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Creative and scientific life of Leningraders during the siege. Fine art of besieged Leningrad

Has always been characteristic high level development of science and culture. In 1941, it housed 152 scientific research institutions, 62 universities, where over 85 thousand students studied, 47 museums, 22 professional theater. Famous scientists, artists, writers, and performers worked in the city. During the blockade, there is a sharp reduction in the number of scientific and cultural institutions.

As a result of evacuation, departure to the front, high mortality the number of employees also decreased. By February 1942, only 15 doctors of science remained in the city. Despite the extreme conditions, scientific and cultural life in the city continued. A.V. Burov noted on October 1, 1945 that on that day bombs were exploding in the city, but films were shown in 25 cinemas and five Houses of Culture, and theaters gave performances. On October 26, at the Lenin Komsomol Theater there was a performance of Goldoni’s comedy “ Funny incident", where the main role was played by Yuri Tolubeev.

Musical life I didn’t stop in the city either. So, on October 4, 1941, the Presidium of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Composers met. He approved songs intended for solo and choral performance and written by Leningrad poets - “Song of Brinko” by B. Golts, “Ballad of Hanko” by M. Yudin, “March” by I. Dunaevsky, “Song of the Marine Corps” by N. Budashkin, “Cruiser Kirov” by L. Khodzhi-Einatov. It should be noted that the siege survivors, who did not belong to the literary and artistic community, wrote little about the cultural life of the city. Nina Vasilievna Soboleva recalled Lev Oborin’s concert at the Philharmonic: “The music that sounded then shocked and remained special for the rest of my life - “from those days””

Music had an extraordinary effect on people strong impression It was in that difficult environment that art was perceived much more deeply. Panchenko Natalya Ivanovna sometimes wrote in her diary about the events of the cultural life of the city: “I was in the theater, watched “Die Fledermaus” with a very good cast: Mikhailov, Svidersky, Bondarenko, Brill, Kolesnikova, Yanet... In a word, whoever your heart could wish for.”

During the first winter of the siege, several institutions continued to operate in Leningrad, and the state public library and the Library of the Academy of Sciences, and the Musical Comedy Theater were open throughout the entire period of the siege. On November 7, 1942, the Musical Comedy Theater presented the premiere performance “The Wide Sea Is Spread.” The significance of this theater was revealed not in its patriotic orientation and not in the fact that it aroused high feelings in people. The main thing was that he to some extent maintained the level of civilization of Leningraders.

Cultural needs, even primitive ones, helped to get rid of the feeling of despair. Panchenko N.V. once wrote in her diary: “I would really like to go to the cinema or theater now. I really want to see a good one feature film. And in the theater I only dream about music. I really want something symphonic and loud.” In August 1942, the Great Philharmonic Hall was reopened. It was here on August 9 that the orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee under the direction of Karl Eliasberg first performed the famous Leningrad Symphony Dmitry Shostakovich.

It is important to note that the English and American press paid considerable attention to the cultural life of Leningrad. For example, the Daily Worker published an interview with Dmitry Shostakovich, where he said: “For the first three and a half months of the war, I remained in my native Leningrad. How did a citizen of the front city perform different tasks, for example, as part of the MPVO group, he was on duty on the roof of the Leningrad Conservatory, having previously studied methods of extinguishing incendiary bombs. I saw

there were diabolical swastikas on the wings of German bombers and I heard the terrible howl of falling bombs. I visited the front line, performed my works there, and told front-line soldiers about my immediate creative plans. I saw the people who stopped the fascist hordes at the gates of Leningrad—pilots, artillerymen, sailors and infantrymen, tank crews and supplies—and I bowed to their heroism. And at this time I was working on the Seventh Symphony, which I began composing in July and finished on December 27.

It is dedicated to the military events of 1941. Of course, this does not mean a detailed reflection of them; rather, it is an interpretation based on military theme". A.V. Burov also commented on the event of August 9, 1942: “The orchestra of the radio committee included military musicians specially sent from units to participate in the performance of the Seventh Symphony. All 79 performers played with extraordinary enthusiasm. When the last chords sounded and those present in the hall stood applauding, a girl of about twelve climbed onto the stage. She handed the flowers to the conductor. This touched Karl Ilyich Eliasberg to the depths of his soul. The flowers grown in the besieged city were truly priceless...

In a note included in the bouquet, the Leningrad Shnitnikov family thanked the orchestra for the wonderful performance of the symphony.” Despite such a difficult situation in 1941 - 1942. Leningrad filmmakers made films. Many of them had a teaching load and were supposed to help solve practical problems posed by the war. By November 19, 1941, the Lentekhfilm film studio had completed 15 documentaries. For example, the following films were released: “Take care of your rations and spend them correctly,” “Eliminating damage from high-explosive bombs,” “How to protect attics from incendiary bombs,” “Swimming Crossing.” By the fall of 1942, another 20 films had been made. They were also documentary in nature. Documentary films documenting the feat of the inhabitants of Leningrad were also widespread. Film "Leningrad in Struggle"

filmed by 20 cameramen based on a script by E. Uchitel and N. Komarevtsev was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943. However, during the first winter of the blockade, almost all cinemas were closed. But already on March 4, 1942, the Molodezhny cinema opened, where the film “Destruction” was shown. German troops near Moscow." By the autumn of the same year, 21 cinemas were already operating in the city. The war of extermination proclaimed by the Germans threatened the very existence of the magnificent architectural and artistic complex that was Leningrad.

The Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments and the Department of Arts carried out significant work to collect documentary materials for the restoration of monuments in the event of their destruction, and to preserve materials for the study of Russian architecture. In 1941-1942, an inventory of 50 main architectural ensembles of the city was made and measurements were made. The inspection forces produced projects for the restoration of a number of architectural ensembles of Leningrad. The report of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Monuments shows what operational measures were taken to cover monuments, camouflage spiers and domes, preserve buildings damaged by bombing and shelling, and save private collections.

Monuments were covered: to Lenin at the Finlyandsky Station, to Nicholas I on Vorovsky Square, Amur and Psyche, a monument to Krylov, a vase in the Summer Garden. All the sculptures were buried in the ground summer garden, as well as in the parks of suburban palaces. Among the city monuments buried were: a monument to Peter I at the engineering castle, a monument to Alexander III, a sculpture of Anna Ioanovna, sculptures of the Dioscuri, horses from the Anichkin Bridge, a monument to Chernyshevsky. In salvation unique documents, books, collections, many researchers also took part. Thus, thanks to the dedication and courage of the scientific staff of the besieged city, the never-ending search for a scientific solution to pressing issues, scientists were able to provide all possible assistance to the defenders of Leningrad on the front lines of defense and alleviate the harsh

everyday life of its inhabitants. During the blockade, cultural and educational institutions of Leningrad were the centers of the city's cultural life. Their importance in military conditions has increased immeasurably. In the extreme conditions of war and blockade, scientists and cultural figures successfully solved the problems of preserving and protecting the historical and cultural values ​​of the city.

The experience of their activities is of particular interest for use in modern conditions. During the siege of Leningrad, food shortages, hunger and disease, Leningraders showed highly moral humane qualities, which confirms the possibility of overcoming social conflicts in extreme conditions.

References:

1. Siege of Leningrad in documents from declassified archives / ed. N.L. Volkovsky. -SPb.: Polygon Publishing House, 2005. - 766 p.

2. Burov A.V. Blockade day after day [Electronic Resource]: URL:// http://blokada.otrok.ru/library/burov2/index.htm (access date 05/26/2016).

