Russian costumes in Elena Polenova's paintings. The fairy tale world of Elena Polenova: magical illustrations for Russian fairy tales that were born in a dream

Lilith Mazikina, journalist

“What a scandal, Vasya,” his sister Elena wrote to Vasily Polenov in 1880, “I am sent on a business trip abroad from the Encouragement Society. I think this is the first example in history, at least in Russian, that a person of our woman's class receives an assignment and is sent on a business trip for the purpose of studying, etc. ”

Yes, I must say, Elena Polenova was always lucky on her creative path. Fate tried to go towards her talent. She tried so hard that, it seems, she even removed from the path of Elena what she considered superfluous - forcing the artist to experience real tragedies.

Travel to a parallel world

The brother and sister of the Polenovs were born in the family of State Councilor Dmitry Polenov, an archaeologist and bibliographer by vocation and an official by occupation. His wife Maria, nee Voeikova, was fond of painting and wrote stories for children. She had the pedagogical talent to pay attention to the talents of children and develop them, and her husband had the means to ensure that the children did not even think about everyday life.

Pavel Chistyakov

Pavel Chistyakov, then still young and little known, was invited to teach painting. The mother's grandmother, Vera Nikolaevna, was engaged in history with the children. She had her own methods. In order for the children to better remember the historical role of the princes, she made the students draw family trees and paint the name of each prince differently. Red - brave princes, gold - good and black - bad.

In the summer, Vera Nikolaevna took the children to a village near Tambov so that they would get stronger in the fresh air. It was a long ride on horseback, and the grandmother entertained her grandchildren with folk tales along the way. Elena was enchanted. In the village, the girl looked with curiosity at everything "folk" - embroidery, carving, painting on household items. This is now a highchair painted under Khokhloma, there is almost in every kindergarten, and clay whistles, Gzhel and other folk crafts are sure to be shown to the kids. A city child of the end of the nineteenth century could never even touch Russian folk arts until adulthood. The trip to the village was for Elena a journey to a fairy-tale land, to a parallel world where even people seem to speak the same way as you, but still in a different way.

Vera Nikolaevna was introduced to Russian fairy tales and songs in the house of Gavriil Derzhavin, where she was brought up after losing her parents. Derzhavin himself was fond of Russian culture, despite the fact that in the eyes of the majority of educated people in Russia it was something vulgar, savage, not worthy of attention.

Hopes of youth

Building of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts

Chistyakov early recognized artistic talent in Elena and recommended giving her the best possible education. But Elena could not enter the Academy of Arts, where Vasily studied - girls were not accepted there. So from the age of fourteen she attended an institution that was considered simpler - the St. Petersburg drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. The young artist's mentor was Kramskoy.

At nineteen, her parents paid Elena and Vera a trip to Paris. It was believed that every self-respecting artist should learn at least a little in France. Returning, Elena came to Chistyakov's workshop and worked under the guidance of her beloved children's teacher. The main theme of her watercolors was the modest beauty of Russian flowers, shaded forest edges. Soon, Tretyakov noticed a special charm, expressiveness of her small landscapes. After he began to buy Polenova's watercolors, critics and colleagues drew attention to her. It seemed that she was destined to go down in history - as a singer of a gentle, dim Russian nature.

Elena Polenova "Roofs of Paris"

But in 1877 Russia started a war with Turkey. Elena left everything and went to her sister Vera in Kyiv: the wounded from all fronts were brought to the hospitals of the city. In the evening, young women studied at medical courses, looked after the wounded at night, hurried to work in the morning - Elena taught drawing at school, and after work and before the courses they ran home and to the hospital. We slept in snatches, before dawn.

There, in the hospital, Elena fell in love with the talented doctor Shklyarevsky. Love grew stronger every minute, and the young people started talking to their relatives about the wedding, but Polenova's parents reared up. Who is he to claim their daughter? They are nobles, he is a tradesman. Their Elena is a genius, and he is a provincial doctor. The objections were expressed in such an incorrect form that Shklyarevsky immediately abandoned the idea - his pride was painfully hurt. For Elena, the ease with which her beloved left her was a terrible shock, and no less a shock - the rigidity of her parents, who had previously supported any of her undertakings, from whom she had never seen anything but care and affection.

After breaking up with Shklyarevsky, Elena forever abandoned romantic plans and completely focused on art. She continued to look for herself - she went to Paris to study ceramics on a grant from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, graduated from the Higher Women's Courses, and with a friend traveled around the Volga, Don, Caucasus and Crimea, drawing local nature. And then the Mamontovs and Abramtsevo happened in her life, and everything finally fell into place.

Russian children need Baba Yaga

Illustration for the fairy tale "Mushroom War"

Polenova was fond of Russian folk art as a child. But at the Mamontovs, she constantly communicated with Vasnetsov, a singer of Ancient Rus', and Elizaveta Mamontova, the wife of Savva Mamontov, a great lover of Russian arts and crafts. Vasnetsov forced Polenova to reflect on the fact that Russian children, in fact, grow up on foreign fairy tales and Western images. They do not know what Baba Yaga and her hut look like, although they perfectly imagine the gingerbread house of the witch who wanted to eat the German Hans and Gretel.

Elena began to enthusiastically illustrate fairy tales collected by the legendary folklorist Afanasyev (they were published both in full version and in an adapted children's version). She herself knew some fairy tales from an early age, sometimes in a different version, so that details appeared in the illustrations that were not in Afanasiev's notes. In fact, many later illustrators of children's stories looked to Polenova's drawings as a model.

Together with Mamontova, Elena went on ethnographic expeditions, collecting and sketching samples of folk visual art. The very carving, embroidery, painting that so attracted her attention in childhood. In Abramtsevo, Vasnetsov and other artists looked with pleasure at Polenova's drawings in search of material and inspiration.

In fact, Polenova became one of the prominent figures in the Russian Art Nouveau style, with a Russian accent. In this strange, bewitching synthetic spirit, Polenova designed furniture, painted dishes, created designs for textiles and wallpaper.

Elena drew ornaments quickly, invented on the go, sometimes took from her dreams. Not only dreams helped: Elena had synesthesia, “a confusion of feelings”, and colors, patterns literally sounded for her, that is, they made sounds, intertwined in melodies. On the contrary, it also worked: listening to music, Polenova saw the ornaments and hurried to sketch them.

belated love

E.D. Polenov. Portrait of A.Ya. Golovin (in Spanish costume). Late 1880s - early 1890s

Meanwhile, another man, the young artist Alexei Golovin, entered her life tightly. Thirteen years younger, very charming, very talented, he occupied Polenova's thoughts and, perhaps, her feelings. In any case, their letters to each other are full of warmth. Constantly mentions Polenov Golovin and in correspondence with friends. She takes a great part in it, joins his pastel studies, she constantly instructs in painting, collaborates with him, developing interiors in the Russian spirit. They even draw pictures on the same topics!

Golovin responds to Elena not just with friendship, but with tenderness. Is this a student's feeling for his beloved teacher? Something more? There is a big age difference between them and Polenova's vow to devote her life to art, only to him. If there was a romance between them, it was a romance of souls. And he greatly influenced Golovin as an artist and a person.

“She was occupied with everything Russian, national, folk. As you know, not only her. For this was the time, as they would later say, of "the awakening of national consciousness" among the creative intelligentsia, the need to return to the origins of purely Russian culture.

