Vsevolod Nikolaevich Petrov was unusual in everything. Perhaps he remained one of the last representatives of the old St. Petersburg intelligentsia, with whom fate brought me together. His demeanor in society was so unusual that it aroused surprise among people who did not know him. Petrov's oddities manifested themselves starting with his gait. He walked, swaying forward, with a measured wide step. At the meeting, he greeted, giving his hand with two fingers raised up and pressing his elbow to the body. Vsevolod Nikolaevich pronounces the words quickly, often accompanying the spoken phrase with a chuckle. The head was without any hair. The face had delicate, beautiful features that reflected his aristocratic origin. Once, when we were walking together through the halls of the Russian Museum, passing by Repin's "State Council", he stopped me and, pointing to a portrait of a military man sitting next to Count Ignatiev, explained that it was his grandfather Petrov 187 It was felt that Vsevolod Nikolayevich was full of family pride.
It is known that the father of Vsevolod Nikolaevich was the largest medical oncologist, and the Cancer Institute in Leningrad bears his name.
Despite the difference in personalities, we were close friends. Although the word “relatives” cannot be applied to Vsevolod Nikolaevich, he behaved with all restraint and distance, as befits according to the rules of the old way of life, without democratic life habits.
Vsevolod Nikolayevich puzzled me with inexplicable inconsistencies in everything. It coexisted, it would seem, incompatible beginnings. A friend of the Acmeists, a refined esthete, a connoisseur of Russian classicism, who left deep research on Russian sculpture, the author of an encyclopedic article on the World of Art, he accepted and fell in love with the new revolutionary Soviet art.
Throughout his life, Petrov showed constancy in his affection for Detgiz, as evidenced by his friendship with Tyrsa, Lebedev, Pakhomov and younger artists. He was friends with the Oberiut poets - N. Zabolotsky, A. Vvedensky, D. Kharms.
Vsevolod Nikolayevich renounces the concept of "Lebedev's school", which is widely used in art history. In the unity of poets and artists, Vsevolod Nikolayevich sees something more, calling it a "flow" in Soviet art.
On this occasion, in an unpublished fragment of the manuscript, which should be the beginning of a monograph on my work, Vsevolod Nikolaevich writes:
“All these masters, who worked a lot not only in graphics, but also in easel painting, called their creative method"painterly realism", meaning by this term the art of referring to the real surrounding reality, it is from it that one draws his themes and images based on a deep and thorough study of living nature, expressing ideas and feelings modern man, but based not only on the tradition of critical realism of the 19th century, but widely using the experience and achievements of the entire new and latest artistic culture, both Russian and Western European.
By analogy with the named term, as well as with plastic realism, which in the same 1920-1930s was actively developed in the work of the remarkable Leningrad sculptor A.T. Matveev and his many students, one could call “graphic realism” the creative trend that was then formed among the masters of the children's illustrated book, who worked under the guidance of V.V. Lebedeva, N.A. Tyrsa and N.F. Lapshin in the artistic edition of the children's department of the State Publishing House.
However, neither representatives of art criticism nor the participants in the movement themselves gave it such a name - perhaps because there were no theoreticians among them who would feel the need and would have the ability to substantiate their specific theory with a well-thought-out, strictly formulated theory. creative activity and comprehend its historical role, as well as its place in the general development of young Soviet art. The theory and aesthetics, or rather, the poetics of graphic realism (in other words, the system of creative principles common to all artists, one way or another involved in the process of formation and development of the art of the book, especially children's books in the Leningrad graphics of the 1920-1930s) is easier to read in the works of the artists who created this creative turning, than in their own theoretical statements or in the reflections and observations of art criticism of those years. Only retrospectively, in a historical perspective spanning almost six decades, was it possible to recognize in graphic realism not only a certain system artistic techniques, but also a completely independent, albeit latent, creative movement not noticed by contemporaries.
This bold definition is profoundly true.
Petrov devotes many of his articles to the artists of Detgiz, creates a fundamental monograph about Lebedev. Having already written about Pakhomov and Vasnetsov, he intended to write about other children's book artists that interested him.
