When was Sarah DeKay born? Russian artists move to castles

Vladimir Sergeev, France

"San Michel"

The Ghost of Russia easily penetrates the walls of the medieval castle in which Mikhail Shemyakin lives

Mountains of books have been written about the work of Mikhail Shemyakin, and articles about him published in Russia, America, France and other countries number in the thousands.
And still Shemyakin remains a mystery. The mystical world of his artistic images, the ways of displaying the reality that seems interesting to him - all this has been generating controversy for almost half a century, and it seems that they will never subside.

Only one thing is absolutely clear: Mikhail Shemyakin is a major, bright personality both in art and in public life. And therefore, everything that concerns his work, his views on the world around him, his behavior and way of life is interesting.

We met last year in Moscow at the Spasskaya Tower military music festival and somehow, very naturally, almost immediately, we became friends. Although I did not hide from Mikhail that much in his paintings and sculptures was incomprehensible to me, and he made fun of my obvious artistic lack of education, which, of course, is the pure truth. During meetings, he invariably invited us to stay at his home in France. And then the other day I got such an opportunity.

The house in France turned out to be an ancient castle. Two hours by train south of Paris, a small cute town surrounded by fields and copses, another thirty kilometers by car, and here they are - the domain of the famous artist. The meter-thick walls are more than five centuries old. History has not preserved the name of the knight who was the first owner of the castle, but it is clear that now this estate will forever be associated with the name of the outstanding Russian artist.

In the outbuilding, Shemyakin keeps most of his priceless library; his workshops are also located there, as well as funds storing unique art archives. However, if we talk about working rooms, then they are in every room on the first floor of the castle - everywhere there are tables with laid out sketches, photographs, engravings, papers.

There are few people on earth who work like Shemyakin - eighteen hours a day, without days off, holidays and vacations.

Parisian collector Jean-Jacques Heron, who has known Mikhail for exactly forty years, assures that this couple - Shemyakin and his faithful companion Sarah de Kay - together carry out the work of a large diversified corporation.

But now is precisely the rare occasion when Mikhail, on the occasion of the arrival of guests, allowed himself to relax a little. We are having breakfast.

Late July morning. Warm rain is falling outside the window. Misha is dressed early in his usual attire: a semi-military-style cap, a black uniform, and high boots. The spirit of eternity emanates from the old walls, from the furniture from the 18th century, from the hanging paintings of great masters. We talk, jumping from one topic to another.

About the festival "Spasskaya Tower"
This year, Shemyakin is the official artist of this grandiose celebration of military bands. He is responsible for developing costumes, decorations, that is, the entire external design side of the festival.

When I met your generals three years ago, who came up with and are carrying out the Spasskaya Tower so brilliantly, I immediately wanted to become a participant in this project. Kremlin Commandant Sergei Khlebnikov is an amazing person, receptive to both music and painting, able to listen, and infinitely charming. The chief military conductor Valery Khalilov is fanatically devoted to his work, open, creative. It is a great honor for me to be in the company of such people.

You know that I myself come from a military family. Father was a famous cavalryman. Two wars - Civil and Patriotic. Six Orders of the Red Banner! I think no other colonel had such an iconostasis. He twice saved the future Marshal Zhukov, carried him out of the battlefield, and he subsequently did not remain in debt. My father had a tough temper, he could drink and tell any inconvenient truth to his face. Zhukov literally brought him out from under execution. At the same time, the father always stayed firmly in the saddle, and when he led his riders into the attack, no one could resist. Nobody!

I always remember this.

Last year, the image of my Nutcracker was used at the festival - this soldier opened the action on Red Square and was depicted on souvenirs. The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory produced plates and figurines depicting the Nutcracker. By the way, I gave one figurine to Mireille Mathieu. She, like me, is also completely fascinated by what happens outside the Kremlin walls in September, and every year she comes to the festival to perform. She says: “Even if you don’t invite me, I will still come and sing.”

This year the festival is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. Of course, it is necessary to show the glory of Russian weapons, and the banners under which the soldiers fought, and the uniforms that they wore. And at the same time, the whole action should be as delicate as possible, without hurting the pride of the French, because their musicians will also appear on Red Square. The war was terrible for both sides, bringing death and destruction. Therefore, in the finale, everyone will warm themselves around the symbolic bonfire - both Russians and French. And the chariot of peace will rush along the paving stones.

Although, wait, why would I reveal all the secrets to your readers? Let them come to Red Square in September - they won’t regret it.

Who will be the hero of souvenirs this time? Soldier again?

No, now a civilian. Remember "War and Peace". Everyone went to fight - both nobles and peasants. So now this will be a certain citizen, one might say, a prototype of Pierre Bezukhov.

About Vysotsky, Nekrasov and others
From somewhere in the bowels of the castle, a pack of small shaggy dogs spills into the dining room. The owner's face brightens. And Sarah begins to list:

Spaniel Juju, Boston terrier Bean, pug Marquis de Bouillon, Shar Pei Turka, and that little white one over there, he’s still a puppy, Plop.

There are two more dogs - Athos and Aramis, - adds Shemyakin. - But they are so huge that they cannot live at home. Then you will see for yourself. And six cats.

But Volodya Vysotsky did not like dogs. One day Marina calls Vladi: “Come urgently, I need to go to filming, and Volodya is very bad.” I arrive on the outskirts of Paris, where Marina had a house, and I see Volodya heavily drunk. I’m playing with their dog, he’s sitting on the sidelines, very angry because I don’t allow him to continue drinking. Then he says irritably: “Are you always hanging out with dogs? You have a lot of dogs at home, and here you are ready to kiss this four-legged animal.” I answer him: “You know, in my opinion, people without such domestic animals would become brutal.” And suddenly Vysotsky gets up from the corner where he was sitting, staggering, goes to the buffet, takes out a notebook and tries to write something down there. Then I didn’t attach much importance to it, but after his death, Marina gave me all his notebooks so that I could sort it out. And in one of them I see a note in crooked, drunken handwriting: “And without animals we would go wild.”

