Nadya Rusheva, the youngest Russian artist. Her figures was known in all world. Now we planning the exhibition Nadya Rusheva's art in Toronto.
United States of America (Press Release) April 1, 2008 --
ENIGMATIC NADYA RUSHEVA
She was just 17 when she died more than 3 decades ago, leaving behind more than 10 thousand drawings. Impetuous and impulsive, free of all conventions, they were perceived by her contemporaries as a revelation…
The Concise Literary Encyclopedia places her illustrations to Russian classics next to acclaimed masters. Nadya Rusheva's drawings were displayed at numerous exhibits in Russia, Japan, Germany, America, India and Poland. Another one, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her birth, is under way at Moscow's Pushkin literary museum.
"We haven't seen such a inrush of visitors", says Yevgenia Rapoport, an expert with the Pushkin museum. "There must be some enigma about her. In the 60s-70s her exhibitions drew in crowds of people in Moscow, Minsk, Kiev and Leningrad (St.-Petersburg). People queued for hours to see her drawings. Back in those times they were a gulp of fresh air, a portion of intellectual and spiritual food.
Nadya Rusheva was born in Mongolia where her parents, a scenographer from Moscow and a ballet dancer from Tuva, had been working for several years. A local sage and friend of the family suggested a name for the girl - "Naidan" which means "living eternally".
The outstanding Russian philologist Dmitry Likhachev wrote about Nadya Rusheva: "she worked hard in a desperate bid to create as much as possible. Her sharp mind penetrated into the depths of human spirit". "I live the life of those whom I draw", Nadya once said. This may be a clue to understanding her unique legacy. Using the "magic wand" of her fantasy, she could transform into Medea, Jeanne d'Arc, Natasha Rostova or Anna Karenina. With childish naturalness and the audacity of a pathfinder, she explored the "golden layers" of world culture.
"There was one exhibition in Japan", says Yevnenia Rapoport. "Her style, subtle and tender, and simultaneously austere and laconic, bearing a certain resemblance to refined patterns on Japanese porcelain, fans and kimonos, evidently appealed to the Japanese public. She illustrated lots of books by Russian and foreign classics, including Byron and Kipling. In 1966 her amazing "small sirens" were on show in Poland. In Nadya's drawings the perfidious mythological women-birds, are sympathetic and kind creatures".
At the age of 16 Nadya got an offer from the well-known pushkinologist Alexander Gessen to illustrate his book "The Poet's Life". She used pictures sketched by Pushkin on the margins of his manuscripts to create a cycle of drawings in Pushkin style.
"No one ever depicted Pushkin in his family circle, and she did. In her drawings we see Pushkin feeding his one-year-old daughter Masha, infant Pushkin in his mother's lap…. Nadya made illustrations to Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "Master and Margarita" - the novel was banned but certain chapters were published in a literary magazine in 1968. She arranged sheets with her drawings so as to form a kind of book on which Bulgakov's widow, Yelena Bulgakova left a note: "I wish I knew this amazing and subtle creature, Nadya Rusheva".
Nadya's Margarita bears a striking resemblance to Yelena Bulgakova, although they never met. It's amazing how the 16-year-old girl penetrated into "adult" feelings and historical epochs depicted by Bulgakov, where she got that virtuoso grotesque for scenes from a variety show. How she could feel so deeply and know so much remains a mystery. She saw what they eye cannot see.
She was just 17 when she died more than 3 decades ago, leaving behind more than 10 thousand drawings. Impetuous and impulsive, free of all conventions, they were perceived by her contemporaries as a revelation…
The Concise Literary Encyclopedia places her illustrations to Russian classics next to acclaimed masters. Nadya Rusheva's drawings were displayed at numerous exhibits in Russia, Japan, Germany, America, India and Poland. Another one, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her birth, is under way at Moscow's Pushkin literary museum.
"We haven't seen such a inrush of visitors", says Yevgenia Rapoport, an expert with the Pushkin museum. "There must be some enigma about her. In the 60s-70s her exhibitions drew in crowds of people in Moscow, Minsk, Kiev and Leningrad (St.-Petersburg). People queued for hours to see her drawings. Back in those times they were a gulp of fresh air, a portion of intellectual and spiritual food.
Nadya Rusheva was born in Mongolia where her parents, a scenographer from Moscow and a ballet dancer from Tuva, had been working for several years. A local sage and friend of the family suggested a name for the girl - "Naidan" which means "living eternally".
The outstanding Russian philologist Dmitry Likhachev wrote about Nadya Rusheva: "she worked hard in a desperate bid to create as much as possible. Her sharp mind penetrated into the depths of human spirit". "I live the life of those whom I draw", Nadya once said. This may be a clue to understanding her unique legacy. Using the "magic wand" of her fantasy, she could transform into Medea, Jeanne d'Arc, Natasha Rostova or Anna Karenina. With childish naturalness and the audacity of a pathfinder, she explored the "golden layers" of world culture.
"There was one exhibition in Japan", says Yevnenia Rapoport. "Her style, subtle and tender, and simultaneously austere and laconic, bearing a certain resemblance to refined patterns on Japanese porcelain, fans and kimonos, evidently appealed to the Japanese public. She illustrated lots of books by Russian and foreign classics, including Byron and Kipling. In 1966 her amazing "small sirens" were on show in Poland. In Nadya's drawings the perfidious mythological women-birds, are sympathetic and kind creatures".
At the age of 16 Nadya got an offer from the well-known pushkinologist Alexander Gessen to illustrate his book "The Poet's Life". She used pictures sketched by Pushkin on the margins of his manuscripts to create a cycle of drawings in Pushkin style.
"No one ever depicted Pushkin in his family circle, and she did. In her drawings we see Pushkin feeding his one-year-old daughter Masha, infant Pushkin in his mother's lap…. Nadya made illustrations to Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "Master and Margarita" - the novel was banned but certain chapters were published in a literary magazine in 1968. She arranged sheets with her drawings so as to form a kind of book on which Bulgakov's widow, Yelena Bulgakova left a note: "I wish I knew this amazing and subtle creature, Nadya Rusheva".
Nadya's Margarita bears a striking resemblance to Yelena Bulgakova, although they never met. It's amazing how the 16-year-old girl penetrated into "adult" feelings and historical epochs depicted by Bulgakov, where she got that virtuoso grotesque for scenes from a variety show. How she could feel so deeply and know so much remains a mystery. She saw what they eye cannot see.
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