Maximilian Voloshin. Russian poet, landscape painter and literary critic

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

One of the remarkable representatives of the Silver Age was a multifaceted and very original (he was called the most eccentric Russian of the early 20th century) man - Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932). He very organically fit into that wonderful period of Russian literature, to which the words of the poetess A. Akhmatova are so suitable: “And the silver month froze brightly over the silver age …”, although M. Voloshin himself did not belong to any of the trends that were then dominant in Russian art.

A talented person is talented in everything

In May 1877 in Kyiv, in the family of a collegiate adviser (rank VI class, corresponding to an army colonel) A. M. Kiriyenko-Voloshin and E. O. Glazer, a son was born. Immediately after the birth of the child, the mother, who absorbed the free customs of that time, left her husband, who died three years later, and never remembered him again. Little Max shebrought up herself in accordance with her extravagant disposition. And, probably, she was right if the encyclopedist Maximilian Voloshin appeared in Russia as a result of her upbringing, a qualified and talented translator, a wonderful, original poet and an amazing artist. In addition, he was an interesting literary critic. And, in confirmation of all that has been said, it is as if nature itself created the profile of a bearded man on Karadag, whom Maximilian Voloshin has become incredibly similar to over time.

Unusual Fate

And his fate was lucky. This cheerful man, a foolish hoaxer, in principle, lived until the end of his days, how and where he wanted, wrote what he wanted, though he did not publish it. And later, only for the storage of his poems, people could disappear without a trace. Even his estate, which consisted of two 2-storey mansions and a spacious outbuilding, was not taken away by the Bolsheviks. And in Koktebel, until the very death of this “shaggy Zeus”, hundreds of friends and friends of his friends came to Koktebel in the summer. The Voloshin estate was something like a free sanatorium, a creative home for poets, writers and artists.

A turning point

Maximilian Voloshin studied at gymnasiums - Feodosia and two Moscow ones, at Moscow University (at the department of law), and everywhere he comprehended the sciences unimportantly. And then, years later, he said that ten years spent in educational institutions did not enrich him with a single thought, and that these years were thrown away. However, he attended lectures of interest to him at the Sorbonne and was trained in the workshopsartists of Paris.

In 1900, which m. Voloshin considers the year of his formation, he was expelled from Moscow to Central Asia for participating in student unrest. It is here that he decides to devote himself to art and literature, for which, in his opinion, it was necessary for him to “go to the West.”

From dropouts to encyclopedists

Maximilian Voloshin, whose biography will be closely connected with Paris until 1912, traveled all over Europe and visited Egypt. Over the years, a half-educated student turned into an erudite - he wandered around the cities, spending a lot of time in libraries, absorbing, like a sponge, the culture of ancient and medieval civilizations. He was actively engaged in translations, opening Russian poets to the French, and French to his compatriots. His critical articles were intensively published in popular Russian publications, and by the time he returned to Koktebel he already had a literary name.

The talented hoaxer

But in 1913, this absolutely free man, whose views always differed from those of others (and his mother’s motto was: grow up as anyone, just not like the others) committed two acts, the result of which was a boycott announced to him. The first story was a talented hoax with the poetess Elizaveta Dmitrieva. They published a cycle of poems under the pseudonym Cherubina de Gabriac. The poems were wildly popular. But the exposure was also difficult, as a result, defending the honor of a woman, M. Voloshin shot himself in a duel with N. Gumilyov. Maximilian Alexandrovich's second wasCount A. Tolstoy.

Against public opinion

The second story quarreled Voloshin with many literary friends. In the month of February, he gave a lecture at the Polytechnic Museum, in which he dared to express his opinion, different from all, about the reason for the maniac's attack on I. Repin's painting "Ivan the Terrible kills his son." In 1914, a book of his essays "Faces of Creativity" was published, which became very popular. And in 1910 the first collection of his poems was published, before that neither M. Gorky nor V. Ivanov published his poetry.

Plot in Crimea

Some researchers believe that even today neither the scale of the personality nor the creative heritage of the artist, poet and literary critic named Voloshin Maximilian is completely underestimated. Koktebel is inextricably linked with his name. The idea to settle there belonged to his mother. Back in 1893 (Max was 16 at the time), she was one of the first to buy a plot of land by the sea, believing that only the air, nature and centuries-old history of Crimea, in which so many different cultures left their mark, suits her invaluable Maximilian, in whom mixed so many different bloodlines.

Legendary House

From the moment of his return from abroad, the poet and artist lives almost all the time in his estate, which is gradually becoming a kind of center of cultural thought in Russia. Although, according to rumors, not only thought here. During the most difficult years of the Civil War, Maximilian Voloshin's house was a haven for all his friends,regardless of their "color" - he saved the reds from the whites, and the whites from the reds. He did not emigrate, although his friend A. K. Tolstoy in 1918 (who returned to Soviet Russia in 1923) begged him to flee abroad. Voloshin did not leave his homeland.

Cimmeria Singer

While in Koktebel, M. Voloshin painted a lot - according to his contemporaries, two watercolors a day. Many of his works are accompanied by beautiful poetry. He was in love with his Cimmeria (the ancient Greeks - "Northern countries"), wrote about her and painted her. Maximilian Voloshin painted his paintings in cycles. Some of them took part in exhibitions of artists of the World of Art. But for a long time they were not familiar to a wide audience, although now excellent collections, accompanied by poems, can be found in the public domain. Many of the master's works are kept in the museum named after him and in Feodosia, in the Aivazovsky Museum.

Heritage Keeper

The Maximilian Voloshin Museum in his house in Koktebel opened in 1984. It owes its existence to the widow of Maximilian Alexandrovich M. S. Voloshina (nee Zabolotskaya), who until 1976 not only lived in the former estate, but carefully kept and collected everything that was connected with her beloved husband. She knew that someday the people of Russia would appreciate the legacy of the great artist and poet.

The museum is presenting the annual International Maximilian Voloshin Prize for the best poetic book, the days of its presentationcalled Voloshin September. The poet and artist were buried nearby - on Mount Kuchuk-Yanyshar. Under one slab rests next to him and his wife.