Gifted with literary talent, Petrov was especially exacting to the form of presentation. His writings can be compared to blank verse. Comprehensive knowledge allowed him to use metaphors and comparisons, appealing to different eras. He wrote the manuscripts of his articles on small sheets of a notebook, neatly, without blots, in small chased handwriting, reminiscent of handwritten sheets of the 18th century. His brilliant literary gift was reflected in his memoirs about the Fountain House, about the poet M. Kuzmin and others. Vsevolod Nikolaevich willingly read his unpublished notes to us in a narrow circle. Those were unforgettable evenings.
Friendship between critics and artists is a long tradition and a rule that permeates all ages of art history. Petrov was our art critic, our critic and friend, just as N. N. Punin was a friend of Tatlin, Tyrsa, Lebedev, a critic of the generation of our teachers. Lebedev affectionately said: "Punchik is our critic, we all brought him up together."
I once happened to be present in the company of older artists in Lebedev's studio on Belinsky Street. That evening, Punin read aloud to the audience a poetic description of the Greek chariot race. Unique atmosphere of celebration spiritual world attended that evening. I have not digressed, I want to emphasize the importance of the critic in the life of an artist.
History ordered that a student of Punin, VN Petrov, write a monograph about V. V. Lebedev. Sick, unsociable and inaccessible at that time, Lebedev confided in Petrov. No one else could have been so imbued with Lebedev's world as Vsevolod Nikolaevich managed to do. Often I open his book on Lebedev and re-read a chapter, each time convinced of the correctness of the artist's choice.
During the many months spent together with the sick artist to compile a catalog, Petrov looked through hundreds of works, the whole creative life Lebedev. Naturally, questions, remarks, and Vladimir Vasilyevich's judgments about his works arose for Petrov as fundamental in understanding the artist's art.
Work on the monograph on Lebedev took many years and a lot of effort. The book has been published. And suddenly Vsevolod Nikolaevich discovers in it the absence of one precious chapter for him. It was an unexpected blow that ended in a hospital bed.
I visited the convalescing Vsevolod Nikolaevich in the hospital. He bitterly complained about the insult inflicted on him by the publishing house. Time has passed. Vsevolod Nikolaevich at home. On the phone he asks me to come to him, to talk about my future monograph. I rush to his apartment. A semi-dark corridor leads to his narrow study room. It smelled of old Petersburg. On the walls in gilded frames are family portraits of his ancestors, an old mahogany sofa, on which a spring presses painfully. The window sills and the old bureau are littered with books. The conversation began with his question. Vsevolod Nikolayevich asks me frankly to tell him if I have another candidate for writing a monograph. He thinks that he will not live long and will not have time to write it. He says his days are numbered. For these words, I resolutely attacked him, assuring him that he still had great achievements ahead of him and that I was ready to wait as long as necessary. I asked him to get started. Vsevolod Nikolayevich took out a piece of paper from the bureau and, to prove that he had begun writing, he read the introduction to the first chapter. In this introduction - I quoted part of it above - he substantiates the principles of "graphic realism" as an independent creative movement. We began to say goodbye. Vsevolod Nikolaevich suddenly embraced me and kissed me convulsively. I was in a hurry. The farewell kiss seemed very significant to me.
(from the book: Kurdov V.I. Memorable days and years. Artist's notes. - St. Petersburg, 1994. - S. 201-205.)
rice. - Shishmareva T.V. Portrait of art historian V.N. Petrova, 1969
The picture opens in full size if you right-click on it and select "Open Image".
Vsevolod Nikolaevich Petrov belonged to the ancient noble family of the Petrovs. He came from a family of Yaroslavl and Novgorod Petrovs, who gave Russia famous engineers, scientists, statesmen. The grandson of a scientist, engineer-general N. P. Petrov, since 1900 - a member of the State Council (depicted in the famous painting by Repin Solemn meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901). Father N. N. Petrov, oncologist, academician (in St. Petersburg it bears his name).
Born April 13, 1912. Graduated from the 1st Soviet high school in Leningrad (among his classmates was Pavel Zaltsman).
Since 1931 - an employee of the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian Museum, where he entered as a 2nd year student. Since 1934, he was an employee of the drawings section of the Russian Museum, then he was an employee of the Manuscripts Department, the Soviet Art Department, the engravings section, the drawings section and a senior researcher in the Sculpture Department (in 1939)
Vsevolod Nikolaevich Petrov(1912-1978) - Russian art critic, writer, memoirist, museum worker, connoisseur of Russian art.