Volodya was a great workaholic. His notebooks were swelling with all sorts of notes that he thought might be useful. He caught words, expressions, collected all sorts of sharp thoughts. Work always came first for him. When he came to Paris, I prepared a lot of books on art for him ahead of time, and played CDs with rare recordings of great composers. “Mishka, educate me, for I am dark,” he wrote to me in one of his letters.

Now there are many people who call themselves friends of Vysotsky. Everyone writes memoirs and gives interviews. But remember: did Vladimir Semenovich himself single out someone from his circle? Was there someone truly close to him?

In front of me, he always spoke well of Vadim Tumanov. Sometimes with slight irony - about Sev Abdulov.

Have you talked to Viktor Nekrasov?

Yes, he was a nice man, although he was a strong hussar. Slava Rostropovich once invites us all to a party with a Parisian aristocrat. Local guests are all in tuxedos, ladies in evening dresses. Well, our guys appear - Nekrasov, Galich, Maksimov... They started serving snacks, you know, small sandwiches, canapés. I see our people are stuffing handfuls of them into their mouths. Then they began to distribute vodka - so Viktor and Maximov poured it from glasses into glasses and drank it in one gulp. Further more. An elderly aristocrat passes by our group - Nekrasov grabs her by the back seat. The poor French woman will not understand how to react to this, this was not accepted in high society. When they left, the husband of the mistress of the house, in order to show his respect to the guests, served the coat himself. Nekrasov hands him twenty francs. And you know, the Frenchman turned out to be so well-mannered - not a single muscle moved on his face. Like a real doorman, he hid the bill in his pocket: “Mercy, monsieur.”

About Russia
- The saddest thing for me in Russian life today is the lack of faith in something good and bright. Few people believe, people live as if by inertia. As if not on our own land. Previously, they lived under the communists, now they live under the oligarchs and lawbreakers from the security forces. Nothing has changed: just as the Russian people were powerless, they remain so. And why should he try to do something good?

I remember Solzhenitsyn said: if you, gentlemen of perestroika and gentlemen of the new democrats, deceive your people once again, such a generation will grow up that you will shudder. And such a generation is already growing - it does not know its roots, it is completely devoid of any idea of ​​​​any moral values. And those who have power and have money don’t care about their people - that’s what shakes me to the core.

Every day, like a spell, everyone utters words about the fight against corruption. But in fact, there is no trace of any struggle. One appearance. Take China - there is a real fight against this evil. Oligarchs, mayors, and members of the political bureau are imprisoned and even executed. It doesn't matter what position a person has. If you stole it, then you will be punished. Therefore, the Chinese have a completely different mood; unlike the Russians, they trust their authorities, they are building their China in an atmosphere of social optimism, which is completely absent in Russia.

And impunity not only breeds new thieves, it corrupts the entire society and deprives it of all prospects. I recently watched a program on TV, there was an interview with the former Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region, who stole billions and is hiding somewhere abroad with this money. He sighs: “Yes, it’s hard to live in a foreign land.” And the correspondent leaves this without comment. And no one seems to be catching the scammer. And why? Yes, because if you catch him and interrogate him, he will say such things, he will name such people - those who covered up his theft.

Or I remember another story, I saw it on television. It was about an enthusiast from the Moscow region who, using his own money, wanted to erect a monument on the site where heavy battles with the Nazis took place, where many of our soldiers were killed. The correspondent asks the local guys: “Could you do this? Under tanks with grenades? Stand to the death?” And these guys answer right into the camera, without blinking an eye: “Never.” - "Why"? - the correspondent is perplexed. "Yes, because they fought for their homeland. For their land. And why should we die? The land is not ours, it was bought up by rich people. Motherland? What is this? Friedman's banks? Deripaska's yachts?" I couldn't believe my ears.

About the woman you love
“Okay, drink tea,” Shemyakin reminds. - Eat cheese.

Thank you, don't worry. By the way, how do you eat? Well, in the morning - we see - scrambled eggs. What about during the day, in the evening?

During the day - nothing. In the evening, usually vegetable soup and salad. Sometimes, very rarely, meat. As you know, I stopped drinking alcohol a long time ago. And I stopped smoking seven years ago, although I used to smoke five packs a day.

So, how did you cope with such a shock? Was there any withdrawal? Has your character changed?

No, he hasn't changed at all. It just got even better,” Sarah explains quietly.

Sarah goes into the kitchen every now and then, bringing plates of scrambled eggs, pouring tea into large cups, slicing a baguette, and inviting guests to try jam from the apples that grow in their park.

Sarah de Kaye combines charm, kindness and consistent toughness in an amazing way. She is everything here - the farm manager, the cook, the secretary, and the assistant in creative affairs. She drives a car, does archiving, correspondence, plans meetings and is able to negotiate in four languages. Not without reason, suspecting that I have a penchant for pirate paparazzi habits, she categorically asks me to hide the camera in my bag.

Sarah, - I beg, - well, at least one shot in these wonderful interiors. Oh please...

No! - Her tone leaves no hope. - There are no exceptions for anyone. The castle is our private territory and any photography is prohibited here.

Okay, I give up with obvious disappointment, and Shemyakin, to sweeten the pill, puts jam on me.

By the way, Mikhail, tell me about Sarah. You, as I heard, have been fooling her for a long time...

No, not for long,” Sarah again speaks in her quiet voice, looking down. - Only nineteen years old.

But this is not a record,” Mikhail laughs. - Rodin, if my memory serves me correctly, lived with his beloved out of wedlock for about 60 years, and only on the eve of his death did they officially register their relationship.

Where did you find it?

It was Vysotsky who helped me.

Wait wait. After all, it seems that you met after his death...