3. Volkova A.V. 900 days of siege: A collection of memories. - Novosibirsk: Publishing House Our Town, 2004. - 326 p.

4. Diary of Natalya Vasilievna Panchenko [Electronic Resource]: URL://http:// www.inoforum.ru/inostrannaya_pressa/872_dnya_v_okruzhenii_bolee_milliona_pogi bshih_neveroyatnyj_primer_muzhestva_i_geroizma/ (access date 05/25/2016).

5. Kutuzov A.V. Siege of Leningrad in the Anglo-American press (1941-1942) // Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University. - Ser. 2, - Issue. 2. - 2010. - pp. 24 - 31

6. Ponomareva E. A. Siege of Leningrad in orders for the conservatory // Musicus: bulletin of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. - 2011. - No. 3 - 4. - P. 3 -7

7. Central State Archive of St. Petersburg. F. 7384. Op. 17. D. 598. L. 21-37. Script. .[Electronic

8. Resource: URL://http://blockade.spbarchives.ru/section_9/document_213.htm l (accessed May 27, 2016). 9. TsGALI SPb. F. 243. Op. 2. D. 174. L. 357-358. Original [Electronic Resource]: URL:// http://blockade.spbarchives.ru/section_9/document_203.html (access date 05/27/2016). 10. TsGALI SPb. F. 243. Op. 2. D. 189. L. 116. Original. [Electronic Resource]: URL:// http://blockade.spbarchives.ru/section_9/document_215.html (access date 05/27/2016). 11. Yarov S. V. Daily life besieged Leningrad. - M.: Molodaya Gvardiya Publishing House, 2014. - 312 p.

fine arts

besieged Leningrad

The years of war are separating us further and further in time. A new generation has already grown up, which is only familiar with these stories from the stories of their elders and from works of art. tragic events. Russians are special people, because over the centuries his character has been tempered in the fight against enemies and invaders. It was very important for us, schoolchildren at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, to understand what people thought and felt in those years, and we were especially concerned about issues related to the difficulties that befell Leningraders in difficult years war. Of course, historical documents provide facts that speak of the tragedy of the people who lived and worked in besieged Leningrad. However, we believe that art can tell about this more emotionally and vividly.

In our work, we tried to explore the works of Leningrad masters during the days of the siege, who worked in the field of propaganda art, painting, and culture. The creativity of these people was closely connected with the life of the city and the soldiers of the Leningrad Front. The works of these masters raised the spirit of the city and its defenders, formed an active opposition to the forces of fascism and the hardships that befell Leningraders and the army.

From the first days of the war, the enemy was rushing towards Leningrad. Only a few months later he stood at the walls of the great city. Despite the rapid advance of the fascist hordes, no one could yet foresee what the situation would be like. military fate Leningrad and what awaits Leningraders.

The word “blockade”, which absorbed all imaginable and inconceivable difficulties, torment, misfortunes, did not immediately arise and take hold in the troubled life of the townspeople. Something terrible was happening, approaching, and Leningraders were eagerly looking for where, where they were needed personal efforts, their dedication, willingness to fight, and if necessary, to die. If only this helpless expectation of the worst would not last. It was necessary to find an outlet for anger and anxiety in business, in the general and main matter...

A. Anushina. "Leningrad in July 1941"

The artists did everything they needed to protect their hometown. More than a hundred people - members of the Leningrad Union of Artists - immediately went to the front. Many fought in the people's militia. Everyone tried to defend their city with arms in hand.

Those who were not in the army built defensive structures, worked in logging, and underwent military training in air defense teams. Some artists believed that no one needed art during the war, that the Union of Artists should simply be temporarily closed. But the work of painters, sculptors, graphic artists - their professional work - immediately became urgently needed by the city-front.

M. Platunov. "Night Alarm"

Already at the end of June 1941 large group artists began to carry out enormous work on camouflaging military installations - primarily airfields. It was also necessary to camouflage the most important civilian objects (in particular, Smolny) and famous architectural structures. It was necessary to protect the famous monumental sculpture from bombs and shells. For each monument, architects and sculptors developed a special method of shelter. Strange, planked sand hills have grown up in the city, pedestals have become empty...


N. Protopopov. "Fire"

But the leadership of Leningrad believed that the strength of cultural figures lies not only in this. It is in those works of art that were able to support the people of the besieged city, to rouse them to fight. V. Serov, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists, recalled the words that the city leadership addressed to cultural figures: “Your weapon is art, a pencil. No one has the right to throw away this weapon, to leave it without a fighter. This weapon should be in the hands of the artist, because it also effectively defeats the enemy and brings enormous benefit to our cause.”

N despite the difficult living conditions in besieged Leningrad, artistic life did not fade away in him throughout the heroic defense of the city. Masters of painting, sculpture, and graphics created works that have now become documents of the time, bearing the truth about the life and struggle of Leningraders.

Painting became one of the important means of fighting the enemy. The artists showed the amazingly tragic beauty of the city, found artistic means to convey their moral ideals, reflected in the landscape, to the hearts of besieged Leningraders and soldiers lying in hospitals after being wounded or defending the borders of Leningrad.

Every day the landscape painter V. Pakulin went out onto the streets of Leningrad with a sketchbook in his hands. Wrapped in woolen scarves and an old fur coat, he stood for hours in the cold, not paying attention to exploding shells, barely holding a brush in his weakened hand, under which more and more new pictures of the tragically deserted beautiful city were born. Painted on location, sketch-style, fluently and broadly, they still do not lose their not only emotional, but also truly aesthetic value. Signs of war are not everywhere visible in his landscapes, but they are always full of a special, sensitive silence, an amazingly reverent, heightened sense of love for the city, and sometimes bright joy, all the more amazing when you know where and how they were painted.

One of the brightest artists during the siege there was a painter. Timkov N.E. He began painting landscapes of Leningrad back in 1941 - beautiful, truthful, humane. They are, as a rule, chamber and intimate - both in the small size of the sheets and in the chosen motifs (a piece of a street or embankment, a public garden, a courtyard). And, most importantly, the mood is clearly noticeable in them: now twilight sadness, now wary anxiety, now spring vigor.

Here in his picture "Leningrad under siege" 1942 we see a frozen embankment, buildings rise to the right, having a very gloomy, deplorable appearance due to broken and broken glass.


Job "Leningrad" 1943 is a painting typical in composition by Timkov N.E. Here we see a quiet courtyard, where there are houses with boarded up windows and rare residents.

Both of these paintings convey the image of a city experiencing great hardship, but maintaining courage.


During the war, despite the efforts of citizens to preserve the empty museums, they had a very sad appearance due to multiple bombings. We can judge their condition from the works of the talented painter V. Kuchumov.

V. Kuchumov “Neva embankment near Winter Palace» 1942

From the diary of blockade survivor G.A. Knyazev:

“Leningrad is being shelled by the Germans from long-range guns. That's how the shells explode. Yesterday a shell hit a house on Glazovskaya Street, demolishing half the house. Somewhere a shell hit a park - many were killed and wounded. This evening there is another shelling. And so the shells are booming somewhere in the direction of the Moskovsky railway station, there, further, behind it.”

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For such artists as S. Mochalov and V. Zenkovich, the most important thing was not the figures of people, who are either depicted in the distance or are completely excluded from the composition. The main thing was to convey the atmosphere that reigned in the city: harsh, tense, and to express the tenacity of the city’s defenders. V. Zenkovich's landscapes are filled with some kind of ringing beauty.

S. Mochalov “Shelling of Labor Square” 1942

V. Zenkovich “On the Neva embankment” 1943

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To more truthfully convey those difficult days of the siege, the artist S. Boym, with the precision of a documentarian, showed the streets and residents of the harsh winter of 1941-1942.