Biography
Vsevolod Nikolaevich Petrov belonged to the ancient noble family of the Petrovs. He came from a family of Yaroslavl and Novgorod Petrovs, who gave Russia famous engineers, scientists, statesmen.
Born on April 13, 1912 in the family of N. N. Petrov, an oncologist, academician (in St. Petersburg, the Institute of Oncology bears his name). The grandson of the scientist, engineer-general N.P. Petrov, since 1900 - a member of the State Council (depicted in Repin's famous painting The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901).
He graduated from the 1st Soviet secondary school in Leningrad (among his classmates was Pavel Zaltsman).
From 1929 to 1934 he studied at Leningrad University.
Since 1931 - an employee of the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian Museum, where he entered as a 2nd year student. Since 1934, he was an employee of the Drawings Section of the Russian Museum, then he was an employee of the Manuscripts Department, the Soviet Art Department, the Engravings Section, the Drawings Section and a senior researcher in the Sculpture Department. (in 1939)
Pupil and friend of N. N. Punin. I found in the Benois archive a graphic sketch made by him - a portrait of I. Annensky, after which Punin introduced him to Akhmatova, who highly appreciated Annensky. He was a member of the circle of M. Kuzmin. Under the influence of M. Kuzmin, he began to write fiction and continued to do so until the end of the 1940s; The most famous was written in 1946, but published 60 years later, the story “Turdeyskaya Manon Lesko”, dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Kuzmin.
Was friends with the artists Vl. Lebedev, N. Tyrsoy, T. Glebova, V. Kurdov and others. He was also close to Oberiut writers, including D. I. Kharms, who dedicated the story “Historical Episode” from the late cycle “Cases” to Petrov.
Member of the Great Patriotic War. In July 1941 he was mobilized and spent the first blockade winter in Leningrad.
After the end of the war, he returned to the Russian Museum as a senior researcher in the Department of Painting. In the late 1940s, when a campaign was launched to combat cosmopolitanism and formalism, V. N. Petrov's reputation in the Russian Museum suffered.
On March 7, 1949, after considering his “case” at a general meeting of employees, Petrov was fired from the Russian Museum. A month and a half later, he wrote to the local committee of the Russian Museum an application for reinstatement in the service, on April 28, 1949, but was not reinstated.
Author of numerous articles research work on the history of Russian sculpture of the era of classicism, on the artistic association "World of Art". Wrote a monograph on the work of V. V. Lebedev. He wrote about many artists, including V. Borisov-Musatov, N. Altman, V. Konashevich, A. Pakhomov, Yu. Vasnetsov, T. Shishmareva.
After the war he lived in Leningrad on the street. Mayakovsky, 11, apt. 58. The apartments in this house were remodeled after the war, and Petrov's apartment included rooms from the former apartment 8, where D. I. Kharms lived.
Personal life
Since 1950, he was married to Marina Nikolaevna Rzhevuska (1915-1982), a cousin and close friend of the second wife of D. I. Kharms, Marina Vladimirovna Malich.
portraits
There are portraits of V. N. Petrov by T. N. Glebova (1930s), T. V. Shishmareva (1969).
Proceedings
Petrov left memoirs, partially published after his death, diaries and notebooks, prose (during his lifetime it was not published, although it was read privately). In the censored press during his lifetime, he published only books and articles on the history of Russian art. In the last years of his life, he was visited, among others, by figures of the “second” Leningrad culture (A. N. Mironov and others).
Family
Father - Nikolai Werner-Petrov, captain (later major general) engineering troops, a descendant of a Swede captured by the troops of Peter I (hence the name Petrov) during the Great Northern War. Mother came from the Norwegian family Shtrolman.
Russian army officer
Being an officer of the Russian army, he organized military training in his company on national languages, which the soldiers called up from the outskirts of Russia owned better than Russian (in this regard, he divided the company into subgroups according to nationality). He achieved successful results, but the authorities and many colleagues negatively reacted to such an experience as threatening the unity of the army. One of the officers called Petrov "Mazepin".