Danish television made a film about Volodya,” explains Sarah. - And in 1983, the authors, already in America, turned to me, as a person who knows Russian, with a request to help contact Shemyakin in order to interview him about Vysotsky.

And your romance began right away?

Well, not right away. Although by that time I was already free, I had long lived separately from my wife and daughter. Sarah and I have been together for twenty-seven years.

This is a decent amount of experience.

Yes, to endure a person like me for so long... Sarochka has earned herself a place in heaven.

About miscellaneous
- Even now I can work continuously for two, or even three days. That is, no sleep at all. I could do it earlier and longer. I probably got this from my father. He could be in the saddle for weeks.

Do people from Russia often visit you?

Constantly. Firstly, my students, they come mainly from the regions. Then computer scientists help convert the library and collections into digital. Today we will see you off and immediately meet Andrei Bartenev - we must discuss a project with him.

Is life different in the States and in France?

Certainly. I lived overseas for almost thirty years. And he always worked under contracts with American gallery owners. Exhibited, made a name there. Everything is different here. Today, artistic life in France has been reduced to zero. I can't name a single artist.

How do you explain this?

Well, first of all, when the socialist Mitterrand came to power, twenty-four thousand intellectuals left France. All the Americans left. And France has always relied on foreigners. Picasso is Spanish. Van Gogh is Dutch. Chagall and Soutine are Russian Jews. And so on.

America is a dynamic country, people there are striving for something, there are incentives, but here there is stagnation. 40 billion dollars are spent there to support the arts, and this money is exclusively private, sponsorship. France has a different system, there is a Ministry of Culture and a state budget. There is no such thing in America.

And is this better?

This is better,” American Sarah enters our conversation.

But there is a very common point of view, according to which Americans for the most part are very uneducated and uncultured people. They don’t read books, they don’t go to the conservatory.

This is your self-comfort, says Sarah.

Do you know what a typical American university is like? - adds Shemyakin. - I'm not even talking about the quality of education. Each has its own museum with world masterpieces of painting, graphics, and sculpture. Many people run theaters. If you want to know America, go to any university and live there.

Do you often go to Paris?

No, not often. No time. If there was time, I would go to other places. To Germany, for example, my favorite.

Do you push yourself into such strict limits?

Myself. There are obligations and the need to work hard to survive. You won’t believe it, but it happens that Sarah and I sit in our coats in winter and our teeth chatter from the cold. There is no money to pay for fuel oil for heating.

Tell me, Misha, are there ghosts in your castle?

Certainly. What would an ancient castle be without this? We're used to it. We get along peacefully with them.

Dossier "RG"
MM. Shemyakin was born on May 4, 1943 in the family of a military man and an actress. His father came from the Circassian (Kabardian) family of the Kardanovs. He was orphaned early and received the surname Shemyakin from his stepfather.

From a young age, Mikhail was persecuted: he was expelled from art school, subjected to forced treatment in a psychiatric clinic, and exhibitions were banned. In 1971 he was expelled from the USSR. First he lived in Paris, then in the USA. In 2007 he returned to France again.

Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1993), Presidential Prize (1997). Author of monumental sculptural works (New York, Venice, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Samara). Author of the libretto and scenography for a number of theatrical productions. He created a series of television programs about art on the Culture channel.

Mikhail Shemyakin is a paradoxical, shocking, often unpredictable personality and at the same time incredibly talented. In the worldview and work of this artist and sculptor, sometimes diametrically opposed aesthetic and ethical ideas about life coexist. Artistic provocation peacefully coexists with common sense and pragmatism.

On May 4th is his anniversary - Mikhail Mikhailovich turns 70 years old. His fate is very interesting: starting from his origin and ending with the master’s work itself. The fact is that Mikhail Mikhailovich’s father was orphaned and adopted by an officer of the white movement, Shemyakin. After the death of his adoptive father during the Civil War, the boy became the son of a Red Army soldier and, at the age of thirteen, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Subsequently, when Mikhail Mikhailovich set out to find out his real origin, it turned out that he was from Kabardino-Balkaria. It is interesting that Mikhail Mikhailovich’s mother was an actress before the war; she acted in films and played in the theater. One day, the film crew was sent to one of the Kabardian villages, which was the birthplace of Mikhail Mikhailovich’s father.

The future sculptor spent his childhood in Germany, where his father served. One day, under the influence of the works of Washington Irving, Mikhail dreamed of a beautiful landscape, which he hastened to capture. When, in adulthood, Mikhail Mikhailovich acquired real estate in America, he recognized the landscape from his dream: it also turned out that Irving described exactly this place in his book!

In 1957, the Shemyakins returned to the USSR, and there Mikhail entered the Leningrad Secondary Art School at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repin, from where, some time later, the young man was expelled for “aesthetic corruption” of his classmates. Mikhail had to work: he did not shy away from hard work that was far from creativity.

The future sculptor's life was bumpy; for example, he ended up undergoing compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Then Mikhail Mikhailovich worked as a rigger at the State Hermitage, to whom he devoted five years of his life. In 1967, ten years after returning to Russia, he organized the St. Petersburg group and, together with the philosopher Vladimir Ivanov, created the theory of metaphysical synthetism while studying religious art. Later, the theory received approval in scientific and artistic circles, and Mikhail Mikhailovich was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco, Cedar Crest College in the USA, the European Academy of Arts in France, the Russian State University for the Humanities, and the University of Kabardino-Balkaria.

In 1971, Mikhail Shemyakin was expelled from the USSR, deprived of citizenship, he settled in Paris, where he continued to engage in creativity. In 1974, he exhibited the watercolor cycle “St. Petersburg Carnival” to the public, which instantly became a world event. At the same time, Mikhail Shemyakin met Vladimir Vysotsky and recorded his songs, which he re-releases to this day.