S. Boym “Water from the Neva” 1942

From the notes of G.A. Knyazev:

“07/15/1941. Today we sent our greatest treasures from the Archives to the Hermitage - manuscripts of Lomonosov, Kepler, drawings from the Kunstkamera, etc. They will be sent with the second Hermitage echelon to a safe place. Which? We don't know..."

The war spared no one and nothing. Evidence of this is the diary of the deputy director of the Russian Museum G. E. Lebedev, who headed the team that remained in Leningrad. Here is one of the entries, dated August 5, 1943: “A terrible day. Two heavy shells hit the museum. One of them is about fifteen meters from our apartment.<...>In the main building - the library and academic hall - chaos of broken bricks, broken frames and marble.<...>And again they beat and beat. Very close...”

Artists could not stay away from this sad event. Having a hard time experiencing the tragedy of their hometown, they captured the state in which the art treasures of Leningrad found themselves. Many years later, at the exhibition “In the Hour of Courage” at the State Russian Museum, dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the complete lifting of the blockade, Y. Nikolaev recalled: “I have never so clearly felt its beauty emerging through pain, I have never felt color so clearly.”


V.Milyutin “Hermitage, broken window” 1942

V. Kuchumov " Internal view building of the Russian Museum" 1943

The blockade changed the image of the city. Knyazev G.A. wrote in his diaries: “The Sphinxes, my ancient friends, stand alone on the semi-deserted embankment... Opposite them, the boarded up windows look gloomily massive building Academy of Arts. With some kind of heavy white grandeur it still overwhelms. Rumyantsevsky Square thinned out and became exposed. There's a bivouac there. Red Army soldiers are wandering around, a fire is burning, a horse is nibbling at the remains of yellowed grass. On the Neva, dark leaden water ripples under falling grains of wet snow. The marvelous monument to Peter sank in the sand poured around it. A sad sight is a row of old houses along the embankment from the 1st line to the university: all of them stand with blown out or broken windows...”

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the figurative panorama of the besieged city created by artists during the war. The feeling of historical significance that arises when looking at canvases dedicated to the events of the war speaks of the authors’ desire to create works that are voluminous and complete in thought. Despite the genre characteristic of many works, they convey dramatic content. The background of the works is often the icy space of a deserted city landscape (one gets the feeling that the paintings emanate the soul-piercing winter cold). The “iciness” of the canvases is intended for viewers to visually imagine the incredible severity of the hardships that befell the Leningraders, but at the same time to feel the tenacity and resilience of the inhabitants of the besieged city. Thus, through laconic pictorial means, artists recreated the atmosphere of besieged Leningrad.
Portraits of the war years are a special chapter in history Soviet art. Artists' interest in the man - the warrior, the worker, on whose shoulders fell the difficult and noble task of defending the Fatherland - has increased enormously.

Never before had the artist and the “nature” he depicted been so united by a common destiny - their hearts beat in unison, burning with a single fiery desire - to survive and defeat the hated enemy! In Leningrad, the artist and the warrior - be it a Red Army soldier or a sailor, a pilot or a partisan - were welded together by the tragedy of the nine hundred days of the siege...

Hermitage employee O. E. Mikhailova recalled: “The blockade bound us so tightly that we still cannot sever this connection. The blockade revealed people to the end, people became, as it were, naked. You immediately saw everything positive and negative in a person. Good start, the good sides blossomed in such a lush color!”

That’s why the portraits of those years are so simple and moving. They were created, as a rule, extremely quickly. To study nature, to search for the most expressive artistic means there wasn't enough time. No sketches or preparatory work were done. The portrait was created at once - with a brush on canvas, a pencil on paper - in several, and most often in one, session. But how the skill of many artists grew precisely in those heroic years! Their eyes seemed to become more alert, their hearts more sensitive, their hands more confident and firm. And the portraits they created in one breath of their contemporaries and fellow citizens of those great years amaze us with the depth of their images, truth, sincerity, the artist’s clearly palpable excitement and high skill. The best of them were included in the golden fund of Soviet fine art. These are the already mentioned “ Self-portrait" by Y. Nikolaev. “Portrait of I. Boloznev” by I. Serebryany, sculptural portraits partisans and sailors by V. Isaeva, portraits of cultural figures by G. Vereisky, among whom the portrait of academician I. A. Orbeli is especially expressive, numerous portraits of partisans by V. Vlasov, portraits painted by P. Belousov, V. Malagis, V. Serov, V. Pinchuk.


We see the artist K. Rudakov, who appears before us standing confidently, with a clear gaze, looking forward.

K.Rudakov. Self-portrait
AND and the painter Nikolaev Y.S., extremely exhausted and sick, even in the most difficult days of the blockade did not part with a pencil and brush. His self-portrait of 1942 is unusually expressive: an ascetically thin face, an inquisitive, intelligent look, sternly knitted eyebrows, tightly compressed lips - a courageous and beautiful image of a man who managed to overcome, it would seem, death itself.

Ya. Nikolaev.Self-portrait,1942.
Radio acquired particular importance for Leningraders. The voices heard on the radio were the voice of the Motherland, mother, friend, comrade, capable of supporting and encouraging in difficult times. That's why the artist . Nikolaev Y.S. captured M.G. Petrova in his work.

Ya. Nikolaev. Portrait of Leningrad radio artist M. G. Petrova

AND Of all the upcoming trials for Leningraders, perhaps the worst thing is hunger. Hunger and bombing! The only thing missing would be cholera, or plague, or just starvation typhus. People tried to accustom themselves to face events directly and think as little as possible about the future. When this future comes, then think about it!..

Ya. Nikolaev. "Line for bread."

G. Fitingov. "One hundred grams of bread"
The cards that were issued to members of the intelligentsia provided meager rations, which were noticeably different from what people who worked in factories received. But despite everything, people continued to live and create. D.S. Likhachev recalled: “ Human brain was the last to die. People wrote diaries philosophical works, scientific works, sincerely, “from the heart”, they thought and showed extraordinary firmness, not yielding to the pressure of the wind, not succumbing to vanity and vanity. Artist Chupyatov L.T. and his wife died of hunger. Dying, he drew and painted pictures. When there was not enough canvas, he wrote on plywood and on card..."
Winter of 1941/42 in Leningrad... Fierce, hungry, cruel. A series of endlessly long dark days, the most tragic and courageous among the nine hundred unprecedented days of the siege. The city seemed extinct: deserted streets were covered with snow, cold buildings were gaping with wounds, broken wires hung lifelessly, trolleybuses were frozen solid in the snowdrifts. There was no bread, light, water.
The war affected everything we had to do. And there was also work - cleaning up corpses, taking them to the trenches, saving the city from epidemics. This work is scary for a person.



Y. Neprintsev “Blockade” 1943
One of the direct participants in the blockade, who lived in the city all wartime, recalled: “I was afraid of the dead, but I had to load these corpses. They sat right on top of the cars with the corpses and drove them away. And the heart seemed to be turned off. Why?

Because we knew that today I was taking them, and tomorrow they would take me, maybe. But someone will remain alive. We firmly believed that the Germans would never take the city..."

Babich M.Ya.: “...there were dead people in every apartment. And we were not afraid of anything. Will you go earlier? It’s unpleasant when the dead... Our family died out, and that’s how they lay. And when they put it in the barn!”

Laksha N.I.: “Dystrophic people have no fear. Corpses were dumped near the Academy of Arts on the descent to the Neva. I calmly climbed over this mountain of corpses... It would seem that weaker person, the more scared he is, but no, the fear has disappeared. What would happen to me if this were in peacetime, - would die of horror. And now: there is no light on the stairs - I’m afraid. As soon as people ate, fear appeared.”


S. Boym “Winter of ’41”, 1942

ABOUT A special page of these years is children. And the artists could not stay away from this topic. These little boys warming themselves by the potbelly stove in the work of the artist A. F. Pakhomov look very direct and touching.


