What You Need To Know About The Poetry Of The Soviet Underground
What You Need To Know About The Poetry Of The Soviet Underground

Video: What You Need To Know About The Poetry Of The Soviet Underground

Video: What You Need To Know About The Poetry Of The Soviet Underground
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Genrikh Sapgir and Igor Kholin at the exhibition in the pavilion "Beekeeping" at VDNKh. Moscow, 1975 (collection of Igor Palmin)
Genrikh Sapgir and Igor Kholin at the exhibition in the pavilion "Beekeeping" at VDNKh. Moscow, 1975 (collection of Igor Palmin)

Preparing for an eventful summer, Garage opened an unusual exhibition related not so much to sovrisk as to literature. “Kholin and Sapgir. As a manuscript "- a unique collection of documents about the life and work of two outstanding experimental poets Igor Kholin and Henrikh Sapgir. Including photographs taken by the chronicler of the Moscow underground of the 1960s-1970s Igor Palmin. Curator Sasha Obukhova explains why it is a shame not to know them, and talks about how the "get-together" of the Moscow cultural underground lived more than half a century ago.

In Soviet times, poetry developed along a rather conservative path. Alexander Pushkin was still considered the main poet of our time, and Soviet poets, members of the Union of Soviet Writers, grew in his shadow. All experiments with the poetic word were practically prohibited. Innovative poets were not published, they were excluded from the cultural process. But they were.

From left to right: typescript of Heinrich Sapgir "New Poems" with an autograph, 1967 (collection of Viktor Pivovarov); Igor Kholin's note to Viktor Pivovarov, 1993 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection); cover of Igor Kholin's book "Warrior" with drawings by Viktor Pivovarov, publisher S. Nitochkin, circulation No. 433/537, 1993
From left to right: typescript of Heinrich Sapgir "New Poems" with an autograph, 1967 (collection of Viktor Pivovarov); Igor Kholin's note to Viktor Pivovarov, 1993 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection); cover of Igor Kholin's book "Warrior" with drawings by Viktor Pivovarov, publisher S. Nitochkin, circulation No. 433/537, 1993
Cover of Igor Kholin's book "The Greedy Frog", illustrations by Suzanne Byalkovskaya, Detsky Mir publishing house, Moscow, 1962
Cover of Igor Kholin's book "The Greedy Frog", illustrations by Suzanne Byalkovskaya, Detsky Mir publishing house, Moscow, 1962

Igor Kholin and Genrikh Sapgir were among the main figures of the innovative poetry of the 20th century. These are more radical poets than Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Andrei Voznesensky and even Joseph Brodsky. They transformed the look of Russian poetry, continuing the traditions of Aleksey Kruchenykh, Velimir Khlebnikov, and the great futurist poets. And last but not least - Daniil Kharms, one of the leaders of the OBERIU movement. This tradition developed in the mid-1950s in the circle of the older generation poet Yevgeny Kropivnitsky, the informal leader of the Lianozov group, which included the now famous Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Nemukhin, and Lidia Masterkova. It also included young Kholin and Sapgir, who had an extremely important influence on the next generation of artists and poets belonging to the Moscow school of conceptualism: Viktor Pivovarov, Ilya Kabakov - and younger artists:Andrey Monastyrsky, Nikita Alekseev, Lev Rubinstein.

Igor Kholin and Genrikh Sapgir are great poets. And not only because of a pioneering heritage. They left behind children's books and cartoon scripts, which are probably familiar to each of us from childhood: "The Little Engine from Romashkovo" of the 60s was written by Genrikh Sapgir in co-authorship with Gennady Tsyferov. He also owns the lines: "The princess was beautiful, the weather was terrible." Children's literature for poets of that time was not just a way to make money, but also an important laboratory experience in versification. Children's literature was very important for artists as well - children's books were illustrated by Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Viktor Pivovarov and many others.

Heinrich Sapgir's typescript "The Peak of Uncertainty" with an autograph, 1981 (collection of L. P. Talochkin); Genrikh Sapgir, copy of a drawing by Viktor Pivovarov, 1987 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection)
Heinrich Sapgir's typescript "The Peak of Uncertainty" with an autograph, 1981 (collection of L. P. Talochkin); Genrikh Sapgir, copy of a drawing by Viktor Pivovarov, 1987 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection)

"Adult" poems by Kholin and Sapgir began to appear only in the late 80s - early 90s. This was the time of the most unusual and desperate initiatives. When the opportunity to start a business opened up, intellectuals began to publish what they knew and loved. This is how the first editions of poems of the so-called "barrack cycle" of the 50s appeared. The first books were published in small editions for easy money. Now these publications are bibliographic rarities. And they are in the Garage archive. The museum's latest acquisitions include a large number of documents related to Kholin and Sapgir: manuscripts, homemade books. These are typewritten collections, decorated with their autographs, donative inscriptions - in the 60-80s, samizdat was the best gift for the holidays.

One of the main chroniclers of the 60-70s was the photographer Igor Palmin, an outstanding photo artist, the author of the famous albums on constructivist and modern architecture. But above all, Palmin is known as a documentary photographer who was part of a very close circle of underground Moscow. All the famous portraits of the Lianozovites belong to Palmin. In addition to the Moscow unofficial "get-together", he filmed other iconic characters of this time: he has portraits of the famous dissident writer Lev Kopelev, Anastasia Tsvetaeva, Bella Akhmadulina and other poets who read poetry in the 60s at the Polytechnic Museum. Many collectors collect Palmin's photographs as works of art. He was friends with both artists and poets, and only by trusting the photographer, they could reveal themselves in such a way.

From left to right: Igor Kholin, 1950s, photo by unknown author (courtesy of Sabina Hensgen); Igor Kholin, copy of a drawing by Viktor Pivovarov, 1987 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection); typescript of Igor Kholin "The Globe Died" with an autograph, 1965 (collection of Viktor Pivovarov)
From left to right: Igor Kholin, 1950s, photo by unknown author (courtesy of Sabina Hensgen); Igor Kholin, copy of a drawing by Viktor Pivovarov, 1987 (Viktor Pivovarov's collection); typescript of Igor Kholin "The Globe Died" with an autograph, 1965 (collection of Viktor Pivovarov)
Cover of the book by Heinrich Sapgir "Sonnets on Shirts", artist LE Kropivnitsky, publishing house "Prometheus", Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. V. I. Lenin, 1989
Cover of the book by Heinrich Sapgir "Sonnets on Shirts", artist LE Kropivnitsky, publishing house "Prometheus", Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. V. I. Lenin, 1989

Exhibition “Kholin and Sapgir. As a manuscript is held at the Garage Museum until 13 August.

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