After ten years of Parisian life, Mikhail Mikhailovich left for the United States, where eight years later he received American citizenship and bought a house in Claverack near New York. His works conquer the world: Europe, Brazil, Japan, China. In the USA, Shemyakin was elected a full member of the New York Academy of Sciences and an academician of the arts of Europe.

In 1989, Mikhail Mikhailovich returned to his homeland again: his exhibitions were held here - in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the Northern capital, several monuments by Shemyakin have been erected: to Peter I on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress, to the Architects-Prime Builders of St. Petersburg in the cemetery of the Sampsonievsky Monastery, repressed during the years of Bolshevism - sphinxes on the Robespierre embankment.

Mikhail Mikhailovich's works have found a permanent home in the walls of Russian and foreign exhibition halls and museums: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and Tel Aviv, the New York Metropolitan. And even the sculpture of Giacomo Casanova in Venice fits wonderfully into the architecture of this city, without which the traditional Venetian carnival is not complete.

In 1993, Mikhail Mikhailovich was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, the following year he was awarded the French Order of the Knight of Arts and Letters, and in 1998 he received the Worthy Medal from the Russian Academy of Arts. Shemyakin was married twice. His first wife is Rebecca, with whom he has a daughter, Dorothea, an artist who today lives in Greece. The second wife is Sarah de Kay, an American.

In 1996, Mikhail Shemyakin, together with Vyacheslav Polunin and Terry Gilliam, created the play “Diablo / Devil” in the genre of “philosophical clown Hell”. Shemyakin always dreamed of creating costumes for the ballet "The Nutcracker", and in 2001 his dream came true: the premiere of this ballet took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, where Shemyakin acted not only as a costume designer, but also as the author of the scenery, and even the libretto is partly his creation .

In 2007, Shemyakin returned to France again, where he settled on an estate near the city of Chateauroux. Periodically works in St. Petersburg.

Recently, Mikhail Mikhailovich is increasingly being invited as a production designer for grand public holidays.

Shemyakin has lived in America for a quarter of a century and rarely visits his homeland. Therefore, taking advantage of his visit to St. Petersburg, “Superstars” decided to talk with the artist about everything at once - from the history of his family and acquaintance with Vysotsky to his attitude towards women and Russia.

“Nostalgia doesn’t hurt”

- Did your next work with the Mariinsky Theater bring you to St. Petersburg - the play “The Magic Nut” based on Hoffmann?

Yes, but not only. I also oversee several charity projects here. More precisely, a branch of my Institute of Philosophy and Psychology of Creativity is closely involved in them. And I direct this work, so to speak. I meet with officials, try to figure something out.

This room on Sadovaya, in which we are talking, was allocated to me several years ago by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for a workshop. But I realized that, due to the laws existing in this country, I cannot import books (it’s too expensive), I cannot import and export my own paintings - at the border they stop me and ask: “Is there paper for the export of your works?” Therefore, I decided that it would be much easier to continue working abroad as before. And here I organized the work of the fund to help those in need to the best of my ability. For example, we exhibit and sell works by disabled children, young patients at an oncology center, autistic children, as well as prisoners in a juvenile colony. Each of them has their own personal account, and this is how they learn that, it turns out, you can earn money yourself, and not steal other people’s bicycles.

I keep the situation in America under constant control. People often ask me, “Why are you doing this?” But there is an expression: “If not you, then who?” Of course, in essence, we are doing what the state should do. But when I see abandoned children, I can’t ignore it. Just as I couldn’t get around the betrayal of our guys in Afghanistan. At one time, everyone forgot about them and left them to rot in captivity. When this happened, I organized an international committee to save them in order to draw public attention to the fact that the Soviet government had once again committed treason against its compatriots.

“Before I left Russia, I was connected with the church” (the artist is on the left)

Now, for example, they tell me: “Find money in America for a monument to the soldiers who died in Afghanistan.” But why should Americans raise money for a monument to our soldiers? They answer me: “We don’t have money.” And this in the richest country in the world!

- You are a rare guest in Russia. Why?

I try to come here as little as possible to take care of my nerves. The atmosphere here is very difficult - there is no concept of conscience, shame.

Best of the day

- Are you really not tormented by nostalgia for the city of your youth?

Recently I stopped by Zagorodny, 64 - there we had two rooms in a communal apartment, with very difficult neighbors. There is no nostalgia for the Leningrad of my youth, because my youth was very alarming and dangerous. I left, or rather, I was expelled at the age of 27. It was difficult to live with the feeling that if not today you will be imprisoned tomorrow. Especially knowing that you haven't done anything criminal. I did not engage in any “dissidence”; I was simply registered as a dissident. And I was just painting pictures and trying to see the world with my own eyes. But this was already considered a crime. A dossier was collected on you, and people like you were supposed to be in a mental hospital or a camp. When the searches took place, and then I was put in a mental hospital, I took everything for granted.

- At one time you were sent to France. How did you end up in America?

I was offered French citizenship. But I refused because I don’t want to be a second-rate Frenchman. According to the laws of this country, if you were not born in France and want to start a business, you must have a partner - a natural Frenchman. And in America, which I chose for permanent residence, any visitor can become either the Minister of the Interior or a governor, like Schwarzenegger.

- So, despite the presidential gifts, you won’t return to Russia for good?

I just want to live and work in a normal environment. I feel pain and sympathy for Russia, but I am not going to move to this criminal power and start my life over. Here I am always afraid that I will be hit on the head from behind and robbed. Anikushin, a world-famous academician, was stripped of his only warm coat a couple of years ago in the winter, on the street in broad daylight, and the old man ran home in tears in only his jacket. And no police officers, of whom there are more in Moscow than elementary ballot boxes, helped.

-Are you generally a pessimist by nature?