Elena Dmitrievna, the first of the Russian artists, drew attention to the fact that Russian children grow up on German and English fairy tales. She was distressed to discover how V.V. Stasov that "he does not know of a single children's publication where the illustrations would convey the poetry and aroma of the Old Russian warehouse." So she decided to try her hand at book illustration for children.” Lydia Kudryavtseva

Illustrations by Elena Dmitrievna Polenova

Elena Dmitrievna Polenova (1850 - 1898) - sister of the artist V.D. Polenov, one of the first Russian illustrators, graphic artist, painter, master of arts and crafts.

Elena Dmitrievna was born into a family, all members of which were somehow connected with the scientific and artistic world.

Father Dmitry Vasilyevich Polenov was a respected scientist, archaeologist, and historian. And brother Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, as you know, is a famous painter, a wonderful landscape painter. Maria Aleksandrovna Polenova, Elena Dmitrievna's mother, was an artist and children's writer. From her book “Summer in Tsarskoye Selo” you learn how wonderfully she raised her children, paid attention to the studies of Russian and world history, talked to them for a long time and intelligently, and was engaged in drawing. Children did not know idleness.

However, Elena Dmitrievna was not a student of the Academy of Arts, since in those years women were not allowed to study at higher educational institutions. But she studied with the wonderful Russian artist and teacher P.P. Chistyakov, later with I.N. Kramskoy and then in Paris, in the workshop of Ch.

"Landscape with Crows". 1880s.

In 1877, Polenova went to Kyiv to visit her sister. There was a Russian-Turkish war. The sisters worked in a hospital, were going to open their own dispensary, went to women's medical courses. Here, in Kyiv, Elena Dmitrievna fell in love with a talented doctor, professor of Kyiv University A.S. Shklyarevsky. The feeling was mutual, but the family of Elena Dmitrievna categorically objected to this marriage and did everything to prevent it from taking place ...

As a result of this personal tragedy, Polenova, according to the recollections of her friends, has changed a lot. She became more closed, cold, as if a small bright light lurked in her soul for a while. She decided to devote the rest of her life to social activities and arts. Entered the drawing school at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1878-1880). She studied at once in two classes: watercolor and ceramics. At the exams, she was awarded silver medals (gold medals were not given at the school at the OPH) and - a very unusual case for that time - she received an offer to go on an internship in Paris. “What a scandal, Vasya,” she wrote to her brother, “they send me on a business trip abroad from the O-va of encouragement. I think this is the first example in history, at least in Russian, that a person of our woman's estate received an assignment and was sent on a business trip for the purpose of studying, etc. ”
"In the yard in winter" 1886

Arriving in Moscow in 1882, Elena Dmitrievna, together with her brother V. D. Polenov, found herself in the center of a circle of talented youth, which consisted of: K. A. Korovin, I. I. Levitan, M. V. Nesterov, A. Ya. Golovin , S. V. Ivanov, M. V. Yakunchikova, I. S. Ostroukhov.

The warm, friendly, creative atmosphere that reigned in the circle revived her from the heavy sleep in which she lived after the tragedy in her personal life; awakened the forces of the artist that had been dormant until that time - re-ignited a fire in her soul and a thirst not only for social work, but also for creativity.
"A backwater in Abramtsevo" 1888

Polenova took an active part in the creative evenings of the circle. I sewed costumes for theatrical performances. For a long time she stayed at the Mamontovs' Abramtsevo estate. She went to sketches together with Konstantin Korovin. Here Polenova also met Viktor Vasnetsov. “Who gave me the impetus to understand ancient Russian life was Vasnetsov,” she wrote to Stasov, “I did not learn from Vasnetsov in the literal sense of the word, i. I didn’t take lessons from him, but somehow I gathered around him an understanding of the Russian folk spirit.
This communication largely determined the national spirit of her further creative searches. The spontaneously formed "Abramtsevo art circle" played a big role in the development of national artistic culture, largely determining the features of the Art Nouveau style in Russia.
"The Beast (Serpent)"

Isn't it true that in the work "The Beast" the influence of the new Art Nouveau style is already felt.

More and more interested in Russian folk art, Polenova, together with Elizaveta Grigoryevna Mamontova, began to create a museum of folk art in Abramtsevo, collecting household items, samples of weaving, embroidery, sketching ornaments from the villages. To replenish the collection, the ladies even went on special expeditions for household items in the Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Rostov provinces. The exhibits of the collection served as models for the carpentry workshop managed by E. D. Polenova and E. G. Mamontova. From 1885 to 1894, Elena Dmitrievna completed over 100 projects of furniture and objects of decorative and applied art (furniture, painted porcelain dishes).


Plates "Seasons".

On hanging cabinets and shelves, chairs, and benches made according to Polenova's design, one can see how she transformed landscape motifs into an ornament and a pattern for carving.

Furniture according to the sketches of E.D. Polenova. 1880-1885s.

Elena Dmitrievna enthusiastically created ornaments for furniture and utensils based on Russian folk ornaments. “... We have a condition: if possible, do not resort to the help of publications and printed material in general. For example, not to borrow forms and drawings from well-known monuments or those located in open museums… our goal is to pick up the still living folk art and give it the opportunity to unfold…,” the artist wrote.
The workshop had many orders, and a special store was even opened in Moscow.

Buffet in the house of the architect Kuznetsov, made according to Polenova's sketches.

This “ability to Russian style”, the most attentive and painstaking study of Russian folk art, “passion for the national warehouse” could not fail to lead the artist to acquaintance with folklore. Polenova became interested in illustrating fairy tales.

“You ask how it came to my mind to illustrate the “mushroom campaign”. I didn’t start with him, but with other fairy tales borrowed from Afanasiev’s collection, to tell the truth, I drew them without a specific purpose, because I liked the motives of Russian fairy tales (I always loved Russian life in its past). These drawings were seen by some of my friends, they began to talk about the publication - the thought smiled at me - I began to illustrate Afanasiev's "White Duck". Then, when the scenes with human figures seemed monotonous to me, I wanted something else, and then I remembered the “mushroom war” in that version, as I heard it from my grandmother in very early childhood, the version with the version about the wave monastery, which I later nowhere did not meet. Since the publication was intended for children, I tried to travel back to that distant time when, listening to this story, I imagined miniature villages, monasteries and cities in the forest, built, so to speak, on a mushroom scale, in which these amazing creatures, because in a child's mind a mushroom is a very living and very attractive creature ... "

Illustration for the fairy tale "Mushroom War"
Illustrations for the fairy tale "The White Duck".

For illustration, she took not only already published fairy tales from the collection of Afanasyev, but also actively collected fairy tales herself, walking around the surrounding villages. In the villages, the artist was usually followed by a string of children. In order to “keep them calm,” she asked to tell her stories and immediately wrote down the text. “The hut on chicken legs” was written down at the request of the artist by a literate peasant boy, “a master of telling fairy tales,” as his comrades used to say about him. He heard this tale in his own village.

Illustrations for the fairy tale "The hut on chicken legs".

Here, more than one discovery awaited her. So, having written down in a remote northern village the text of the folk tale "Synko-Filipko", which tells about a boy carved from a block of wood and revived by the love and warmth of his mother, she convincingly proved that this plot is archetypal for Russian culture, that is, it was not borrowed from Western European literary sources.

