hero. The main thing is to stop the moment, to show the features of the portrait through the seemingly inconspicuous movement of the soul. Characterize the image of Paustovsky the harmony of the inner world, the intellectual beginning, the integrity of nature. The warm tone of unpainted wood, subjected to fine processing, brings a feeling of softness of its mental structure.

In the portrait, the main emotional and semantic load is assumed not only by the face of the model, his personality, but also by the staging of the figure, an expressive gesture. The figure of the writer, displaced from the central vertical axis, violates the static, “animates” the sculpture, makes the contour “work”. The combination of round plastic and background give rise to black and white contrasts, bringing to the fore the volumetric-pictorial beginning. The level of craftsmanship with which sophisticated details are worked out is striking, the silhouette is revealed, the possibilities of the material are revealed.

Looking at the portrait of K. G. Paustovsky created by Shatunovskaya, one recalls the wise lines from the will of the writer addressed to us, the current citizens of a great country: “We lived on this earth. Do not give it into the hands of devastators, vulgarities and ignoramuses. We are the descendants of Pushkin, and we will be asked for it. ”

Valentina Georgievna Shatunovskaya (1922-1990) - author of monumental and easel compositions made in bronze, wood and stone. She graduated from Moscow State Art Institute. V.I. Surikova. She studied with F. Ya. Mishukov, R.R. Yodko, N.V. Tomsky. She learned many professional secrets from her husband, a native of Kaluga, Honored Artist of Russia, sculptor Anatoly Posado (1908 - 1987). Artists most often worked in Kratovo near Moscow, in their workshop, where wonderful works were created. In 2008, in the State Museum of A.S. Pushkin, a retrospective exhibition of two great masters was held, by the will of fate united in a happy family and creative union.