A. Pakhomov “Children” 1942


Another work by this artist tells about an ordinary day during the siege of little Leningraders.

And Pakhomov “On the Neva for water”, 1942. From the series “Leningrad in the days of the siege” (1941-1944).

G The boy’s body is bandaged, his left arm is in a sling, and there is bewilderment in his gaze: “For what?” This is the name of the drawing by artist A. Kharshak, which became one of the symbols of besieged Leningrad. The second title of this work is “Wounded Child.”

A. Kharshak, a graduate student at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the All-Russian Academy of Arts, in 1941, interrupting work on his diploma, volunteered for the people's militia. Defended Leningrad on the Pulkovo Heights. In fits and starts, in between battles, he took up pencil and paper. He actively collaborated with the army newspaper “Strike on the Enemy.”

During one of his business trips to a besieged city, together with his partner, a front-line photojournalist, he visited the Rauchfus Children's Hospital. There they saw a boy with a bandaged head and a stunning look. The photographer clicked the shutter of his camera, and the artist began to draw the boy from life. This drawing was presented at an exhibition of works by front-line artists that took place in 1943. A postcard was also issued at the same time.


ABOUT
Images of the city's defenders are represented in the works of many Leningrad artists. In A. Blinkov’s film we see a terrible picture of the death of a Red Army platoon that fell into a trap. The work is permeated with pain, suffering and resentment for what happened.


A. Blinkov “Ambush” 1943

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The days of the partisans are captured in the heroic sheets of V.A. Vlasov and V.I. Kurdova.

With everything you have alive,
How scary and beautiful life is,
Blood, flame, steel, in a word
Overwhelm the enemy, detain him!

Olga Berggolts
V. Kurdov “Partisan Campaign” 1943

Many of the artists, such as the painter A. Bantikov, defended the walls of their native city with a machine gun in their hands, whose works are distinguished by restrained heroic pathos.



A. Bantikov. Self-portrait 1944

A. Bantikov. “Baltic soldiers in defense of Leningrad” 1944

It is impossible to surrender Leningrad... This feeling, this passionate conviction was stronger than hunger, suffering, disease, strong death. And so the city stood to the death. Workers, scientists, poets, musicians, and artists stood next to the soldiers to the death.


Among all the countless and necessary tasks selflessly performed by artists, the most responsible and important task for them from the first day of the war was mass visual propaganda.

How many different forms of propaganda art Leningrad artists had to master in the first months of the war! They worked on leaflets for propaganda among enemy troops, created dozens, hundreds of drawings for newspapers, and made artistic postcards that were printed large editions. Their topics were very diverse: the glorious military past of the Russian people, combat episodes of the Great Patriotic War, the exploits of the heroes of the Leningrad Front and partisan movement. Often the best posters and sheets of the “Combat Pencil” were reproduced on postcards, famous paintings of Russians and Soviet artists. The lithographed postcards of A. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, who tirelessly glorified the unfading beauty of her native Leningrad, were especially loved at the front and in the rear.

M multiform and difficult life Siege Leningrad is shown in countless drawings, etchings, engravings, watercolors by N. Pavlov, E. Belukha, S. Mochalov, G. Fitingof, V. Milyutina, B. Ermolaev, N. Petrova, Yu. Petrov, I. Grigoryants and others. We see how people wander to the Neva for water, how they build defensive structures, how they clear the city of snow and dirt. We see fires and shells exploding in the streets, anti-aircraft guns on embankments and squares, warships frozen in the ice of the Neva, queues for bread and columns of soldiers going to the front.

S. Yudovin “On the streets of Leningrad in the winter of 1941-1942”
From the series "Leningrad in the days of the Great Patriotic War".
Graphic by S. Yudovin, before very in serious condition was taken out of the city in the summer of 1942, began working on a series of engravings “Leningrad in the days of the Great Patriotic War.” His sheets - “The Courtyard”, “Listen to the Radio”, “To the Hospital”, “For Water” - are truly tragic and at the same time striking with their insistent statement: Leningrad suffers, but lives, fights and does not give up. The artist’s chisel captures not death, but life.

S. Yudovin. "In the artist's studio", 1942

The leaf of Yudovin S.B. became a symbol of the ascetic labor of the masters of fine art in the besieged city. "In the artist's studio." In a cramped room hung with paintings, a man dressed in a coat and hat sits by a burning stove. In one hand he holds a palette and brushes, the other he warms by the fire. In front of him is an easel with a painting in progress. Everything in this scene is simple and ordinary in the siege way: dark room with a window sealed crosswise with paper, a stove with a tin kettle - and a tirelessly working man. The simple plot is laced high strength of the human spirit, everyday life turns into heroism.


Every morning posters appeared on the wounded walls of Leningrad. Bright sheets smelling of fresh printing ink called for the fight against the enemy, branded fascist barbarians, called for vengeance, helped to live, fight, believe. People really needed them back then.

In the frozen rooms of house No. 38 on Herzen Street, where the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists was located, a special, intense life was going on. Spacious old house with two high halls for exhibitions, with large, once bright workshops, it became unrecognizable. In the rooms on the second floor, bunks were built, potbelly stoves were heated, and dim smokehouses were burning. A weak flame snatched out thin pale faces from the darkness, threw spots of wavering light on tables littered with paper, paints, pencils, and warmed frozen fingers with timid warmth. Hands in gloves had difficulty holding the brushes; frozen paints had to be warmed by breathing. But the artists worked. They worked with energy, tenacity, and passion that was amazing for exhausted people.


WITH
every day the artists understood more and more the need for their enormous work and carried it out selflessly, with all their strength. But their ranks melted, and their strength diminished... More than a hundred people died from hunger, bombing and shelling during the harshest winter of the siege. Among them are outstanding figures of Soviet fine art I. Bilibin, A. Savinov, N. Tyrsa, P. Shillingovsky, N. Danko, N. Lapshin...

N. I. Dormidontov. “Urgent order for the front”, 1942.

N. I. Dormidontov “Leningrad.
On the Fontanka embankment in August 1942",
1942.

From the first days of the war, the work of the poster group “Combat Pencil”, where N.A. worked, was resumed in the Union of Artists. Tyrsa, N.S. Astapov, N.E. Muratov, V.A. Serov, V.I. Kurdov and many others. "Combat Pencil" is an association of Leningrad artists that produced collections of satirical drawings, and in wartime, lithographed military and political posters.

Anxiety! They took off into the sky


Columns of blue fire.
Rattling at an invisible target
Anti-aircraft guns, protecting our city.

And the awakened city knows:


The anti-aircraft gunner hits without missing a beat.
And, with a short explosion,
A hostile plane is on fire.

S. Spassky

N. A. Tyrsa. "Anxiety", 1941. Poster for "Combat Pencil".


IN our city - enemies cannot break through,
They should not drink from our river,
As before, the Baltic people are on guard,
Soviet country sailors.

They are like a steel fence


They take care of their hometown,
About the days of combat in Leningrad
The Baltic winds are singing.

B. Timofeev


V. I. Kurdov. “Baltic people. 1941-1944"
Poster for "Combat Pencil".

Already on the third day of the war, the first poster “We beat, we beat and we will beat!” appeared on the streets of Leningrad. artist V. Serov. Following him come the sharp, striking posters of B. Lebedev “I ran into it!”, V. Vlasov, T. Pevzner, T. Shishmareva - “Death to Fascism!”, A. Lyubimov “Well, Adolf, you have something here It doesn’t work..." and others.