Elena Dmitrievna made the first illustrations for fairy tales in 1886. From that time until the end of her life, she did not give up her favorite pastime. For twelve years, Polenova made illustrations for more than twenty Russian folk tales and sayings.

Banya-teremok in Abramtsevo. It contains a very original room - the "casket". On the walls are illustrations by E.D. Polenova to "The Tale of Masha and Vanya".

Subsequently, such masters as I. Bilibin, S. Malyutin, G. Narbut, D. Mitrokhin considered themselves her students and followers.

Polenova was going to continue to work on fairy tales ... Alas, her dreams were not destined to come true. In April 1896, when she was driving a cab down the steep descent to Trubnaya Square, the cab ran into the horse-drawn rails and overturned. Polenova hit her head on the pavement, and her illness and death two years later were the result of this blow. Shocked Vasily Polenov wrote: “She worked tirelessly, one might say, all her life and went forward all the time, and now, when her talent has developed and strengthened, when full of creative ideas she could give a lot more highly gifted and interesting, cruel fate kills her ... "

A.N. Benois said after the death of Elena Dmitrievna: “Polenova earned herself the eternal gratitude of Russian society by the fact that she was the first Russian artist to pay attention to the most artistic area in life - to the children's world, to its strange, deeply poetic fantasy. She is a gentle, sensitive and truly kind person, she penetrated into this closed children's world and guessed its peculiar aesthetics.

Sources:
http://bibliogid.ru/articles/2563
http://www.mosjour.ru/index.php?id=470
http://polenovousadba.ru/11-room-e-d-polenovoj
Photo:
http://otkritka-reprodukzija.blogspot.ru/2008/07/1850-1898.html
http://starina-rus.ru/kartinki/70.php
http://rezbaderevo.ru/topic.php?topic_id=480

From November 03, 2016 to November 11, 2016 in the exhibition hall of the Children's School of Art named after V.D., Polenov, at st. Bolshaya Ochakovskaya, 39, bldg. 2 passes

exhibition "Drawings by Maria Alekseevna Polenova"

Maria Alekseevna Polenova (née Voeikova) is a talented portrait painter. She received an excellent classical home education. Since childhood, her mother, Vera Nikolaevna Voeikova, who grew up in the house of G. R. Derzhavin, in every possible way supported her daughter's early interest in art. The desire to learn to draw and paint professionally in oils did not disappear even after the marriage of Maria Alekseevna in 1834. She married a diplomat, historian, amateur archaeologist D. V. Polenov (1806−1878). Thanks to her husband, Maria Alekseevna was acquainted with K. Bryullov, F. Bruni and other famous artists. In those years, women were not admitted to the Academy of Arts, and she took lessons from the academician of painting K. A. Moldavsky. Possessing natural talent, diligence, and a great interest in art, Maria Alekseevna was able to achieve professional excellence. Her works met all the requirements set by the Academy for drawing in the 19th century.

In those years, along with romantic landscapes, one of the most common genres was a portrait from costumed models. It is with these works of Maria Alekseevna Polenova that the visitors of the exhibition will get acquainted. Her drawings have concentrated in themselves the characteristic features of the Russian academic school of drawing, at the same time, they have not lost their individuality. The expressive images taken from the people are full of spiritual perfection, purity and grace. The artist conveys the texture of fabrics, the color of drapery and models only in tone, and she succeeds superbly.

Visitors will get acquainted with the portraits of members of the Polenov family, executed by Maria Alekseevna in different years. Portrait of her husband, eldest son Vasily as an eight-year-old boy, his twin sister Vera, married Khrushchova, two brothers Alexei (1845-1918) and Konstantin (1848-1917), and younger sister Elena (1850-1898), later a famous artist.

Her work proved to be a good school for her son, daughter and the younger generation of their artist friends and was a shining example of how drawing should be treated. Undoubtedly, she had a great influence on the choice of the life path of her children.

Drawings by Maria Alekseevna Polenova, made in the 19th century, are undoubtedly of great interest to professionals and connoisseurs of art in the 21st century.

from April 13, 2016 the exhibition presents illustrations of Russian folk talesElena Dmitrievna Polenova

The work of Elena Dmitrievna Polenova belongs to the most interesting phenomena in Russian culture of the 19th century. “She did not have time to accomplish everything that her nature was capable of, for which her ardent love for Russia, for Russian folk art, for Russian folk content and beauty, prepared her, but she did it so original, so powerful, so peculiar that . probably will never perish and will forever remain a monument of incomparably female art,” wrote V. Stasov.

The hopes of V.V. Stasov, unfortunately, did not come true. The name and work of this artist are undeservedly forgotten. But after all, it was she who was the first illustrator of Russian folk tales, revived the art of wood carving, which was fading into the past, painted ceramics, and became a wonderful watercolorist. well painted in oils. The works of Elena Dmitrievna were exhibited at many exhibitions and were a success with the audience.

Elena Dmitrievna Polenova was born on November 15, 1850 inPetersburg. Her parents gave her a good education at home. The father is a lawyer, a connoisseur of history, passionately fond of archeology, mother I is an amateur artist, it was from her that the children received their first lessons in artistic skill. Undoubtedly, the influence of the mother affected the choice of the life path of the children, two out of five became professional artists. From the age of 9, Elena already took drawing lessons from P.P. Chistyakov. In 1864, she entered the classes of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, studying in the class of I.N. Kramskoy, later she began to take lessons from him also at home. In 1870 he went to Paris, where he successfully worked in the workshop of Chaplin. The desire to learn how to write was great. I learned from everyone and everything. In 1875 she received a diploma as a teacher and taught at a school for girls at Liteino - the Tauride Circle of the Society for the Assistance to Poor Women. During the years of the Turkish War, she served in a hospital in Kyiv, helping seriously wounded participants in the battle. After returning, she studied at medical courses in St. Petersburg. In everything, the artist, above all, appreciated professionalism. I wrote a lot and successfully. Moving permanently to Moscow in 1882 gave a new impetus to the development of creative endeavors. Communication with like-minded artists, trips to sketches in Russian provinces. Abramtsevo, with its inhabitants, the atmosphere of creativity and creation All this was an inexhaustible source for E.D. Polenova. Love for Russia, for Russian nature and antiquity formed the basis of the work of a talented artist. Interest in fairy tales and fabulousness will manifest itself in all areas of creativity in which she will work, whether it be sketches of furniture for the Abramtsevo carpentry workshop, or original illustrations for Russian folk tales that no one has ever managed to do before. Turning to applied art. Elena Dmitrievna is included in the search for style, it will be modern. Her undertakings were successful, and found followers.

Book illustration has become a special page in her work. In life, everything is interconnected by nature, man and his work, and Elena Dmitrievna tried to express this in her works. She recalled the fairy tales of distant childhood, told by the “grandmothers” and read in the collection by Afanasyev, and “used living material not bookish, i.e. forced to tell the women. children or old people and recorded ... ". The artist often traveled to nature sketches, collecting material for future illustrations. During her lifetime, only one fairy tale "The Mushroom Warrior" was published and several more fairy tales were being prepared for publication, but they saw the light only after the death of the artist. During her short life, E.D. Polenova took part in more than sixty exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Critics and viewers saw in her "a sensitive and gentle person", a master of the lyrical landscape, inspired by the power of poetic talent. In 1895 Elena Dmitrievna traveled across Europe.