If I were a pessimist, I would have been hanging in a loop long ago. From a young age I have been studying philosophy, I am a Christian and I believe that everything goes according to Scripture. When I lived as a novice in the Pskov-Pechora Monastery, there were reclusive hieromonks there. They went outside once a year - on Easter. I remember one old man, he was very complacent. A woman from one of the surrounding villages fell at his feet. Bursting with tears, she began to complain about her life and asked if he could help her with his prayers, otherwise she had no life, but hell on Earth: her husband drinks and beats her, her son is in prison for murder, and her daughter is a prostitute. This hieromonk affectionately stroked her head and said: “Rejoice, servant of God: God’s prophecy is coming true on your children.” He turned around and walked away. And this woman remained standing with her mouth open in amazement, not understanding anything.

What did that mean? That the second coming of the Messiah is just around the corner. I think that humanity is approaching a catastrophe - environmental or thermonuclear. I understand what ominous times we live in, but, probably, a higher mind has already foreseen everything.

“I can’t stand mannequin beauty”

- YOUR wife is American Sarah de Kay. How did you meet her?

About 20 years ago, she worked as a translator on a documentary about Vysotsky - it was filmed by Americans. She was told: “A friend of his lives in New York, contact him.” She took this wish literally and stayed with me (laughs).

- Was it love at first sight?

Maybe. We actually worked a lot together on this film. Sarah is a wonderful person and a great worker. I have always chosen women based on their endurance. And my first wife was like that, and my second friend, before Sarah. Real soldiers always walk next to me, because my life is difficult, the regime is inhuman. Sometimes Sarah and I don’t sleep for two days - she survives on coffee, I on tea.

Sarah knows Russian, French, English perfectly, speaks Italian quite well and takes on a lot, manages all my affairs. Agree, not every woman will go to Afghanistan with you and risk her life. But it was her stubbornness - she didn’t want to let me go alone. And there it was really scary when you know that you crossed the border illegally and are twice an enemy - firstly, as a citizen of America, which the Mujahideen declared to be a representative of the devil, and secondly, as a person who came to intercede for Russian soldiers who were shooting at Afghans .

- Your Sarah is a real Decembrist!

Yes, although she is French-American, her Protestant ancestors fled to America 300 years ago from persecution by the Catholic Church. In general, I treat women with great respect and reverence. Women in general are more able to love truly, rather than in words. They are often much more courageous than men.

But when choosing a life partner, a lot depends on you: it is important to understand that in front of you is a real woman, a woman friend. And many become limp at the sight of external data, which does not always correspond to what is inside. I treat women differently; I can’t stand mannequin beauty.

“I was only afraid of people”

- WHY were you sent to a madhouse at one time?

Officially it was called the Experimental Psychiatric Hospital named after Osipov. There, new drugs were tested on us, like guinea pigs. I was diagnosed with “sluggish schizophrenia” and sentenced to three years. I was lying in a riotous section where there were no forks or knives. It was very difficult to be among crazy people. The people there were very aggressive.

One, a former boatswain, began to talk about my past lives, became incensed, remembered that I had once been a Roman legionnaire and killed Christians, and after that he punched me in the jaw and broke it. I was rescued by my mother, who took me into custody. As a result, I stayed in the madhouse for only six months. If it weren’t for her, they would have turned me into a “vegetable.”

- Did you go to the monastery before or after the psychiatric hospital?

After. And before I left, I was connected with the church. I looked for salvation there.

- How did you end up in the West?

In 1971, I was arrested, and the state security general asked me to make a choice: a psychiatric hospital, places far from my beloved city, or I leave this country - silently and forever. And to this day I am grateful to this general. He turned out to be a collector of my works, and in parting he asked me to give him several of my engravings. And he told me the following: “My daughter and I are collecting your works. We are your fans and want you as an artist to survive and develop in the West. Try to behave evenly and calmly. Russia will change, and I believe that the day will come when you will return." And so it happened.

- What influenced you most in life: the church, the insane asylum or forced emigration?

This is not an easy question. Now, if a person was hit by a tram and his leg was cut off, there really is a direct impact. And on me... Everything had an impact. When I left the psychiatric hospital, two months later I felt so bad that I was ready, like Bulgakov’s Master, to return there and say: “Stab me again, just bring me out of the state of pointless fear.”

I couldn’t draw; sweat was pouring off me from unconscious horror. But, fortunately, I remembered stories about animals: if a dog in a village is bitten by a viper, it goes into the forest and either does not return, or returns skinny to the bone, but healthy. I borrowed money from my friend and went to the Caucasus, to the mountains. For a year he lived in the forest, in caves, like a wild man. I slept on the stone floor in only a cassock and did not notice the temperature, although in the mountains it is hot during the day and very cold at night.

“Wasn’t it scary to be alone among wild animals?”

No, I was not afraid of animals - only people. But the snakes were annoying - they liked to crawl on me at night to warm themselves. I drove them away with a stick, but still by morning the entire floor of the cave was covered in snakes, and very poisonous ones at that. But they didn't bite me. Scorpios were in the way. And everything was fine.

When I felt the chemicals leaving my body, I returned. But I still forced my mother and sister to spend the night in the workshop, because I needed the presence of people. I wrapped a towel around my forehead as the cold sweat caused by pointless fear flooded my face, and forced myself to draw, draw, draw!

The first time in emigration was also difficult. They gave me $50 with me and forbade me to take anything else, not even a small suitcase. No one should have known that I was leaving my homeland, because my father, despite the fact that he was in the reserve, remained a major figure in military circles. Having learned that I was being expelled, he could call one of the marshals and return the plane. I flew away in a soldier's sheepskin coat and boots. I had only a boxer dog with me - the only one I was allowed to take. Otherwise I wouldn’t have flown anywhere.

- And where did you go with 50 dollars in your pocket?

In Paris, I was met by one of the richest women in France, gallery owner Dina Verny - she was just having an exhibition of my works. Shortly before this, she helped my then wife Rebecca and her daughter Dora go to Paris, citing the fact that they were allegedly related.