IN During the years of the Great Patriotic War, a strong team of poster artists formed and grew in Leningrad. Already in the first months of the war, at least fifty people participated in the work on the poster. Often the most expressive posters were created by those who, in their “peaceful” professional specialization, stood far from this unique type of art. These were easel painters, book graphic artists and even sculptors.

The main group of poster artists included V. Serov, I. Serebryany, A. Kazantsev, N. Kochergin, T. Ksenofontov, L. Samoilov, A. Kokosh, M. Gordon, V. Vlasov, V. Pinchuk, A. Sittaro.

The painter A. Kazantsev became one of the best poster artists in these years. Already in the first months of the war, his poster “Vengeance! Fascism is hunger, poverty, ruin! Burning hatred for the enemy and a fiery call for retribution are heard in this poster with passionate force. A young mother carries her child out of the burning ruins. Her face is full of hatred, her raised hand is clenched angrily into a fist. The word “Vengeance!” burning in large bright red letters cuts into the black-ocher color scheme of the leaf.


Author of the poster – V. Ivanov, 1942
The posters “Warrior of the Red Army, save!” are dedicated to exposing the atrocities of the Nazis, calling for revenge and destroying the enemy! V. Serova, “Take revenge!” A. Pakhomova, “Revenge and death to fascist cannibals!” A. Vasilyeva, “For the death of our children, wives and mothers to fascist murderers - merciless revenge!” V. Pinchuk and many others.

Sculptor V. Pinchuk introduced propaganda graphics specific properties inherent in their profession. All defenders of the city remember Pinchuk’s poster, which appeared in 1942: “Have you done everything to help the front?” The clearly sculpted head of a worker seems to emerge from the white plane of the sheet energetically. Questioning, demanding eyes stare out from the poster. The image is extremely collected, laconic, clear, it is perceived with lightning speed and precision, like a blow.

The call to defend your city, your people, confidence in the strength of spirit of the Soviet man, in his readiness to fight to the death with the enemy is another enduring theme of the Leningrad military poster.

“Everyone to defend Leningrad!”, “Let’s defend the city of Lenin!” - call for V. Serov’s posters from 1941. Soon there will be posters by A. Kazantsev “Youth, to arms!”, A. Efimov “For the Motherland!”, I. Serebryany “Beat harder, son!” and many others.

A. Kazantsev, 1943

The painter I. Serebryany worked on posters from the first days of the war and grew into a great, highly professional master of propaganda art. His poster “The Russian people will never kneel” was reprinted several times during the war and became one of the classic examples created by the best Soviet poster artists.

Each poster master gradually developed his own visual language, his own favorite techniques, and his own artistic style. But all their works are marked by the acute relevance of the topic, the concreteness and realistic clarity of images, emotional intensity, and a high patriotic feeling.


I.Serebryany 1943

IN minutes of respite, sparingly granted by the war, the masters of fine art drew, wrote sketches, sculpted, although by its specific nature the sculptor’s work required both materials and working conditions, which seemed impossible to provide in those difficult days. Unfortunately, not all works made in plasticine and wax at that time could be transferred to plaster. Many works were lost, others were “reincarnated” due to lack of material into other things. But the sculptors did everything possible to preserve their works.

At the end of 1941, V. Pinchuk created the sculpture “Baltiets”, full of dynamics and expression, A. Strekavin sculpted figures of steel workers, V. Bogolyubov conceived a multi-figure monument dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. The sculptors are A. Petoshina, V. Drachinskaya, T. Kirpichnikova, A. Gunnius, T. Linde, V. Gushchina.
V. Pinchuk. "Baltiets", 1942

V. Lishev “Checking documents” 1941-42

T. Kirpichnikova. Children - helpers of partisans, 1942

A.Andreeva-Petoshina “Partisan” 1942

V. Pinchuk “Oath of Revenge” 1942
Artists organized exhibitions and discussions, held creative evenings, produced printed materials and thus contributed to achieving the common goal - Victory over the enemy.

And finally, the blockade was broken. From the diary of the artist Ostroumova-Lebedeva A.P.: “Today an order was announced on the radio to the troops of the Leningrad Front. What happened after that! Everyone hugged, kissed, screamed, cried. Then the salute to the Leningrad troops who liberated Leningrad began. What a grand spectacle we experienced. 24 salvos from 324 guns. The guns were fired from military vessels and from different ends Leningrad - guns at Smolny, on the Field of Mars, on Palace Square and in many other places. It was at 8 pm. The night was dark. Fiery fountains of red, green, blue and white rockets soared high into the sky. “Hurrays” from people distraught with joy were heard all around.”

From the series "Leningrad in the days of the siege" (1941-1944).

A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva “Salute”, 1944.

“...And again the world hears with delight


Russian salute peal.
Oh, this is breathing deeply
Liberated Leningrad!

Those who were born after the war can no longer understand much and cannot survive what the war generation experienced. You can only listen to the stories of those who survived, and try to understand, try to feel what they experienced, and keep it in memory... And pay tribute to eternal respect and eternal gratitude. Those who survived the siege were ordinary people. They managed to accomplish the impossible - survive the icy hell. And not only survive, but also remain human. They leave, and history goes with them. It's up to us to make sure she doesn't leave forever. Despite the difficult living conditions in besieged Leningrad, artistic life did not fade away throughout the heroic defense of the city. Masters of painting, sculpture, and graphics created works that have now become documents of the time, bearing the truth about the life and struggle of Leningraders.

Literature and Internet resources used:


  1. Nikiforova I.V. “Artists of a besieged city.” - M., “Iskusstvo”, 1985

  2. « Saint Petersburg. Portrait of the city and its citizens". - St. Petersburg: Palace Editions, 2003. www.anthology.sfilatov.ru/

  3. www.davno.ru/posters/artists/kokorekin/

  4. www.oblmuseums.spb.ru/rus/museums/

  5. pobeda-1941-1945.narod.ru/gal2/photo7.htm

  6. www.rusmuseum.ru/ru/editions/video-blokada.shtml

  7. www.sgu.ru/rus_hist/authors

  8. smena.ru/destiny/62/

  9. www.tvkultura.ru/index.html

  10. weltkrieg.ru/battles/Blokada/

1. Project name – Fine art of besieged Leningrad.


2. Authors – Daria Beloglazova, e-mail: [email protected]; Elena Khilkevich, e-mail:

[email protected]


3. Scientific supervisor– Mironova Natalya Konstantinovna,

In the city on the Neva, in the House of Artists, in front of the entrance to exhibition halls a large marble plaque hangs. The names of those killed in the Great Patriotic War are carved on it. More than 150 artists...

1941 Winter, blockade, bombings. Shelling, hunger, cold. Countless thousands of deaths... A series of endless dark days, the most tragic and courageous among the nine hundred unprecedented days of the siege. The city seemed extinct. Deserted streets were covered with snow, frozen buildings turned black, broken wires hung lifelessly, trolleybuses and trams were frozen solid in the snowdrifts.

There was no bread, light, heat, water. And yet Leningrad lived and fought heroically.

Herzen Street, 38. In the frozen rooms of this house of the Leningrad Union of Artists, a special, intense life was going on during the days of the blockade. The spacious room with two high halls, with large, once bright workshops, became unrecognizable. In the corners there were beds that had come from nowhere, potbelly stoves were burning, and smokehouses were burning. A weak flame snatched out thin, pale faces from the darkness. Hands in gloves had difficulty holding the brushes; frozen paints had to be warmed by breathing. But the artists worked. They worked with amazing energy, tenacity, and passion.

Solomon Yudovin. In the artist's studio. Linocut.

