Works by Semyonov-Amursky framed by Shelkovsky’s reliefs were presented in the new art space

A sophisticated, elegant and in many ways dramatic exhibition has opened in a new art space on Maroseyka. The Dreamer’s Walk intertwines destinies and epochs, turning into a timeless art journey. The project is dedicated to two dates – the 85th anniversary of the famous sculptor and artist Igor Shelkovsky and the 120th anniversary of his friend and teacher Fyodor Semenov-Amursky, whose work is not so well known, but deserves close attention. This master, who was born on the banks of the Amur, combined in his landscapes and type portraits the Western sense of color and the plasticity of forms characteristic of the Post-Impressionists, and filled them with Eastern philosophy. In his paintings there is a movement of a “living soul”, researchers say about the “Russian Gauguin”.

White brick vaults of the Naryshkin chambers of the 17th century. Paintings by the sixties artist Fyodor Semenov-Amursky, who studied with Favorsky and Dreven, but was imbued with the spirit of French innovators at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Laconic sculptures by Igor Shelkovsky, in which the connection between the geometry of El Lissitzky and the humanism of Giacometti is felt. The dialogue of epochs and cultures is manifested in the Dreamer’s Walk project from different points of view.

The place plays its role here – the oldest building on Maroseyka. It was built under Peter I – the king was a frequent guest here. For almost 15 years, the house belonged to the cousin of the autocrat Vasily Naryshkin, so the building is usually called the Naryshkin Chambers. The building also has a second, unofficial name – “The House of Second Wives”. The fact is that after the death of a relative, Peter I handed over the house to pastor Johann Gluck, who organized a men’s gymnasium here. The German was captured during the Northern War – and settled in Russia. In his service was Martha Skavronskaya, who became the second wife of the tsar and went down in history as Catherine I. And during the recent restoration, frescoes from the middle of the 18th century were found on the third floor, decorating the house church of St. Elizabeth. It was part of the Elizabethan Women’s Gymnasium, which was located in the house until the 1917 revolution. Now the frescoes are placed under glass and decorate one of the entrances of the house. The educational function that the building has been endowed with for centuries is now returning.

The current project was done quickly and was conceived as a tribute to Igor Shelkovsky, who is celebrating his 85th birthday this year. However, one of the most extraordinary authors of our era, Igor Sergeevich is a modest man, he refused a solo exhibition. But he offered to show the work of his senior comrade Fyodor Semenov-Amursky, part of whose archive he has kept since 1980. Shelkovsky is known not only for his work, but also for his publishing activities. Having emigrated to France in 1976, he began publishing the A-Ya magazine, which became an encyclopedia of Soviet unofficial art. The works of many today recognized and respected artists were first published thanks to him. Dying, Fyodor Semyonov-Amursky asked their mutual friend to take as many works to Paris as he could carry. He did just that.

Igor twice showed his friend’s unusual painting abroad. But in order to do this, it was necessary to draw up work. Preparing for the exhibition in the city of Elancourt, Shelkovsky himself made frames for the works of Semenov-Amursky. They turned out to be art objects – embossed and voluminous – in the style of Shelkovsky. These sculptural frames combine the avant-garde shapes and patterns of classic frames. And here is the dialogue of epochs.

At the exhibition, the works of Semyonov-Amursky in frames-sculptures are presented together with the figures of Shelkovsky, who become the image of a dreamer, who seems to be walking through fantastic landscapes, among nameless heroes. This addition allows you to open the image of a romantic artist who survived all the cataclysms of the twentieth century and retained faith in beauty and humanism.

Fedor Vasilyevich was born in 1902 in Blagoveshchensk-on-Amur and it seems that this place greatly influenced the philosophy and vision of the artist, who was keenly interested in history (the East, Byzantium, Ancient Egypt) and whose gaze was fixed on the future. While still at school, he became interested in painting, so he entered the local art and industrial school to study. After graduation, he worked as an illustrator in regional newspapers. In 1925, on a Komsomol voucher from the Amur Provincial Committee of the Komsomol, he was sent to Moscow to study at the graphic department at the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS). Having settled in Moscow, Semenov added a pseudonym prefix to his surname, reminiscent of his homeland.

“VKHUTEMAS, where his teachers were Vladimir Favorsky, Pyotr Miturich, Ignatius Nivinsky and Alexander Drevin, did not seem to change him,” says Alexander Balashov, an art historian and specialist in Semenov-Amursky’s work. – It already had an innate plasticity and a sense of color. Yes, in his landscapes one can guess the influence of Gauguin and his students, Maurice Denis. Semenov-Amursky seems to turn Russian art towards Western art, filling it with a living Russian soul and Eastern philosophy.

Not much is known about the fate of Fedor Semenov-Amursky. In 1930, probably at the institute, he met the artist Elizaveta Eliseeva, married her, they spent their whole lives together. Despite the fact that Semenov-Amursky was a member of the Union of Artists, he could not exhibit. His painting, gravitating towards Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin and Matisse, was contrary to the “official” artistic doctrine. Therefore, he made a rule for himself to devote 20 days a month to free creativity, and 10 to the “feeder”, as Shelkovsky put it. The artist and his wife lived modestly, in a small apartment, there was no money for canvases. Therefore, he used paper, which he carefully primed before starting work. This unique author’s find gives his painting a special flavor. “Fyodor lived in his own world, he didn’t read newspapers, he didn’t listen to the radio, he didn’t go to art parties. Under the bed, carefully wrapped and packed in suitcases, he kept thousands of his drawings. He was a workaholic – he worked day and night. He liked to talk, Fedor was a philosopher, but he never gave an interview. Just before his death, he agreed to a recording that is almost impossible to make out,” recalls Igor Shelkovsky on a video bridge from Paris.

During his lifetime, there were only two exhibitions of Semenov-Amursky – in the workshop of Shelkovsky and the Central House of Artists. After his death, five more, two of which Igor organized abroad. In fact, only now, under the Naryshkin arches, his talent is revealed to the public. The sensitive, complexly organized soul of a philosopher opens up to us with contrasts. On the one hand, his landscapes are naive and peaceful, on the other hand, they have a French riot of colors and avant-garde rhythm. The portraits are like Byzantine sculptures – simple and graphic, written in hard, confident lines. It seems that one of them looks like Igor Shelkovsky, the other, with a mustache, resembles Fedor Semenov-Amursky himself. However, the author never signed his works, so we can only guess.

“His portraits are always synthetic generalized images,” says Alexander Balashov. He called them “types”. Semenov-Amursky was always looking for a form of human appearance that conveys depth and something typical – something that is more than individuality. He called himself insane, but he wasn’t. Fedorov Semenov-Amursky was a dreamer. He built the image of the future on humanity and humanism. The main thing for him was self-knowledge.