After hetman P. P. Skoropadsky came to power, he was removed from his post, lived in Kyiv, having given a written undertaking not to leave, was forced to earn a living by unloading wagons. Then he was returned to the army and appointed chief of staff of the 12th division, but was soon removed from his post on suspicion of having links with the rebels (symon Petlyura's supporters). He worked for a short time in the Main Directorate of Military Schools, in the last period of the existence of the Hetman's regime he was appointed chief commandant of the Left-Bank Ukraine to fight the insurgents (such an appointment testified to extreme power confusion).
One of the first Ukrainian senior officers who supported Symon Petliura. From the beginning - commander of the Volyn group, appointed to this post by the command of the Ukrainian army people's republic(UNR), participated in the battles against the Bolsheviks. Then he was the head of the Zhytomyr military cadet ("youth") school. In 1919 - Minister of War of the Ukrainian People's Republic. C - inspector of the Ukrainian army (by this time it was already in Poland), cornet general. B was appointed to the post of chief General Staff army of the UNR, participated in the organization of the rebel movement on the territory of Ukraine. Creator of military courses for foremen of the UNR in Kalisz, taught military history at them.
Life in Czechoslovakia
Then he moved to Czechoslovakia, where from 1923 he taught the history of the Ukrainian army and physical education at the Ukrainian Higher pedagogical institute named after Mikhail Drahomanov in Prague. B - - teacher of physical education at Charles University and the Czech Polytechnic Institute. C is a corresponding member of the Ukrainian Military Historical Society in Warsaw, c is a member of the Ukrainian Sociological Institute (in Prague) and the Ukrainian Historical and Philological Society (in Prague), where he delivered essays on military geography, history and physical education. V is one of the founders, deputy chairman and scientific secretary of the Ukrainian Military Scientific Society in Prague, where he also read reports on military strategy, politics, sociology, history and geography. He taught gymnastics at the Ukrainian real gymnasium in Rzhevnitsy, and since 1934 - in Modrzhany, near Prague. In 1929 he joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). In -1931 he published his memoirs about the events in Lvov civil war on the territory of Ukraine.
After the collapse of Czechoslovakia and the occupation of the Czech Republic by the Germans, he was a factory worker, continued to participate in public life Ukrainian emigration. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Stepan Bandera's supporters from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists nominated him for the post of Minister of War of Ukraine. He was elected chairman of the Ukrainian National Committee in absentia. However, he did not really start these duties, since the Germans severely suppressed the "Bandera" initiative. He continued to work in the factory.
last years of life
V moved to Bavaria, lived in a camp for displaced persons near Munich, from 1947 - in Augsburg. Two days before his death, he was elected a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. He died of a serious illness caused by malnutrition and overwork.
Proceedings
- Viyskovo-historical practices. Remember. Kiev, 2002.
- Suspіlstvo i vіysko: Sots.-іst. fig. Prague; Berlin, 1924;
- Ususpіlnennya vіyskovykh znan // Student's visti. Prague, 1926. No. 6. P. 6-11;
- Remember the Hours of the Ukrainian Revolution (1917-1921). Lviv, 1927-1931. Ch.I. To the Beresteisky world. 1927; Part 2. View of the Beresteisky world to the zaynyattya Poltavi. 1928; Part 3. From the Crimean campaign to the Hetman's coup. 1930; Part 4. Hetmanate and rebellion Directories. 1931.
- Strategic operations of Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the war of 1648-1649 // Military Ukraine. K., 1993. No. 6-8.