In Paris, she made the first sketch for the painting "The Beast", as if unconsciously predicting her fate. On November 7, 1898, the artist died, the artist was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow: a cross was placed over her grave, in the old Russian style according to the sketch of V.M. Vasnetsov “Until the last, conscious minute, she continued to work both in mind and spirit with amazing clarity ... The fire burning in her soul did not go out "wrote: N.V. Polenova

In 2015 - 2016in the "DSHI named after V.D. Polenov" there was an exhibition "Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov and the artists of his circle."

The exhibition presents posters of works by V.D. Polenov and his students and masters of the older generation.All works are stored in the museum of V.D. Polenov.

in 2013 - 2014in the "DShI named after V.D. Polenov" the exhibition "From the Life of Christ" was held posters

This exhibition presents posters of V.D. Polenov’s paintings “From the Life of Christ” and copies from old photographs of Polenov’s journey through the East, who passed the earthly path of Christ, following the gospel narratives. Posters are the only way to show the whole cycle, because original paintings (72 works) were distributed among different collections, some of them were lost. Even during his lifetime, the artist showed his gospel cycle in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Prague. In Prague in 1911 an album was published with reproductions of all the exhibited works. We have made an enlarged copy of the reproductions of this album and are showing them to you. VD Polenov considered himself a historical painter, and his "Gospel cycle", almost forgotten for many years, is now one of the most interesting pages of the artist's work.

In the main building of the V.D. Polenov presents a permanent exhibition of reproductions of paintings and posters dedicated to the life and work of Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov

Elena Dmitrievna Polenova (1850 - 1898) - the sister of the artist V.D. Polenov, one of the first Russian illustrators, graphic artist, painter, master of arts and crafts. I was born into a family, all members of which were somehow connected with the scientific and artistic world.

Father, Dmitry Vasilyevich Polenov, was a respected scientist, archaeologist, and historian. And his brother, Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, as you know, is a famous painter, a wonderful landscape painter. Maria Aleksandrovna Polenova, Elena Dmitrievna's mother, was an artist and children's writer. It was she who first taught children drawing lessons, and then a student of the Academy of Arts P.P. Chistyakov began to study with them, who later became a famous artist and an excellent teacher. Among his students were V. M. Vasnetsov, V. A. Serov, M. A. Vrubel, V. I. Surikov, I. E. Repin.

In the nursery 1892
oil on canvas 80 x 64 cm
Chelyabinsk Regional Art Gallery

So Elena is in good hands. But she did not succeed in continuing her studies at the "main" educational institution of those years - the Imperial Academy of Arts, since the "weaker sex" in that era was simply not accepted there. But she studied with I.N.Kramskoy and then in Paris, in the workshop of Ch.Chaplain.

Autumn motif 1883 watercolor on paper

Illustration for the fairy tale "White Duck"

Elena Terkel

OUR PUBLICATIONS

Journal number:

FREQUENTLY, LOOKING AT THE PICTURES, YOU WANT TO LEARN WHAT THE ARTIST WAS IN LIFE, WHAT WORRYED HIM, WHO SURROUNDED, WHERE HE DRAWED INSPIRATION, CREATING HIS MASTERPIECES. IT IS NOT ALWAYS EASY TO FIND THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS IN THE WORKS OF THE MASTER AND EVEN IN SCIENTIFIC MONOGRAPHS ABOUT HIM. MEMORIES AND LETTERS HELP TO OPEN THE VEIL. PUBLISHED BY E.F. GOLLERBACH "MEETINGS AND IMPRESSIONS" 1 ALEXANDRA GOLOVIN DRAW THE EXTERNAL CANVAS OF LIVED; ATTENTION IS ACCENTED ON THE EVENTS OF ARTISTIC LIFE, EVALUATION OF THIS OR OTHER PEOPLE AND PHENOMENA, TO A LESSER EXTENT INCLUDING REASONS ABOUT ART. THE ARTIST'S INTERNAL WORLD AND HIS CREATIVE LABORATORY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS BEHIND THE SCREEN.

“A man hidden in himself,” 2 Konstantin Korovin said about him. Indeed, everything we know about Golovin concerns his bright creative successes. The memoirs of contemporaries testify, as a rule, only to the methods and results of work for the theater at the time of maturity. There are almost no mentions of human qualities, inner experiences, artistic quests. Restrained, closed, not indulging in frankness, not loving secular life - this is how the artist remained in the memory of many who knew him at the time of wide fame. And what happened before that? Fragmentary information about individual works without a general idea of ​​​​continuous searches in art, and simply about life. But the early period of Alexander Yakovlevich's work is the time of the formation of his talent.

The young man met the Polenov family in the late 1880s, while graduating from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. V.D. taught there. Polenov, whose work Golovin, like many students, was enthusiastic about. Alexander Yakovlevich recalled: “His paintings delighted all of us with their colorfulness, the abundance of sun and air in them. After the cloudy painting of the "Wanderers" it was a real revelation.<...>Polenov's influence on the artistic youth of the 80s and 90s was very noticeable. Near him and his sister, the artist E.D. Polenova, novice artists were grouped. Their feedback was listened to, their praise was valued” 4 .

Joint work in pastel continued for several years, which allowed Golovin to achieve significant success in this technique. In 1895, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov bought the pastel “In the icon-painting workshop” from him, about which Elena Dmitrievna, not without pride, informed her daughter-in-law: “It is true that Tretyakov bought Golovin’s thing, the same pastel that we painted together in the summer in the basement” 7. Alexander Yakovlevich himself, in his letters to Elena Dmitrievna, jokingly called this work “plagiarism”, referring to the work written by E.D. Polenova in 1887, the painting “Icon painting of the 16th century”, also acquired by Tretyakov.

For the formation of Golovin, communication with E.D. Polenova was of great importance. Organized and hardworking, she tried to instill in the young man a serious approach to business, sometimes scolding him for laziness. He was aware of the need for criticism: "I was given a good brain wash, for which I am very grateful to you" 8 . By the tone of the letters, one can feel that the young artist seems to be justifying himself, sincerely trying to meet the high requirements of his colleague and mentor, whose opinion he greatly appreciated. He found in the work and personality of E.D. Polenova, what he himself lacked, aroused a desire to learn from her the truth of life: “I see, it’s true, it’s wonderful that your paintings are somehow real, but mine are not, and the more I look, the more I am convinced that in Your pictures are true, but mine is not. Discuss and you will see that I am right, I have been thinking about this a lot lately, or I have no soil, something is missing, and it will never be enough, this is the truth, which is truly terrible.

The desire for constant improvement, for sincerity, for "real truth" in creativity, caused by the beneficial influence of Polenova, did not leave the artist until the end of his days. This was noted by many contemporaries, for example, E.F. Gollerbach, S.A. Shcherbatov, V.A. Piast. The latter recalled: "In Golovin there was a rare combination of a boundless flight of fancy with a strict discipline of thought, with a striving for truth, for scientific accuracy" 10 .

E.D. Polenova, who loved and deeply felt nature, sought to support Golovin's desire to paint from nature. Alexander Yakovlevich, busy with earning a living during the day, regularly informed Elena Dmitrievna about the evening sessions in the open air: “I was several times in Razumovsky and made only one study of dew, at other times it did not happen again”; "I picked up something in myself during these evenings" 11 . Subsequently, having become a famous theater decorator, Golovin not only did not abandon landscape painting, but also made sketches from nature on purpose. Director of the Imperial Theaters V.A. Telyakovsky testified that real landscapes inspired the artist when working on theatrical productions: “Golovin returned and was in the Caucasus. I went to see the Caucasus before writing "Demon"» 12 .

