Gorky, Yesenin and Cocteau: Learn about Yuri Annenkov’s graphic works from the House of Russia Abroad

Let us embark on an online tour to the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad and learn about the collection of printing blocks and original presswork that Yuri Annenkov made in the late 1950s-early 1960s for the book Diary of My Meetings: A Cycle of Tragedies. Irina Miroshnikova, the museum keeper and the leading researcher in the department of art materials, artefacts and everyday items, spoke about the most interesting portraits and the artist’s relationships with the subjects.

Collaborative article by mos.ru and Mosgortur agency

Yuri Annenkov (1889-1974) was one of the main representatives of Russian avant-garde, famous for his portraits, stage and screen art, and book illustrations. In 1918, he created a Cubist cover for the first issue of Alexander Blok’s poem The Twelve. Before emigrating (the artist left the USSR in 1924 and relocated to France), he made illustrations for several more Russian books, including Kornei Chukovsky’s Moidodyr.

The next books illustrated by Annenkov were put out by foreign publishers, among them books of poems by Paul Verlaine, Atlantida by Pierre Benoit, Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and others. The autobiographical novel Diary of My Meetings: A Cycle of Tragedies was published in New York in 1966.

Zincography and Maxim Gorky’s portrait (1920)

Since childhood, Yuri Annenkov knew Maxim Gorky. In the summer, the writer rented a house near Petrograd (currently St Petersburg) in the village of Kuokkala (currently Repino) near the dacha that belonged to the artist’s parents, and often visited them.

However, they became closer after the 1917 revolution, when Gorky became the de facto leader of the creative intelligentsia and Annenkov grew into a famous artist. During those years, the writer stayed in Petrograd. Annenkov recalled that in Gorky’s large flat, there were Buddha statues, Chinese lacquerware, masks and Chinese coloured sculptures, of which Gorky was a passionate collector.

Annenkov painted several portraits of Gorky, with the most famous one in 1920. In the coloured version of the portrait, the artist depicted several symbols: the inscription “RSFSR: Hail…” reflects the writer’s being a proletarian, while a Chinese vase and Buddha figurines speak to his love for Oriental culture.

In the monochrome reprint that is kept at the House of Russia Abroad, there are no additional symbols and the portrait focuses on Gorky’s pensive figure. This is how the artist remembers the writer in the first years that followed the revolution. Once Annenkov asked Gorky what the first years after the revolution were like, and the writer said, “bitter to the maximum” (the writer’s pseudonym, Maxim Gorky, means bitter in Russian).

Sergei Yesenin’s portrait (1923)

Annenkov first met Yesenin in 1916 at a reading event at Ilya Repin’s estate near Petrograd. That day, the poet was dressed in a traditional peasant shirt, sash and sirwal. Annenkov recalled that the noble audience was so perplexed by the extravagant young man that they did not even applaud him.

The artist and the poet became good friends. Annenkov admitted that he was very fond of Yesenin not as a poet who performed at poetry readings, but as a man who was able to humbly and cleverly discuss art during their rare friendly meetings.

Annenkov also was acquainted with Yesenin’s wife, Isadora Duncan, whom he casually called Dunka the Communist. At her request, he made several sketches of costumes for her ballet school and also drew her portrait.

Annenkov drew the poet’s portrait in 1923, after Yesenin returned from his honeymoon in Europe and America. The couple’s relationship had already started to deteriorate, and this was the beginning of the poet’s most troubled times. Yesenin changed a lot: he felt exhausted and irritable, and this emotional stress was reflected in his portrait. Yesenin that Annenkov saw when they first met was long gone, with only Yesenin’s forelocks and a wooden house in the background emphasising that he was born into a peasant family.

In 1915, a year before Rasputin’s death, Annenkov met him for the first and only time at a dinner hosted by his father’s friend. Rasputin did not allow anyone to draw or take photos of him, but that evening, Annenkov managed to secretly draw his portrait on a napkin.

Despite the large number of guests, Rasputin was the focus of everyone’s attention that evening. As Annenkov recalled, Rasputin looked quite sloppy with his unwashed hair, dirty fingernails and peasant shirt. “Only his eyes, too close to one another, almost stuck to the bridge of his nose and staring intrusively, could probably explain the hypnotic effect he had on others. He definitely knew this ability and could use it quite brilliantly,” Annenkov reminisced.

Guests were thrilled to listen to each word the “holy man” said. However, he mostly uttered short phrases like “Vodka!,” “Ah,” “Oh,” and such. At some point, Rasputin yelled “Music!” and demanded a balalaika, an accordion and gypsy guitars. There were no such instruments at the salon, and he left for a cabaret together with his admirers.

Leon Trotsky’s portrait (1920)

In January 1923, journalist Vyacheslav Polonsky came to Petrograd with “important orders” for artists. It was about an upcoming exhibition to mark the fifth anniversary of the Red Army. Polonsky suggested that Annenkov draw a portrait of Leon Trotsky in addition to organising the event.

Annenkov agreed to do so and came to Moscow. The artist and the politician first met in the Revolutionary Military Council building. The artist worked on the portrait in the building, in Trotsky’s headquarters at Yusupov’s estate in Arkhangelskoye, and other places.

Leon Trotsky did not want to pose in a military uniform, so for a ceremonial portrait Annenkov devised a special costume for the founder of the Red Army: a dark trench coat, a cap with protective goggles, high boots, a wide leather belt and elbow-length gloves.

During the creation of the portrait, the artist and the revolutionary talked a lot and spoke about poetry, literature and arts. Once they stopped by Sergei Shchukin’s gallery on Bolshoi Znamensky Pereulok (it did not survive to this day). In the gallery, Trotsky went to see the paintings by his favourite artist, Pablo Picasso, and Annenkov made a sketch of him looking at Harlequin.

“Trotsky saw the embodiment of a ‘permanent revolution’ in Picasso’s formal instability and constant search for new forms. The revolution that brought Picasso fame and wealth cost Trotsky his life,” Annenkov recalled.

It is noteworthy that the artist dated the portrait 1920, but in his memoir, he wrote that he met Trotsky in 1923. It is possible that the date was put on the portrait 30 years later, before the artist was preparing to publish his Diary.

Zink plates and portraits of Jean Cocteau (1950s-1960s) and Louis Jouvet (1949)

In summer 1924, Yuri Annenkov left the Soviet Union and never returned. His emigration was made possible by Leon Trotsky: the ceremonial portrait of the Politburo member, who was still in favour at that time, was exhibited in 1925 at the 14^th International Biennial in Venice. Annennkov got permission to go because his work was featured in the pavilion alongside works by Soviet artists. Annenkov took advantage of the moment and decided to relocate to Paris, the city that he loved and where he learned to paint in 1911-1912.

That event opened a new chapter in the artist’s life and works. In emigration he painted more and tried his hand in cinematography.

For the first time, Annenkov served as a costume artist in the film Moscow Nights by Alexei Granovsky in 1934, and for the next 30 years, he created costumes and stage sets for several dozen films. Annenkov was even nominated for an Academy Award for Madame de… (1953)  by Max Ophüls.

In emigration, the artist continued to paint people he worked with and met, for instance, Jean Cocteau, a poet, artist, actor, director and screenwriter who became an art legend of the 20^th century. Annenkov worked with him on the film The Eternal Return (1943). He also collaborated with French actor Louis Jouvet, for whom Annenkov created costumes and makeup for films and theatre plays in the 1930s and 1940s.