Petrov Vsevolod Nikolaevich Orthodox. A native of Kyiv. Educated at the Kiev Vladimir Cadet Corps. He entered the service on 08/31/1900. Graduated from Pavlovsk military school(1902). Released by Lieutenant (Art. 08/10/1902) in the 24th infantry. Simbirsk regiment. Transferred to the 7th pontoon battalion (11/12/1902). Seconded to L-Guards. Lithuanian regiment (04/02/1903). 04/04/1903 transferred to the same regiment. Lieutenant Mrs. (Art. 10.08.1906). Graduated from the Imperial Nikolaev military academy(1910; 1st category). Headquarters Captain Guards (pr. 05/26/1910; art. 05/23/1910; for excellent progress in sciences). The census command of the company was serving in the 165th infantry. Lutsk regiment (02.11.1910-03.11.1912). Renamed Captains of the General Staff (Article 05/23/1910). Art. adjutant of the headquarters of the 42nd infantry. divisions (01/22/1913-05/16/1915). Member of the World War. I.d. headquarters officer for instructions from the headquarters of the 24th army. Corps (16.05.-06.07.1915). I.d. headquarters officer for assignments at the headquarters of the 10th army. corps (from 07/06/1915). Lieutenant colonel (pr. 12/06/1915; art. 12/06/1915; for distinction in service) with approval in the position. On 03/13/1916 in the same rank and position. I.d. Chief of Staff of the 7th Turkestan Str. Division (since 05/09/1916; on 01/03/1917 in office). On 01/03/1917 Art. in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel established on 12/06/1914. For the difference i.d. headquarters officer for assignments at the headquarters of the 24th army. corps was awarded the St. George weapon (VP 01/24/1917; for the battle 04/27/1915). Colonel (pr. 08/15/1917; art. 12/06/1916). At the end of 1917, he formed the Gaidamatsky Cavalry Regiment named after Ukrainians on the Western Front. K. Gordienko. In 01.1918 he led the regiment from Belarus to Kyiv. Participated in the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising in Kyiv in 01.-02.1918, in resisting the advance of Muravyov's troops on Kyiv. In 02.-03.1918 the commander of the 3rd kuren of the Separate Zaporozhye detachment (commander K. Prisovsky). Later, the commander of the 1st Zaporozhye named after. K. Gordienko Regiment of Cavalry Gaidamaks as part of the Zaporozhye Corps. From 06.1918 - at the disposal of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian State. From 07/29/1918 - Chief of Staff of the 12th Infantry. divisions of the Army of the Ukrainian State. From 08.1918 - at the disposal of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian State. From 10/14/1918 - assistant chief educational department for infantry schools of the Main School Directorate of the Military Ministry of the Ukrainian State. From 10/28/1918 - Assistant Head of the 2nd Kyiv United Junker School. From 12/01/1918 - Assistant Chief of the Instructor's School of Officers. From 12/22/1918 - head of the Zhytomyr cadet school. While holding this position, on March 13, 1919 he was shell-shocked in battle, but remained at the head of the school. From 06/02/1919 - commander of the Volyn group of the army of the UNR. From 07/09/1919 - Minister of War of the UNR. From 11/05/1919 - Comrade of the Minister of War of the UNR. From 05/01/1920 - infantry inspector of the Army of the APR. From 10/05/1920 - cornet general. From 03.1921 - 1st Quartermaster General of the General Staff of the UNR. From 08/19/1921 - Chief of the General Staff of the UNR. In 06.1922, at his own request, he retired from the reserve. In exile he lived in the city of Khust, taught at the city Ukrainian State Gymnasium. He lectured at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical University in Prague, taught at the Ukrainian Real Gymnasium in Modzhar. Member of the Ukrainian Historical and Philological Association (1923-45). 14.03.-15.03.1939, being in the city of Khust at that time in Carpathian Ukraine, he refused to take command of the Armed Forces of the Carpathian Ukraine, but agreed to help the headquarters of the local Sich. 06/30/1941 in Lvov, after the proclamation of the revolutionary wing of the OUN (Bandera) of the Ukrainian government, headed by J. Stetsko, joined it as a minister of war. During World War II, he took Active participation in negotiations with the Germans regarding the fate of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Several times he received offers to lead the Ukrainian Liberation Army (1943) and the Ukrainian National Army (1945), but refused. He was one of the closest advisers to the commander of the Ukrainian national army General P. Shandruk. From 1945 he was in exile in West Germany. He died in a displaced persons camp in Regensburg. Awards: Order of St. Anne, 3rd class. (1907); St. Stanislaus 2nd class (1913; 04/08/1914); St. Vladimir 4th Art. with swords and a bow (VP 01/31/1915); swords to the Order of St. Stanislav 2nd class (VP 05/15/1915); St. Anne 4th st. (approved by VP on 07/02/1915); St. Anne 2nd Art. with swords (approved by VP on 03/13/1916); St. George's weapon (VP 01/24/1917). Bestowing seniority in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from 12/06/1914 (2nd addendum to the VP on 08/15/1916; on the basis of the order for the military department of 1916 No. 379, 483 and 535).