From the first day of the war, artists, together with all Leningraders, built defensive structures, worked in logging, and underwent military training in air defense teams. More than a hundred people went to the front. Many fought in the people's militia. Everyone wanted to protect hometown with weapons in hands. Some then decided that no one needed the professional skills of an artist during the war. But already at the end of June 1941, the military command called on a large group of painters to carry out work to camouflage military installations - primarily airfields. The architectural monuments of the city-museum were also camouflaged and protected from bomb and shell fragments monumental sculptures on the famous embankments and squares of Leningrad. Hands skilled in handling works of art were also needed when urgently packing the treasures of the Hermitage and the Russian Museum for evacuation. The artists who survived the blockade remember with what trepidation and heartache they helped museum staff remove priceless paintings from stretchers, how sad it was for everyone to see empty frames on the walls of famous halls...

Until the summer of 1942 Solomon Borisovich Yudovin lived in besieged Leningrad, then was evacuated to Karabikha near Yaroslavl, where he worked on a series Nekrasovsky places(1944). Upon returning the same year to the northern capital, he completed work on a series of wood and linoleum engravings Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War(published as an album in 1948).

Solomon Yudovin

Solomon Yudovin. Siege Leningrad

Solomon Yudovin. Moving to a new apartment.

In 1941 Alexey Fedorovich Pakhomov began working on a large series of autolithographs “Leningrad in the days of the siege.” The first sheets of this series - “They are being taken to the hospital”, “For water”, “In the center of defeat” - shock with the heart-wrenching truth of the images of the life of the hero city. In total, he made more than 30 artistic chronicles of Leningrad life, which, with all the utmost authenticity, are not just sketches from life, but compositions made on the basis of reflection and strict selection of details.

Alexey Fedorovich Pakhomov

Alexey Pakhomov

Alexey Pakhomov. For water.

Solomon Samsonovich Boym



Solomon Samsonovich Boym. Water from the Neva.



Solomon Samsonovich Boym. Leningrad. White night. 1943.

Solomon Samsonovich Boym:

1941 - received appointment to the Kronstadt House of the Navy;
1942 - seconded to the newspaper “Red Baltic Fleet” in Leningrad. Participated in an exhibition of works by Leningrad artists during the Great Patriotic War;

1943-1945 - main artist Political Directorate of the Baltic Fleet.


Nikolai Alexandrovich Pavlov. Self-portrait

Together with other artists Nikolai Alexandrovich Pavlov He worked a lot and actively in besieged Leningrad: he was in aviation formations and on ships of the Baltic Fleet. Portraits of heroic pilots and sailors of the crew of the guards destroyer “Stoikiy” appear before us as pages of the heroic chronicle of the city’s defense. Next to them are sketches of the difficult life of Leningraders during the siege: “Removing snow”, “Fetching water”. In one of his etchings, the artist captured a dramatic event - “Fire at the Badayevsky warehouses on September 8, 1941,” which marked the beginning of famine in the city, when the main food supplies burned down. Another engraving, “Apartment after artillery shelling” (1941), also reminds us of the horrors of war. Unforgettable impressions years of the siege are preserved in a series of drawings, dedicated to monuments sculptures.

N. A Pavlov. The first enemy raid on Leningrad



N. A. Pavlov. After the shelling

Nikolai Alexandrovich Pavlov. Concert on the Neva embankment.

N. A. Pavlov. Bronze Horseman disguise.

On June 24, 1941, the first “TASS Window” appeared in a store window on Nevsky Prospekt. Everyone at that time still remembered the famous “Windows of ROSTA” by V. Mayakovsky during the Civil War. "TASS Windows" continued this glorious tradition. They were compiled from topical posters and cartoons, from daily reports from the Sovinformburo and obligatory photo chronicles. “Windows” became so popular that they soon had to be duplicated and copied by hand. There was also more work on combat leaflets and popular prints for the front, leaflets on propaganda among enemy troops, numerous drawings for newspapers and large propaganda panels that were placed on the main thoroughfares of the city and roads to the front.


Vladimir Alexandrovich Serov



TASS windows. V. A. Serov


Alexander Kharshak

Leningraders, and today St. Petersburg residents, know the work of Alexander Isaakovich Kharshak from the siege drawing, in which a wounded boy, bandaged, looks at us all with his huge, not at all childish eyes.


Alexander Kharshak. For what?

Alexander Kharshak, a graduate student at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the All-Russian Academy of Arts, in 1941, interrupting work on his diploma, volunteered for the people's militia. Defended Leningrad on the Pulkovo Heights. In fits and starts, in between battles, he took up pencil and paper. He actively collaborated with the army newspaper “Strike on the Enemy.”

During one of his business trips to a besieged city, together with his partner, a front-line photojournalist, he visited the Rauchfuss Children's Hospital. There they saw a boy with a bandaged head and a stunning look. The photographer clicked the shutter of his camera, and the artist began to draw the boy from life.


Konstantin Ivanovich Rudakov

During the Great Patriotic War and the blockade, Konstantin Ivanovich Rudakov created a series of portraits of air defense fighters, worked on theatrical scenery, created picturesque panels for city squares and streets, and collaborated in the magazine “Koster”.


Konstantin Ivanovich Rudakov. Letter to the front. Dad, beat the fascists! Leningrad, Publication of the Printing Workshop of the Leningrad Union of Agriculture, 1941-1943. (Postcard)


Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Self-portrait. 1940

When the Great Patriotic War began, Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva It was seventy-one. She did not leave besieged Leningrad and, since it was difficult for her to go down to the bomb shelter, she remained at home during the bombing. Ostroumova-Lebedeva set up her office in the bathroom - explosions were less audible there. She had to build a smokehouse from a medicine bottle. In such conditions, she completed work on the second volume of “Notes” and kept a diary, which was included in the third volume. Ostroumova-Lebedeva's engraving "Sphinx" adorned the invitation card for the first performance of D. Shostakovich's Seventh Leningrad Symphony.



Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Sphinx. From the Series "White Nights".



Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Firework. 1944



Pavel Filonov. Self-portrait


Pavel Filonov. Faces (Faces). 1940.

Survived bravely Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov the beginning of the war, and even the Leningrad blockade did not force him to leave the tiny room filled with paintings and manuscripts. If not for his age, he would have volunteered for the front.

Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov died of hunger in besieged Leningrad on December 3, 1941. He was buried at the Serafimovskoye cemetery. "Faces" is one of his last works.


Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin died in besieged Leningrad on February 7, 1942 in the hospital at the All-Russian Academy of Arts. The last work of the famous artist was a preparatory illustration for the epic “Duke Stepanovich” in 1941. He was buried in the mass grave of professors of the Academy of Arts near the Smolensk cemetery.



Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin. Illustration for the epic "Duke Stepanovich".

Artist Yaroslav Nikolaev, extremely exhausted and sick, even on the most difficult days he did not part with a pencil and brush. His self-portrait of 1942 is unusually expressive: his gaunt face, tightly compressed lips, an inquisitive gaze, the inflexibility of sternly knitted eyebrows - a courageous and beautiful image of a man who managed to defeat death.



Yaroslav Sergeevich Nikolaev. Self-portrait.

Artists accumulated more and more creative material day by day. And the Union of Artists already at the end of 1941 decided to organize an exhibition in its halls. Those who did not live within the walls of the union carried and carried their works on sleighs to Herzen Street.

January 2, 1942 in the frozen Exhibition Hall, with glass broken by the blast wave, The first exhibition of works by Leningrad artists during the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that the day was very frosty and the artists could barely stand on their feet from hunger, the opening of the exhibition was a grand affair. And most importantly, they visited her! Every day 15–18 people came - an incredibly large number for that time. The board of the union decided to constantly replenish the exhibition with new works.


Alexey Pakhomov. On posts.


Alexey Pakhomov. At the site of the lesion.


Alexey Pakhomov. Fireworks in Leningrad.