- If you had not been forcibly deported, would you still have looked for ways to escape to the West?

Certainly!

-Have you ever been there before?

You forget what time we lived in! We were surrounded by the Iron Curtain. My friends, in order to find themselves in a free world, sailed for 9 days on a small boat across the Black Sea. And then they sat in a Turkish prison, because the Turks could not believe that they were able to cross to the other side in such a way.

But, even though we all dreamed of freedom, the Motherland is still the Motherland. I understood that I would never see Peter, my friends and, of course, my mother and father again. And so it happened: my father died in 1976, and I was not allowed to attend his funeral.

I remember how I sat and looked out the window of the plane at this dull land, the tractors frozen in the ice, and tears welled up. Because I will never see all this again. But I said to myself: “Fool, why are you crying? Now the plane will return, and you will know that you are not flying to any Paris, but you will go to places far not only from Paris, but also from your beloved St. Petersburg.” At that time, planes were easily returned. The KGB even warned me that until I landed on French soil, it was too early to rejoice.

Upon arrival, I still did not believe that this had happened. Immediately I was given a small castle. And on the third day, I was given a 10-year contract, according to which I agreed to do whatever Dina Verni wanted. “Forget metaphysics, my dear,” she told me. - This is not a product today. Will you make still lifes, they go very well in my gallery. I’ll show you the whole world, I’ll make you a career.” But I refused: “Madam, I didn’t escape from one cage to exchange it for a golden one. For me freedom is above all. I'm leaving".

Since she was selling my work, I asked permission to stay at the hotel for a few days. But on the second day an employee came and said: “Madame Verny has ordered you to be kicked out of the hotel because she refuses to pay for you.” That's how we ended up on the street. It was freezing. My seven-year-old daughter was sick and had a fever. We went outside holding a Siamese cat and a dog and not knowing what to do. Stalemate! But still, I didn’t even allow the thought of returning to this bandit.

And suddenly we heard a cry in broken Russian: “Misha, Riva, Dora!” It was by chance that Suzanne Masi, the wife of the famous writer Robert Masi, who wrote the book “Nicholas and Alexandra”, passed by, he was given a Pulitzer Prize for it, and a film was already made based on it. Suzanne and Robert stayed with us when they came to Leningrad. It turned out that they lived in Paris not far from the hotel from which we were kicked out.

Suzanne brought us to her place, but did not offer us to spend the night, although she had 3 apartments in Paris. She left her daughter, and took my wife and me to a sculptor’s garage, where there were dirty mattresses lying around: you could lie on one, and use the other to hide. This artist was engaged in chemical sculpture made of plastic, there were still cars there, so the stench was terrible. This is how we started our life in Paris.

Suzanne, as I remember now, brought us some torn towels and... a bouquet of flowers. I don’t know, maybe it was some kind of revenge for something, I still don’t understand. But she said: “What a wonderful start you are making, Robert and I did not have such a wonderful start to our lives in France when we were students.” True, then she finally begged for us an abandoned billiard club without a kitchen, electricity, gas, or hot water. We covered the broken windows with plywood. The French government rented it to us for a few pennies. The floors were rotten, you could see people walking downstairs on the first floor. There was an etching workshop there, and all the acid fumes rose to us.

I had to live there for several years in rather difficult conditions. And then other gallery owners noticed me, and in 1974 I already had my first exhibition - in addition to the one that Dina Verni had. And everything began to return to normal.

“My kindness bothers me”

- HOW is your daughter Dorothea doing? Are you expecting grandchildren?

The daughter lives with her mother in Greece. She is 41 years old, but has no grandchildren and, most likely, will not have any. Dora is an artist, very interesting, works in painting, graphics, sculpture and thinks little about marriage. As befits an artist, she is strange.

- So you are also strange?

Probably very strange for some. At one time it was for psychiatrists, for those around them. It was a different time - a car drove around, collected hairy people (that’s what they called those who wore long hair), and then they cut paths on their heads with a machine. And in winter, girls’ trousers were cut to the knee, because women were forbidden to wear trousers... I was different in many ways, mainly in my thinking.

- What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?

I'm too kind - it gets in the way. If I had been tougher, many things would have been different in my life. My weakness is that I start to feel sorry for someone. But you need to be more of a Nietzschean. I got into a lot of trouble because of my soft character. So for me this is a disadvantage.

And for a long time, my main weakness was my addiction to the “green serpent.” But one day I realized that I was causing too much trouble to the people I love, and I remembered my responsibility to art. And he quit - without the help of any chemicals. I haven’t drunk for 11 years now!

And before that, I was stitched up 9 times together with Vysotsky. It held... for a while.

-Have you tried hypnosis?

There is a very funny family story connected with hypnosis. My father was very scary in a state of intoxication - he was a man crippled by the war. He himself wanted to end it all and turned to the then famous Kremlin hypnotist. And so he went to him, it’s already evening, night, and he’s still not there. In the morning his mother went to pick him up. The maid opened the door and said that the doctor and the colonel had locked themselves in the office since the evening and had not yet come out. Mom started knocking on the door. Silence. Then she entered the office and saw: the doctor was lying on the floor, there were a lot of empty vodka bottles around, and the father was sitting in a chair - and both were snoring sweetly. This is how they hypnotized my father!

There are people who cannot be hypnotized. Apparently I am one of them. When I was in a sour state, I was sometimes advised to see a psychologist. But I answered: if I tell him about my life, at least in the last six months, and explain why I drink, the psychologist will feel bad, and he will say: if I were you, I would drink even more. So I realized I had to fight it myself.

- Let's talk about your strengths.

