Victor Apukhtin will present to the audience his portrait of Maria Tenisheva and talk about his impression of her

Viktor Apukhtin responded with genuine interest to the proposal of Galina Merzlikina, President of the Center for International and Cultural-Business Cooperation “Culture for Life,” to talk about his ancestor, mentioned in the memoirs of Maria Tenisheva. He also became interested in the project “Maria Tenisheva’s legacy to the younger generation (children and youth).”

The figure of the Russian duchess - philanthropist, artist and collector - was of great interest to the artist. A woman who was ahead of her time, who became a muse for the great artists of the Silver Age, inspired Viktor Apukhtin to create a series of works, including a portrait of Maria Tenisheva.

This is how the program “Maria Tenisheva - Muse of Artists” was born, where Galina Merzlikina and Irina Kenya will talk about the Russian duchess and her portraits painted by famous artists, including Repin, Makovsky, Korovin and others, and Victor Apukhtin will present his portrait to the audience and talk about your impressions of Maria Tenisheva.

From the memoirs of Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva:

Sometimes among these gray people there was only one, very interesting, charming, intelligent person - the poet Apukhtin. Since he had the habit of going to bed very late, dinner was usually arranged for him at two or three o’clock, lasting until dawn, during which I not only did not get bored, but, on the contrary, listened to his stories with pleasure. Over a glass of wine, Apukhtin would come into an excellent mood and read to us for a long time and recite his poems, sprinkle in jokes and witticisms - he was a cheerful and interesting interlocutor. One day at dinner a little trouble happened to him. As you know, he suffered from terrible obesity, and no furniture was solid enough to withstand his weight. Once he was eagerly reciting a poem, when he suddenly dived under the table. It turned out that the chair underneath him had folded up like a cardboard house. To prevent such a disaster from happening again, we bought an iron garden chair especially for him from San Galli. After that, he could sit with us without fear.

A creative meeting with the artist will take place in Moscow on May 28, 2024 at the House of Russian Abroad.

Source: Culture4Life