On January 18, 1943, a long-awaited and joyful event occurred: the blockade of Leningrad was broken. Life in the city has changed dramatically. Although the bombing and shelling have not yet stopped, the famine has subsided.

In the January days of 1944, a powerful offensive began. On January 27, Leningrad was completely liberated from the siege.

The city rejoiced. A fireworks display of extraordinary strength and brightness - the first fireworks display in Leningrad! - proclaimed victory over the enemy. The unusually dark streets of the city were once again flooded with light, the “Bronze Horseman”, freed from cover, stretched out his hand over the Neva, and Klodt’s horses, recovered from the deep pits, solemnly “drove” onto the Anichkov Bridge. Theaters returned to their hometown from evacuation. Many artists who had previously left also returned. A new stage in the life of heroic Leningrad began - its restoration.



I. Silver. Come on, let's take it! Poster.

http://www.chernorukov.ru/articles/?article=306

“The gray leaden sky hanging over the city, rare snowflakes, swirling, fell on the embankment near the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge. - Sailor, can you give me some bread? “The tired eyes of an old woman looked at me from under the scarf.”

From the diary of Ivan Dmitriev, artist of the Baltic Fleet Theater

Today it is incredibly difficult to imagine the hardships of life under siege. But still, try to imagine for a minute that in your house the heating, electricity, cold and hot water, no gas, sewerage system doesn’t work... Can you imagine? Now multiply all this by 900.

In besieged Leningrad, simply surviving was a feat. But we had to fight and survive! In addition, many poets, artists, actors and musicians, despite the harsh life, weather conditions, hunger and illness, still created, and ordinary Leningraders went to concerts, listened to the radio and read books until they burned them to kindle the stoves.

During the Great Patriotic War, while remaining in Leningrad, Anna Akhmatova was still in a state of inspiration and creative enthusiasm. According to her, the poems came in a continuous stream, “stepping on each other’s heels, hurrying and out of breath.” Akhmatova continued to write, and write surprisingly well, despite the fact that her fate at that time was difficult - her son was arrested for the second time, all the efforts and efforts to free him led to nothing.

Akhmatova saw the first cruel blows inflicted on the city she glorified. Thus, in July 1941, the famous “Oath” appears: And the one who today says goodbye to her beloved, Let her melt her pain into strength. We swear to the children, we swear to the graves, That no one will force us to submit!

This fragile woman, seriously ill, starving, wrote unusually strong poems: full of tragedy and feelings of compassion, love and sorrow. During the war years, perhaps her best poem, “Requiem,” was written. “I went to see Akhmatova - Pavel Luknitsky recalls meeting her in August 1941. “She was lying down—sick.” She met me very warmly, she was in a good mood, and with visible pleasure she said that she had been invited to speak on the radio. She is a patriot, and the knowledge that she is now in soul with everyone, apparently, greatly encourages her.”

Reading excerpts from the diary of the little-known musician Alexander Pergament, you involuntarily think about how difficult it was for people, soldiers, commanders at that time, and how they needed, simply needed, support. Thanks to concerts and radio appearances, their fighting spirit and optimism never faded. The music was a blast fresh air, a momentary happiness that made it possible to disconnect from the harsh reality. From the memoirs of A. Parchment: “Blocked Leningrad. Winter of '41. The sound of a metronome coming from the speakers.

Music in those days was not yet broadcast on Leningrad Radio, and at first it seemed obvious to us: times were harsh! But when traveling with brigades to the defenders of the city, we often heard: “Why aren’t you entertaining us enough? If only they would broadcast something for us on the radio!”

During the harsh times of the blockade, we went out a lot with concerts. We understood that our arrival to the tired, exhausted, but strong spirit brings a charge of optimism to the defenders of the city, confidence in victory...

We have always been concerned about the issue of repertoire. Olga Berggolts, Vera Inber, Nikolai Tikhonov, Vsevolod Azarov, Alexander Kron came to us and brought their new works, born in the besieged city.

And so we chose Matvey Tevelev’s play “Towards the Squadron”. Of course, we saw both the advantages and disadvantages of the play, but we all burned with one desire: to create big performance about the Great Patriotic War. Sometimes, however, I couldn’t believe that the premiere would take place. A very difficult time! The actors could barely stand on their feet, exhausted, weak, but full of enthusiasm.

And the premiere took place on July 5, 1942 in the small hall of the House of Culture of the Industrial Cooperation! The performance turned out to be somewhat intimate, very portable and was well received by our audience.”

The premiere of a play during the siege seems something like a miracle, magic. But the most important premiere took place on August 9, 1942 in Great hall Leningrad Philharmonic. On that day, Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Leningrad Symphony was performed for the first time. “On stage there are half-dead musicians who were hard to find throughout the city and even among the front-line soldiers who defended the city. There are listeners in the hall who didn’t know if they had the strength to get to their homes after the concert.”

I imagine that day, I imagine a hall full of people, and it’s as if I feel the same thing that the Leningraders, exhausted by the blockade and the war, felt then.

Where is the source of such unparalleled human resilience during all 900 days of siege? I think it is in the people who create such music in the hour of mortal trials, play this music and listen to it.

You can't beat someone like that!

The legendary defense of Leningrad, whose exhausted inhabitants desperately resisted the enemy for 900 long days, has gone down in history forever. Every soldier, every sailor, every worker who gave themselves to the fight for the independence of the city on the Neva will forever remain in the memory of mankind. However, in addition to the military and workers, Northern Venice was also defended by people of art - intellectuals - who wished to remain in the city besieged by the enemy.

The party, seeing in them its closest and active assistants, called on them to mobilize in every possible way the spiritual forces of the people for the defense of the Fatherland, “to instill in all our people feelings of selfless and selfless love for the Motherland, feelings of sacred hatred for the vile enemy, feelings of fearlessness and contempt for death, reflect the greatness of our historical days in works, worthy heroes and heroism of the Patriotic War."

Despite the mass evacuation of theater groups, musicians, writers and other cultural workers from Leningrad, who moved into the interior of the country with the valuables of museums, libraries, universities and scientific institutions, prominent writers, composers, artists, and actors remained in the city.

Many joined the active army and militia. Others joined the army of the ideological front from the first days of the war. Creative intelligentsia subordinated her work to the interests of the front and rear.

Operational writing groups were created under the Political Affairs Department of the Lenfront and the KBF, which included famous Leningrad writers: V. Azarov, O. Berggolts, V. Vishnevsky, Zonin, V. Inber, N. Katerli, V. Ketlinskaya, V. Kochetov, A. Kron , B. Likharev, V. Lifshits, A. Prokofiev, V. Sayanov, N. Tikhonov, L. Uspensky, A. Chakovsky, N. Chukovsky, A. Stein and many others.

“I am happy that in the harsh flame,

In the smoke of blockades.

He defended himself with both bullets and words.

My Leningrad!

(Vs. Rozhdestvensky “White Night” 1942)

They were writers and war correspondents at the same time. We went to the front line - to the pilots, sailors, to rifle units, to the “Road of Life”. We held conversations there, wrote essays about best snipers, asses, submariners, intelligence officers, drivers and immediately transmitted them to newspapers and radio. Much attention were given to Leningraders. They went to factories, spoke in print, on the radio, each time finding sincere and effective words that instilled confidence, helped them live and fight for victory. They wrote poetry and prose, plays and texts for leaflets, captions for posters. V. Vishnevsky, O. Berggolts, N. Tikhonov, A. Prokofiev and others became exponents and heralds of the patriotic feelings of Leningraders.

There was a special relationship with poetry. Soldiers carried newspaper clippings with poems in their tunic pockets; townspeople copied them into notebooks, learned them by heart, and read them at amateur concerts. They sang songs based on war poems in dugouts and in apartments, and asked to be performed on the radio.