Many contemporaries admired Golovin's landscapes. Sergei Makovsky, comparing landscape and theatrical and decorative works of the artist, wrote: “His little-known, very subtly colorful patterned leafy landscapes (came directly from the artist’s studio to I.A. Morozov) are a bit reminiscent of Vuillard’s style<...>. Golovin's nature, delightfully colorful and poetic, - ponds in forest thickets, corners of parks, curly clumps of birches - gravitates both in color and pattern to almost graphic clarity. Decorator's landscapes, will they tell me? Let's say. But then Golovin's scenery should be called the scenery of the finest landscape painter. Every time I was in Moscow, I admired Golovin's patterned calms in the Morozov collection, next to his enchanting Spaniards, written in tempera and pastel together. Something from Levitan's daydream passed into these Golovin's lulls, inspired by childhood memories of the ancient park of Petrovsky-Razumovsky. Despite the beloved Gardens of Eden in the south of Europe, where he disappeared for a long time, gaining impressions for the theater, the rural North is closer to him than all Seville and Venice. The childhood years spent in Petrovsko-Razumovsky near Moscow, where the father of the future artist served at the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy, did not pass without a trace. Erich Hollerbach, who knew Golovin well, wrote about this very poetically: “The ancient palace and the picturesque park surrounding it were full of romanticism and unforgettable beauty. The future artist grew up in constant contact with wildlife, captivated by its everlasting charms. Dreamily he admired the rebirth, flourishing and withering of the old park, the green springs, the exuberant luxury of summer, the gold-woven brocade of autumn, the blue carpets of winter. Shadows of the past lived in deaf alleys, among the fragments of marble columns, under the roof of dilapidated pavilions. Glades, curly groves, ponds swamped with algae were shrouded in silence and sunny laziness.

Golovin returned to his favorite park since childhood in his mature years. Probably, it was these places that provided material for the painting “Shemit. Damage to the moon”, which the artist himself called “Fog” in his letters. In the summer of 1894, Alexander Yakovlevich informed E.D. Polenova: “I’m thinking of going straight to the swamp, there in Razumovsky, and looking for grass and fog there. Prudovoy is still not quite the same, it will be necessary to combine both this and that in the picture. However, in order to implement the common plan, the artist was waiting for the arrival of Elena Dmitrievna in order to work together, share doubts, and listen to the advice of an experienced master. “It is better to go to Razumovskoye and enjoy a moment of enlightenment of the atmosphere. Still, he has written very little so far. You were mistaken in thinking that I am working on the very picture (Fog). No, I'm waiting for you<...>. In nature: in the grass, in the pond, in the flowers, there are such tones, you could grab everything with both hands, and somehow everything is not given, it’s so annoying that it’s still some kind of weakness, that it’s impossible to grab everything and write everything off and extract little by little and write into the Fog, and then there is still dew, I just don’t know what to grab for, there are so many” 16 . In the cited letter, Golovin appears as a subtle master of landscape, feeling and understanding nature, striving to convey all the shades of the color palette, all the charm of the summer landscape, the mood he creates. Later, the artist sought to transfer these nuances and sensations to the stage - it is no coincidence that contemporaries more than once compared Golovin's theatrical works with his landscapes. Perhaps the night landscape with a flawed moon, work on which began in Petrovsko-Razumovsky, inspired the artist's subsequent stage finds. Art critics have repeatedly noted the connection between the design of "Thunderstorm" by A.N. Ostrovsky (1916) with success in depicting nature, especially in the scenery of the 2nd scene of Act III "The Ravine", where the intertwined trunks and roots of trees, the narrow crescent of the moon, and lush greenery create a special, unreal world. The defective month is also present in other theatrical works of the master, for example, in the sketch of the scenery for Act III of G. Bizet's opera Carmen, created in 1908. The painting "Birches at Night" (1908-1910, State Tretyakov Gallery) continues the theme, but the moon is already full here. It can be assumed that the first known large work with a twilight view of a park familiar from childhood helped to reveal the enormous talent of Golovin as a landscape painter. An interesting remark was made by his long-term assistant in the theater, B.A. Almedingen: “He reproduced nature after a long observation and always introduced an element of creative fantasy into his work. Each of his landscapes is a synthesis of observations, sometimes for a whole period of life” 17 .

At the same time, images of nature, the image of a particular park often had an almost mystical meaning for the master, as evidenced by the diary entry of the artist Konstantin Somov on June 15, 1916: “Golovin was met in the park<.>told me that, as always happens with him, he had a presentiment that he would meet me. That before the meeting I thought about my paintings, connected them with this park” 18 .

Working in the open air in Petrovsko-Razumovsky, familiar from childhood, Alexander Yakovlevich did not tire of noticing the changeability of nature, its diversity. In the summer of 1894, he reported to Elena Dmitrievna: “The flowers this year are amazing: my height, I have never seen such ones, not flowers, but hats, and there are an awful lot of them where there were none last year” 19. The recognition of the depicted plants, their relevance in a work of art Golovin considered an important component of his work. There is a known case when the critic Sergei Makovsky aroused the wrath of the artist by accepting the bells on the portrait of A.I. Lutz (1909, Perm State Art Gallery) for lilac. Admiring the artist's ability to convey all the beauty of fresh flowers, Hollerbach recognized the French term nature morte 20 as inappropriate here: “Among Golovin's 'still lifes', flowers are especially good, to which the concept of 'dead nature' is least applicable. They are full of breath and rustle, they enjoy the sun and air. And it is not only the elegance of forms and the brightness of colors that attract us to Golovin's flowers: we feel that "intelligence des fleurs" 21 about which M. Maeterlinck speaks, the silent and mysterious plant life flowing in every petal. Deceptively calm and silent flowers tell us about the mystery of wordless and submissive growth.

Many contemporaries noted the poetry of Golovin's pictorial language. Sergei Makovsky wrote that nature in his works is "poeticized". A well-known theater critic of the early twentieth century A.Ya. Levinson, calling the artist "a poet and a dandy," explained it this way: "With the nobility of scale, which sometimes degenerates into panache, Golovin combines a rare poetic feeling" 23 . Truly the early works of the artist are full of some fantastic lyrics, subtle, decorative, rhythmic. Golovin deeply felt and loved poetry, especially admiring the early poems of M. Kuzmin, highlighting Delvig, Fet, Lermontov and Tyutchev among the poets. Elena Polenova also loved poetry. Their correspondence mentions the work of the artist on a study on the theme of E. Poe's poem "The Raven". Possibly, about the beginning of the development of this plot, Golovin wrote to Polenova: “I was very happy for you that they found where to write "melancolie des souvenirs" 24, maybe it will be successful, but it would be great, for some reason I think that you this topic will now be the turn.”25 And indeed, the artist worked on the implementation of the plan for several years. In October 1895, she informed her daughter-in-law: “The last few days I have been making a sketch (it seems the tenth) for a plot that is well expressed in the words “late autumn sobbing”, in which I want to express the longing of loneliness.<...>. No one has yet seen it, except Golovin, but he is not a judge - he has followed all the modifications of this plot too much since its inception two years ago.