My virtues... If a person begins to praise himself, this already indicates that he has a big drawback! Speaking seriously, one of the virtues passed down to me from my father is a penchant for analysis. Dad was a tactics teacher at the Academy. Frunze. From my ancestors - Kabardians - I received respect for my elders. In Russia, since 1917, people like to renounce teachers and loved ones. For too long, treachery has been encouraged. I remember we had a banquet in Italy to celebrate the release of my two-volume book. And my publisher, who has worked with artists for more than 40 years and published the “Great Masters of the World” series, said: “This is the first time I have encountered such a phenomenon when an artist gives 150 color pages to talk about his teachers and friends.” This, he says, is very unfashionable: everyone believes that they owe everything to their extraordinary talent. And I just show in my books who I am moving from.

I belong to Kabarda, where the concept of honor is above all, and everything was built on this. My father, a purebred Kabardian, a highlander, lost his loved ones early and was adopted by the White Guard officer Shemyakin. The adoptive father soon died during the Civil War. And his father became the son of the Red Army regiment, at the age of 13 he received one of the first Orders of the Red Banner of Battle. But all his life he was called Shemyakin - and was always proud that he belonged to the Kardanov family.

Today, my relatives include a significant part of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria and a huge number of Kabardians scattered around the world. The Kardanov clan numbers about 65,000 people, including the famous conductor Yuri Temirkanov. And the first traces of the Kardanovs in Russia were discovered back in the 16th century, when their ambassadors came to Ivan the Terrible and remained to serve. Even earlier, immigrants from the Caucasus, Cardans, appeared in Italy. Gerolamo Cardano invented the cardan shaft. Perhaps Pierre Cardin is my distant relative.

My mother, actress Yulia Predtechenskaya, was also proud of the antiquity of her noble family (although in her youth this, to put it mildly, was not welcomed). One day she got the role of a young Kabardian woman. The filming took place in the very village of Kyzburun, where my father was from, although they met much later.

There have been many such mystical coincidences in my life. For example, our meeting with Vysotsky. Before that, we didn’t even know each other, but on the very first evening our souls seemed to recognize each other, we both felt as if we had known each other for many years. When they ask me why Vysotsky dedicated more songs to me than to his other friends and Marina Vladi, I answer that it happened that way. I don’t illustrate everyone either!

- How did you meet?

We didn’t know each other in Russia because, firstly, we lived in different cities. I had a very limited circle of friends - I worked as a simple laborer in the Hermitage. When I was kicked out of the art institute, I resorted to such a trick in order to be able to study the works of old masters. And every day I waved a shovel in front of the Hermitage for 8 hours, and then, tired as a dog, I went to copy. And then, even more tired, he returned home.

Once in Paris, my friend Misha Baryshnikov came to see me and said that he wanted to introduce me to a wonderful singer. We met at Marina Vladi's sister, actress Odile Versoix (her real name is Tatyana Polyakova). She was married to an Italian count and therefore lived in a luxurious mansion. And Baryshnikov always stayed with her, because she was a big fan of ballet. Then I saw Volodya and Marina for the first time. Until 4 am he sang his new songs. I, of course, was captivated by his talent and charm.

I can tell you another mystical story. As a child, I read Washington Irving. Once I had a dream: an unusual landscape, the silhouette of some mountains. I sketched this dream. And as an adult, buying land in America, I discovered that it was located in a place that coincided with my old drawing.

- How long have you been living in America?

Soon to be 25. I lived in New York, in SoHo, for almost ten years, and then I couldn’t afford it. At first I rented my workshop for $320, and when I left, it already cost four thousand. And I moved north to Canada. Five hours by car from the border, two from New York. We live very close to the forest - deer come to us to drink, and a few years ago a bear wandered in. Now the surroundings of my house have been turned into a beautiful sculpture park, for which I even received gratitude from the mayor of the city.

Times don't choose

Mikhail SHEMYAKIN: “When Limonov kissed me in the toilet, I asked: “Lemon, what’s wrong with you?”

Part III

(Continued. Starts at No. 50, No. 51)

“CASANOVA WAS ONE OF THE FIRST IMPOTENTS”

You have an amazing clothing style: you always wear boots, riding breeches and a cap. You even appear in the Kremlin wearing them, and in high offices you don’t take off your cap...

People often ask me: “Why?”, and I answer: “If you love art and are interested in painting, go to the library and look through albums with self-portraits of artists - there are a lot of them being published now.” They show that, starting from the 16th century, artists built visors for themselves - in this way they tried to protect their eyes, which are subjected to incredible stress, therefore, even when meeting with Putin or with other presidents and prime ministers, I only lift my headdress: “ I greet you, but forgive me, I always wear this cap because my eyes are weak.”

When they ask me: “Why boots?”, I explain again. I’ve been living in a village for about 25 years, we have a 26-hectare park where snakes live, and I need to constantly walk my dogs - I have six dogs that need to be walked, so I can’t just walk around in trousers.

When journalists come to me, they are surprised: “Why, you look like this at home?” - “Did you think that I was creating some kind of image specifically for Russia? - I answer. - No...

“...there are so many snakes here”...

Yes, and there are even crocodiles.

Plus, you worked as a loader for five years - not to mention the fact that all artists have problems with their legs. They stand all day long, and this provokes varicose veins...

Between us, due to dilated veins, I am generally forbidden to be without boots, because it is protection. God forbid, an accident happens somewhere and a vein spreads - we, people with occupational diseases, can quickly lose a lot of blood.

- Meanwhile, Limonov wrote that you wear boots because you have crooked legs...

Yes, very logical (laughs)- it’s as if a woman suddenly put on a miniskirt to hide the curvature of her legs. If I had crooked legs, I would probably wear wide trousers, but Limonov’s Shemyakin is a big quirk.

- How many pairs of boots do you have?

Quite a lot, but I treat them with care. They are very soft, they are made to order for me in the Mariinsky Theater workshops. There are also patches, because I repair shoes: thank God, people still realized that sometimes this is necessary, and in St. Petersburg I am always amazed by the signs: “Mending and repair of luxury shoes.”

- I look at your scar... If you believe the same Limonov, you cut yourself with a razor...