Many have worked to create major works: N. Chukovsky “Baltic Sky”, A. Chakovsky “It Was in Leningrad”, A. Kron “House and Ship”, P. Luknitsky “Leningrad Acts”, V. Ketlinskaya “Under Siege”, N. Tikhonov “Leningrad Receives” battle“, etc. During the war years, plays were created and staged in Leningrad: ". “Fleet Officer” by A. Krona, At the Walls of Leningrad by Vs. Vishnevsky, “Bastion on the Baltic” by A. Stein, “Stars on the Roadstead” by Tevelev, “Raven Stone” by Gruzdev, “Fiery Wind” by Shcheglov, “A Drop of Blood” by Karasev, “Wings of Wrath” by Zinovin.

Leningrad writers also turned to historical themes - images of Russian soldiers and commanders in articles, poems, and stories. Olga Forsh wrote the play-legend “Prince Vladimir”, V. Sayanov - a cycle of stories “How Tsar Peter took Vyborg”, Shishkov - about the Soviet Susanins, A. Prokofiev - an essay about Dm. Donskoy.

During the blockade, Leningraders did not lose their love for books.

Theater arts

With the beginning of the war, Leningrad theaters did not cease their activities. On August 12, 1941, the premiere of the play “Under the Linden Trees of Berlin” by Zoshchenko and Schwartz took place at the Comedy Theater.

After the start of the blockade, theaters that did not have time to evacuate were working with full houses: Leninsky Komsomol, Lensovet, Youth Theater, Comedy Theater, Musical Comedy, Opera and ballet troupe(from the artists of the Kirov Theater and the Maly Opera). On October 12, the premiere of “Honeymoon” took place at the Lensovet Theater.

Dramatic actors who remained in Leningrad, musical theaters, variety and circus became part of the troupes of the Baltic Fleet Theater, Theater People's Militia(later the theatrical Agitation Platoon of the House of the Red Army), the Operetta Ensemble under the direction of B. Bronskaya, and concert and chef brigades.

From a report on the concert and theater life of the front city in 1942: “The absence of dramatic and opera houses, in which there was an acute shortage, and the presence in the city of sufficient personnel of highly qualified dramatic and opera artists was the basis for the Department of Arts to raise before the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council the question of organizing a City Theater in Leningrad, in which dramatic, opera and ballet performances would be staged.” In the fall of 1942, the theater opened. The Leningrad Siege Theater was created on the premises of the Comedy Theater. Repertoire: “Eugene Onegin”, “The Queen of Spades”, “Carmen”, “Esmeralda”, “Chopiniana”, “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, “La Traviata”, “Front”, “Wait for Me”, “Russian People”, “ Break", etc.

The performances of the Musical Comedy Theatre, which operated throughout the blockade, were especially popular. Operetta became the favorite genre of Leningraders and Lenfront soldiers. Music, dancing, and a simple plot relaxed people and allowed them to forget about the war and the horrors of the blockade for several hours. For a long time After the performance, the audience remained in high spirits. Due to shelling and bombing, the performances were forced to be stopped several times, the audience was escorted to the bomb shelter, and continued after the air raid warning. Front-line soldiers who attended the performances of this theater wrote enthusiastic letters to the actors from the front. They compared the delight of watching performances with the happiness of peaceful life. They wrote that they were beating the hated enemy with redoubled force. In addition to classical operettas, the repertoire of the Musical Comedy included heroic musical performances “A Sailor’s Love”, “Forest True Story” (about partisans), “The Sea Spreads Wide” (about the heroic sailors of the Baltic Fleet and blockade survivors), the play was created by Leningrad authors V. Azarov, A. Kron , V. Vishnevsky to music by V. Vitlin, L. Kruts, N. Minha.

On New Year's holidays for schoolchildren, who, in addition to schools and cultural centers, were staged in the premises of the Bolshoi Drama, Alexandrinsky and Maly Opera Theaters, performances were shown " Noble nest", "The Gadfly", "The Three Musketeers".

The growing intensity of the creative life of Leningrad is evidenced by a letter to Moscow from the head of the Department of Arts B. Zagursky in the summer of 1943: “Despite the troubled conditions, our cultural life does not freeze and is even more vibrant than in winter. Now we have: Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Gorky, Musical comedy, Philharmonic, operetta under the direction of Bronskaya, Chamber Hall, Lengosestrad, circus, Choreographic School, Summer Theater in the Garden of Recreation, music school conservatories, advanced training courses, music school for adults, opera, ballet, Union of Artists, Union of Composers, Union of Architects, Houses of Culture: named after Gorky, Vyborg, named after Volodarsky, named after Kapranov. A number of new productions and revivals have been released over the past three months. Theater tickets are still sold out long before the performance. The Philharmonic gave 38 concerts in three months, including symphonic and solo concerts. 135 concerts took place in the Chamber Hall. Special attention enjoy our “resurrections” - chamber concerts of new works by composers, writers, and poets of Leningrad. They gather a full hall of people... Except for the conservatory from educational institutions We have a school named after Rimsky-Korsakov, where 230 students study, a children's music school of the Petrograd region (130 students), an art school of painting and sculpture (100 people) and a choreographic school (30 people). Recently we held a review of amateur artistic performances. The following groups took part in the show: 33 choral, 25 dramatic, 8 string, 28 choreographic, 39 concert.”

Military patronage work (Front-line brigades)

(From the report of the soloist of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S.M. Kirov S.P. Preobrazhenskaya about concert activities in besieged Leningrad in 1941-1943)

“In the first days and months of the war, the main form of military patronage work was the maintenance of assembly points. I remember a strange feeling when, in the first days of the war, we went to assembly points, to places unknown to us, under the leadership of a foreman. During these tragic days, we experienced a huge creative surge, peering into the faces of people who went to the front. It was a great joy for us to have the opportunity to perform our art in front of them on these memorable days. The figure of 1.5 thousand patron concerts does not seem large to me, this work gave me such great spiritual joy, the reception was so warm, the welcoming speeches after the concert were so excited and heartfelt. The days of the blockade have arrived. The theater moved to the rear, I decided not to part with my hometown. Military patronage work at this time became the main form of my life in art. With a small group of actors who remained in the city, I began to go to military units, to Kronstadt, to forts. There, to the accompaniment of an accordion, I performed songs and romances Soviet composers, classics, Tchaikovsky, Dargomyzhsky. Numerous photographs remained as reminders of these exciting days; everywhere after the performance, soldiers and officers asked to capture our meeting in photographs.”

All the artists of the Leningrad theaters, stage, and circus were part of the concert teams. The organizers of the concert work were the House of the Red Army, the Political Directorate of the KBF, the Military Patronage Commission of the Regional Committee of Trade Unions of Artists, the concert department of the Central Lecture Hall, the Agitation Point of the House of Writers, Lengosestrad.

Teams of artists went with concerts to warships, to the front, to training regiments, to hospitals and convalescent battalions, to factories and to households. Sometimes, giving two or three concerts a day, funny joke, with a sharp word, patriotic and lyrical song they lifted their spirits, inspired them to deeds and work. During the war years, Leningrad arts workers gave over 56 thousand concerts, 46 thousand of them in the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov fronts and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Frequent guests of front-line soldiers were famous soviet actors S. Preobrazhenskaya, N. Welter, V. Kastorsky, P. Bolotin, E. Kopelyan, I. Dmitriev, K. Shulzhenko, R. Gerbek, O. Jordan, N. Cherkasov and many others. Holding patronage concerts contributed to the close unity of artists with frontline soldiers and residents of Leningrad.


Tags: life, war, art, history, Leningrad