In the letter, the artist quotes a line from E. Poe's poem "The Raven" translated by K. Balmont: "I clearly remember... Expectation... Late autumn sobbing... And in the fireplace the outlines of dull smoldering coals...". In the same rainy days of 1895, Alexander Yakovlevich wrote to her: “Is it possible for you to write as you would like? Now it's autumn, and that's all I've said, I so want to be in this autumn, and now again a surge of strength, and so much paralyzing all impulses - some kind of wall, a bad state.

The letters testify to the spiritual closeness that arose between the artists, the common understanding of such matters, which are almost impossible to express in words. For Polenova, Golovin became one of the few people whose taste and honesty she completely trusted, whose advice she could use. EAT. Tatevosyan recalled: "She used to say, 'I don't show my work until I myself am satisfied with it.' E[lena] D[mitrievna] showed her work only to Golovin, trusting his taste. She hid from the rest...” 28 .

The artist can be understood: her searches were largely groping, often she tried to express very complex feelings that overwhelmed her. Only a close, sensitive person could understand the meaning of what was planned, give the necessary advice. According to the memoirs of E.F. Hollerbach, Alexander Yakovlevich possessed another important quality: “He himself is a man of the finest, unmistakable taste, he highly valued this property in people. He spoke either with delight - "He has a taste! .. Who really has a taste! .." - or with a plaintive grimace: "But he has no taste." Konstantin Korovin also called Golovin "a man of great taste." The rejection of falsehood, the search for the elusive beauty, sometimes the feeling of the impossibility of conveying one's feelings on canvas - this is what Golovin and Polenov have in common, who attached more importance not to the visible shell, but to the essence of things, considering it extremely important for a true artist.

Immersed in his inner world, Alexander Yakovlevich was not concerned about external success and did not seek to exhibit his work. Elena Dmitrievna tried to change the situation, gradually she succeeded. She happily informed her relatives about Golovin's exhibition plans: “Now he puts one rather large landscape at the exhibition of Moscow artists - a summer night, fog, a (defective) moon crawls out from behind the forest - and pastel, last year's "Sleeping Girl", and on Movable sends a big picture "a canvas with a stretch of the genre", as he says" 30 .

E.D. Polenova attracted him to the project of folk-historical exhibitions, conceived by the Moscow Association of Artists. The project participants painted pictures based on historical and biblical subjects that are understandable to ordinary people or contribute to the study of Russia's historical past. The canvas “Lament of Yaroslavna”, written by Alexander Yakovlevich, was bought by M.F. Yakunchikov, about which the author reported in one of his letters to Elena Dmitrievna, surprised and not knowing what price to ask.

Golovin did not differ in business acumen. The Polenovs sought to support young talent by engaging him in commissioned work. Such is the history of the design of the Kologrivsky Lower Agricultural Technical School named after F.V. Chizhov. Fyodor Vasilyevich Chizhov, a prominent industrialist, scientist and public figure, was well acquainted with different generations of the Polenov family. Being Ivan Fedorovich Mamontov's partner in railway construction, after the death of the latter, Chizhov actually became a mentor to his son, Savva Mamontov, a well-known philanthropist and friend of many Russian artists. Ivan Fedorovich, a native of Kostroma, bequeathed his entire fortune, which was estimated at 6 million rubles, to the opening of five technical schools in his native province - two in Kostroma and one each in Kologriv, Chukhloma and Makariev. Chizhov's executors were Alexei Dmitrievich Polenov and Savva Ivanovich Mamontov. About 160 boys studied at the same time in the Kologrivskoye school, opened in 1892. Numerous buildings were located on a vast territory: the main building with classrooms, carpentry and locksmith workshops, teachers' apartments, a hospital, a chemical laboratory, etc. After the official opening, the school continued to rebuild. It was planned to build a spacious temple for the pupils. S.I. Mamontov decided to act in an original way: to combine the student canteen and the church, ordering the canteen murals and temple images of V.D. Polenov. April 27, 1893 E.D. Polenova wrote to Mamontov's wife Elizaveta Grigorievna: “The enterprise is very interesting in artistic terms. They came up with a very, in my opinion, witty thing. Instead of building a church separately, they want to build a large building, it will be a dining room, and it will end with an altar and all church paraphernalia. On weekdays, the church will be covered with shields, and it will be a dining room, and during the service, the shields will be removed and a very spacious church will turn out. On the walls of the hall, they came up with the idea of ​​making large panels and painting them with gospel stories based on the sketches of Alexander And[reevich] Ivanov, - since he was a friend of Fyodor Vasilyevich Chizhov and since F[yodor] V[asilyevich] is very high appreciated his artistic idea" 31 . Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov decided to involve his students A.Ya. Golovina, S.V. Malyutina, V.N. Meshkova, N.V. Rozanova, E.M. Tatevosyan. Each of them had to create a composition according to the sketch of A.A. Ivanova. As follows from the compiled by V.D. Polenov, estimates of artistic works 32 , the plots "Christ and the Samaritan Woman" and "Transfiguration" were entrusted to Golovin. In addition, together with Vasily Dmitrievich and Elena Dmitrievna Polenov, he was supposed to paint images for the iconostasis. Golovin and Polenova were going to perform the ornamental painting of the temple. Unfortunately, the church was never built, but sketches of icons, ornaments, and the design of the building itself have been preserved 33 . Panels on biblical scenes were painted and probably hung in the main educational building, the construction of which was completed in 1895. E.D. Polenova treated the order with special attention, knowing firsthand the area where the school was built (in 1889 she visited Kologriv during a trip to the estate of her friend P.D. Antipova). In the book “Meetings and Impressions”, Golovin recalled his great interest in the project, because Alexander Ivanov was one of his favorite artists. The letters testify to the hard work on compositions for the Kologrivskoe school. Expecting Elena Dmitrievna’s assessment, Alexander Yakovlevich reported: “I am writing, writing and writing, you will judge when you return, and today I am finishing the Transfiguration and taking on the Mother of God<.>. We will work, work and work, and we will achieve something. And everything would be better if you arrived as soon as possible” 34 .

Each time, Golovin looked forward to Polenova's return also because she tried to surround the youth who worked with her with care. Lonely, difficult to get along with people, Golovin especially needed attention. His eccentricity, unsociableness, nervousness were noted by many contemporaries. The artist Konstantin Korovin recalled: “A.Ya. Golovin was a closed person. He didn't talk about his life. But somewhere deep in him lived sadness, and his brilliant, beautiful eyes often expressed anxiety and restrained excitement. Sergei Shcherbatov wrote: "Golovin was a neurotic, he always felt persecuted and very lonely" 36 . The same traits of character were noted by Lev Bakst: "Golovin walks around with his nose down, cries, is nervous like a woman" 37 . In the face of E.D. Polenova Alexander Yakovlevich found at the same time a colleague in his favorite business, a mentor, just a good friend. E.M. recalled the warm atmosphere during joint work. Tatevosyan: “In the first apartment of Elena Dmitrievna, where I was invited<.>, I became friends with the artist A.Ya. Golovin, who had been there before me and worked. I also joined them, a common workshop was created; we worked together, drank tea, went to concerts together, in the summer - to the zoological garden. In a word, E[lena] D[mitrievna] is with us - like a nanny for children. 38. Golovin at that time suffered greatly from kidney disease and at times not only could not work, but simply did not get out of bed, which he informed Polenova about in short notes. Elena Dmitrievna tried her best to support him: she sent money for treatment, recommended her doctor. When Golovin felt better, they, together with friends, made a trip to Italy and France. In September 1896, Polenova wrote to her brother more than once about her concern for the health of a young man, which caused bewilderment of her daughter-in-law, who mistook such an attitude towards Alexander Yakovlevich for coquetry. Elena Dmitrievna was not embarrassed by the opinions of others. A person of great willpower and high spiritual qualities, she saw her mission in supporting young talents. In one of her letters, she admitted: “I would like, most importantly, not to lose two abilities - the ability to help, inspire, serve as a support and impetus to work for other artists. This quality is positive in me...” 39 . With this attitude, Polenova sought to prevent the artist from disappearing into the cycle of everyday worries, to promote his self-realization.

Tatevosyan recalled: “E[lena] D[mitrievna] told me about Golovin: “He is very spineless, he doesn’t know how to handle his money: as soon as he receives money, the next day he melts away. I tried to save it; none of this if he doesn’t come out, he’ll come anyway, he’ll take him. I feel sorry for him. He is a very talented artist: painting comes to him as easily as it is rare for anyone, but in life it’s no good. I take such a part in it, because I’m talented, but if you don’t influence advice, I'm afraid it will be lost. I am angry with his indifference to his shortcomings "» 40 . Similar features of "lack of will" were noted in the memoirs by the director of the Imperial Theaters V.A. Telyakovsky.

However, those who knew the artist closely, including Polenov and Telyakovsky, forgave him a lot not only for the amazing beauty of paintings, scenery, costumes, but also for simplicity, honesty, and goodwill. F.I. Chaliapin called Golovin "pretty and beloved." About the extraordinary charm of Alexander Yakovlevich, elusive threads associated with his work, Gollerbach wrote: “Golovin’s skill was original, stylistically perfect and captivating. And he himself was just as peculiar, stylistically perfect and captivating.<.>. A magician in the field of art, Golovin was a magician in life too: he had a rare happy gift to win over hearts. So it was with Elena Dmitrievna Polenova. Here is what she wrote at the beginning of their acquaintance: “At the request of Golovin, she went to him and made a very good impression from him. His painting ("Descent from the Cross") is a very weak, childish, student thing, but he has sketches that I really like. Of all the sketches that were at the exhibition, I frankly told him that I only liked winter, I said this without any ulterior motive, and he immediately presented it to me. Well, well, however - it does not matter, a good sketch is always nice to get. He made a good impression on me, firstly, by the fact that he worked a lot, and secondly, by the fact that he became very impoverished. He lives by writing flowers for screen panels by order on an atlas. This circumstance greatly simplified him, and instead of a fatish, a person began to peep through him.

“A man with a big and intelligent heart, always benevolent and tactful (for tact is nothing but the “mind of the heart”), extremely soft, indecisive, almost shy, Golovin was, however, firm and direct in his assessments when it came to art 43, - wrote Hollerbach. Telyakovsky noted the same features in his memoirs. Elena Dmitrievna, always sincerely disposed towards others, was also irreconcilable in matters related to artistic creativity. Honesty in relation to one's vocation united artists. Interesting evidence of Alexander Yakovlevich's principles in matters of art has been preserved in the correspondence of the daughters of P.M. Tretyakov. Vera Pavlovna, wife of the famous musician A.I. Siloti, wrote to her sister Alexandra Pavlovna Botkina: “Golovin’s Orpheus has been ready for a long time; he does not want to let Zbrueva sing - she has no lines, does not want to let Petrenko - she has almost no lines left; but demands that Sobinov sing; Is it the business of the decorator to dispose of the musical part? 44 . The reproach is formally not devoid of logic, but it is significant how the artist's taste did not accept compromises in regard to beauty. In the opera, for Golovin, the harmonic synthesis of the arts was important, and not their simple sum. Any violation of harmony was tantamount to failure for him.

Hollerbach wrote that only "inexhaustible goodness" helped Golovin to see the best in life and in people, without focusing on the difficulties that often had to be overcome on the path of artistic quest. Was critically greeted by a part of society and the "World of Art" - another project that brought together Golovin and Polenova. The idea of ​​creating a magazine originated in St. Petersburg, it was decided to attract Muscovites. For this, the organizers specially came to Moscow. Alexander Yakovlevich recalled: “Dyagilev and Philosophers arranged a meeting of Moscow artists in Polenova’s workshop and shared their plans with them<...>. Petersburg guests met in Polenova's workshop with the most cordial welcome and full sympathy for their plans. Elena Dmitrievna welcomed the publication and was going to participate in it. Both artists received from S.P. Diaghilev letters with a proposal to join a new society (letter dated May 20, 1897) and take part in the competition for the cover of the first issue of the magazine "World of Art" (letter dated June 20, 1898). Close communication with Sergei Pavlovich in the summer of 1898 is evidenced by the August messages of Golovin Polenova, in which there is a discussion of the preparatory work for the publication: “I showed him my ornaments, and he chose not at all those that you like, but the oldest ones; I rejected all the windows and all the doors, including I don’t know what to do” 46 . In the first year, Golovin's works were placed in the magazine: "Youth Bartholomew", "Carpet", "Ornament", "Armchair", "Project cover". Elena Dmitrievna Polenova died in November 1898, and the magazine honored her memory with a special double issue in 1899 (No. 18-19), where, in addition to the article by N.V. Polenova (the headpiece for which was performed by Golovin) and the fairy tale "Synko-Filipko" by E.D. Polenova placed a large number of illustrations, including the “Russian dining room” for M.F. Yakunchikova, which Golovin and Polenova began to design together. They discussed this work in 1897 during their last joint trip to Paris and Spain, where the sick Elena Dmitrievna was sent to be treated by doctors. She almost could not draw, but did not lose hope. Golovin, who had married shortly before the trip, returned to Russia, while Polenova remained in Paris to recover, where she continued to make plans and met with the customer: “I could find out a lot about her last order for her dining room in Nara” 47 . Golovin, in letters to Elena Dmitrievna, reported on the discussion of the project with M.F. Yakunchiko-howl, entered into the details of the forthcoming work. Alas, the artist had to complete the order alone.

Polenova was ill for a long time. Alexander Yakovlevich well understood the state of the artist, when the desire to create was shattered by physical weakness. Gollerbach wrote about Golovin: "How many times his living will to create overcame a serious illness..." 48 . The same words can be said about Polenova. The last year of her life was truly painful, but sometimes she found the strength to work. No one foresaw imminent death. Golovin, returning from Paris, expected the return of the artist in just a couple of weeks. They made plans for the future, giving a significant place to joint work. However, the disease developed rapidly. V.D. Polenov took his sister to his estate "Borok" on the Oka (doctors prescribed a stay in nature and bathing). Golovin, not anticipating anything terrible, wrote to her on August 18: “Why did you leave without leaving me any note, for how long you left?” 49 . Upon arrival at the estate, Elena Dmitrievna became worse, at times she lost consciousness. When she was transferred to a Moscow hospital, Golovin was shocked. V.D. Polenov wrote to his wife on September 9: “He is extremely attentive and cordial, he met me on the railroad. He went to the hospital together, very calmly and sensibly about everything, saying that the doctors had never expected such a turn and were at a loss, and that if they had foreseen this, they would not have accepted Elena Dmitrievna. He was very sorry that she did not listen to him and did not want to turn to a serious doctor abroad for anything. The English journalist Netta Peacock, who was in close contact with them during this period, also wrote about the relationship between Golovin and Polenova, attempts to persuade them to be treated in Paris. Anticipating the near death of the artist, she informed N.V. Polenova: “Golovin will also feel how terrible it all is, because they have been such good comrades for more than six years - a fair test for friendship!” 51 . It was hard for Alexander Yakovlevich to lose a loved one. In addition, joint art work on the design of the dining room in the house of M.F. Yakunchikova in Nara near Moscow has just begun. They worked in one common workshop, where they had to put things in order. N.V. Polenova wrote to her husband: “It's good that Golovin asked you to sort out Lily's artistic property;<.>he stood close to her for the last years. This spiritual affinity, the joint work of the two artists were in their own way necessary for each of them; understanding and mutual support of creative undertakings are seen in many letters. For Golovin, communication with Polenova was an integral part of life, imperceptibly helping in his creative search. In the autumn of 1898, he wrote: “Elena Dmitrievna fell seriously ill.<...>Now she is completely ill and has almost lost her memory, but she is fully conscious. It's all very hard."

She died. There was no one else to share my innermost creative ideas with, the support of a loved one and mentor, which had become a habit, disappeared. But the years of friendship and joint work were not in vain, largely determining the high orbit that Alexander Golovin's work reached.

1. Golovin A.Ya. Encounters and experiences. Memoirs of the artist / Ed. and com. E.F. Hollerbach. L.; M., 1940.
2. Korovin K.A.. A.Ya. Golovin // Konstantin Korovin recalls. M., 1990. S. 140. (Next: Korovin remembers.)
3. These letters, kept in the Department of Manuscripts of the Tretyakov Gallery, were purchased in 1967 from E.D. Sakharova, the eldest daughter of the artist V.D. Polenov.
4. GolovinA..I. Encounters and experiences. Letters. Memories of Golovin. L.; M., 1960. S. 22. (Further: Golovin. Meetings and impressions.)
5. Letter to E.D. Polenova - V.D. Polenov of February 1890 // Sakharova E.V. Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov. Elena Dmitrievna Polenova. Chronicle of a family of artists. M., 1964. S. 449. (Further: Sakharova. V.D. Polenov. E.D. Polenova.)
6. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova dated February 1890 // Ibid. S. 448.
7. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova on January 24, 1895 // Ibid. S. 520.
8. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova from. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7689. L. 1.
9. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated September 14, 1894. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7686. L. 2v.-3.
10. Pyast V.A. Meetings. M., 1997. S. 67.
11. Letters from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated June 27 and July 7, 1894. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7684. L. 1v.; Unit ridge 7685. L. 2v.
12. Telyakovsky V.A. Diaries of the Director of the Imperial Theatres. 1901-1903. Petersburg. M., 2002. S. 104.
13. Makovsky S.K. Silhouettes of Russian artists. M., 1999. S. 61-62.
14. Gollerbach E.F. AND I. Golovin. Life and art. L., 1928. S. 14. (Further: Gollerbach. Golovin. 1928.)
15. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated June 27, 1894. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7684. L. 1v.-2.
16. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated July 7, 1894. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7685. L. 2, 4v.
17. Almedingen B.A. From the memories of Golovin's work in the theater // Golovin. Encounters and experiences. S. 279.
18. Somov K.A. Letters. Diaries. opinions of contemporaries. M., 1979. S. 160.
19. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated July 7, 1894. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7685. L. 2-2v.
20. Dead nature (fr.).
21. Reasonableness of colors (fr.). We are talking about the philosophical essay by M. Maeterlinck "The Reason of Flowers" (1907).
22. Gollerbach E.F. Golovin. 1928. S. 59.
23. Levinson A.Ya. Russian decorators // Capital and estate. 1916. No. 57. P. 16.
24. Sadness of memories (fr.).
25. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova from. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7689. L. 1-1v.
26. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova dated October 30, 1895 // Sakharova. V.D. Polenov. E.D. Polenov. S. 538.
27. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova from. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7696. L. 1-1 rev.
28. Tatevosyan E.G. My memories of Elena Dmitrievna Polenova // Elena Polenova. To the 160th anniversary of his birth: [Album] / The State Tretyakov Gallery. M., 2011. P. 357. (Further: Tatevosyan.)
29. Gollerbach E.F. Golovin image. From the memories of A.Ya. Golovin // Gollerbach E.F. Encounters and experiences. SPb., 1998. P. 165. (Further: Gollerbakh. 1998.)
30. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova on January 24, 1895 // Sakharova. V.D. Polenov. E.D. Polenov. S. 520.
31. Letter to E.D. Polenova - E.G. Mamontova dated April 27, 1893 // Ibid. S. 490.
32. Estimate of artworks in the dining room and church of the Chizhovsky Kologrivskoe School. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 37.
33. For more details, see: Atroshchenko O.D. Vasily Polenov and Alexander Ivanov. On the history of the church of the Kologrivskoe school // Collection. 2004. No. 1. S. 104-115.
34. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova from. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7689. L. 1v.-2, 2v.
35. Korovin K.A. AND I. Golovin // Korovin remembers. S. 140.
36. Shcherbatov S.A. An artist in the bygone Russia. M., 2000. S. 156.
37. Letter to L.S. Bakst - L.P. Gritsenko from . OR GTG. F. 111. Unit. ridge 25. L. 3v.
38. Tatevosyan. S. 358.
39. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova of February 1895 // Sakharova. B. D. Polenov. E.D. Polenov. S. 522.
40. Tatevosyan. S. 364.
41. Gollerbach E.F. Golovin image. From the memories of A.Ya. Golovin // Hollerbach. 1998, pp. 160, 171.
42. Letter to E.D. Polenova - V.D. Polenov of February 1890 // Sakharova. B. D. Polenov. E.D. Polenov. P.449.
43. Gollerbach E.F. Golovin image. From the memories of A.Ya. Golovin // Hollerbach. 1998. C. 163.
44. Letter to V.P. Siloti - A.P. Botkina dated December 28, 1910. OR GTG. F. 125. Unit. ridge 3021. L. 1 rev.
45. Golovin. Encounters and experiences. pp. 62, 64.
46. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova from the OR of the State Tretyakov Gallery. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7715. L. 1.
47. Letter to E.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova dated March 16/28, 1898. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7302. L. 2v.
48. Gollerbach E.F. Golovin image. From the memories of A.Ya. Golovin // Hollerbach. 1998. P.160.
49. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - E.D. Polenova dated August 18. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 7714. L. 1.
50. Letter to V.D. Polenova - N.V. Polenova dated September 9, 1898. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 643. L. 2-2v.
51. Letter to N. Peacock - N.V. Polenova dated October 1, 1898. F. 54. Unit. ridge 11334. L. 4 (translated from English).
52. Letter to N.V. Polenova - V.D. Polenov dated September 13, 1898. OR GTG. F. 54. Unit. ridge 4466. L. 1v.-2.
53. Letter from A.Ya. Golovina - M.A. Durnov dated September 7, 1898 // Golovin. Encounters and experiences. S. 173.