Of course, he is a very knowledgeable person - just like in the story with crooked legs, but people who know what a knife or razor scar is understand perfectly well how one differs from the other. No, I have a burn, and there are similar ones on my hands - they were the result of an unpleasant incident at a foundry, when a grate that was not completely cool fell on me.

- You didn’t want to remove this scar?

I wanted to, and I removed some - I had more of them.

- In Venice, you erected a monument to Giacomo Casanova, and what about Casanova yourself?

You see, he was one of the first to be impotent...

Yes? Then this is not about you!

Casanova wrote a lot about his love, but after studying these notes, sexologists and psychologists came to the conclusion that he could not have anything with a woman more than once. It has long been noticed: people who talk a lot are usually capable of little... In Russia there is this Nikas Safronov who calls himself Casanova, lists an incredible number of mistresses and paints terrible pictures. Leaving the USSR, I thought that nothing could be created more vulgar than Ilya Glazunov, but it turns out that vulgarity, like human stupidity, is limitless, and when I arrived and saw some posters of this terrible mongrel (it’s hard to call him an artist), I realized that Ilya was just Titian compared to him.

“MAYBE NOW THAT LUZHKOV HAS BEEN REMOVED, GAYS WILL GO AROUND MOSCOW AND LIMONOV WILL CHANGE HIS STATEMENTS”

- Your wife Sarah de Kay is French, but speaks excellent Russian, but how did you meet?

In fact, she is an American - 300 years ago her ancestors fled from France, because they were Huguenots, Protestants, overseas, so Sarah recently returned to her historical homeland, and, oddly enough, Vysotsky introduced us.

- Amazing!

When, after his death, the Americans made a film about him, Sarah, who worked as a translator on the film crew, was told: “You definitely need to contact the Russian artist, who was Vysotsky’s closest friend.” She took this literally: she came and contacted me. We have been connected for 25 years now - we already had a silver wedding.

- Your daughter from your first marriage, Dorothea, is also an artist: where does she live now?

She is an artist, a sculptor, and a jeweler, and she lives an hour’s drive from me (and in a very interesting place - on the territory of the museum’s royal castle in the city of Loches) with her mother. They often come to us, we are on excellent terms.

-Are you friends with your ex-wife?

Rebecca Borisovna is also an artist, sculptor...

- A simple Russian woman...

You are right: a simple Russian woman, but dad is a lawyer (laughs).

I return again to Limonov: he called all over the world that at one time he was in love with you and even kissed you in the toilet - what kind of toilet passions are these?

Well, now this man likes to say the opposite: “You know, Dostoevsky is not Raskolnikov, he didn’t kill anyone with an ax.” There is no need, they say, to confuse the writer and his character...

Yes, he told me that the sexual intercourse of Eddie Limonov with a black man on the beach is the love tossing of the hero, but not the author...

I understand why he says so today, although, in principle, a little more and, as they say... There was a parade of sexual minorities here recently and, maybe, now that Luzhkov has been removed, gays will march around Moscow, but Limonov will still will change his statements. Of course, it is a great tragedy that it has been exhausted... Limonov, in my opinion, is a man of one grandiose book, which was a cry from the soul and was literally written in blood: everything else is repetition. Yes, he is curious and talented, but this is not the literature we expected from him.

- Did you nevertheless feel that he was in love with you?

Anyway, when he kissed me in the toilet...

- Wow! How it was? Did he come into your booth or...?

No, no, we were just sitting in the restaurant and went down, as it happens, to the latrine together, chatting about something... Suddenly he came up and kissed me.

- On the lips?

No, on the cheek. I asked: “Lemon, what’s wrong with you?”, and he said: “In my new novel I will write that the first time I kissed him was in the toilet.” I shrugged: “The first, but also the last.” (laughs).

“I HAD A GREAT SUSPICTION THAT BUSH WAS GOING TO THE BALLET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE”

- Is it true that when Limonov was in prison, you personally advocated for him with Putin?

Yes, absolutely right, and he left prison early only thanks to the intervention of Putin, with whom we spoke about him. Once I participated in a program, I think, by Alexander Gordon called “Gloomy Morning”. I come out after the interview, and they say to me: “Someone is waiting for you.” A young guy jumps up (he introduced himself, but I forgot his name) and says: “I was just in prison with Eduard Limonov, and he, knowing that you knew Putin, really asked for help in his release.”

Well, literally a few days later an opportunity presented itself. In a conversation with Putin, I said that it is a shame for Russia when a writer who has already been included in all literary reference books and Gallimards is sitting in dungeons - something urgently needs to be done to get him out. As I remember now, Putin thought for a moment, and then asked: “Listen, is his head okay, does he have any cockroaches?”

- Is Putin on friendly terms with you?

Yes, of course. Me: “Like every intelligent person, he has cockroaches, but he is very smart, normal, and if you talk to him, he can be completely sane.” He was supposed to be released on September 11, when terrorists rammed the Twin Towers in New York, and Limonov’s enemies, of course, took advantage of this, but the fact that he was being released had already been announced on the radio, albeit with a serious delay , but Limonov was released. I repeat: Putin is a man who always keeps his word, otherwise Edik would have served his 14 years (if he had survived behind bars).

Now Limonov bays: “I didn’t ask Shemyakin...”, and when they ask me what I think about Limonov himself, about some of his nasty actions or incorrect (that’s putting it mildly) statements, I always answer with one phrase: “Lemon there is Lemon - he was born this way, he will die this way, so let’s accept him as he is.”

I have heard that, after watching the performance “The Nutcracker” with your scenery at the Mariinsky Theater, US President George W. Bush patted you on the shoulders for a long time and called you a great artist and person...

In Russian it sounds beautiful - simply, introducing me to Bush, Putin said: “He is both ours and yours,” and he, having learned that I was an American subject, patted me on the shoulder like a real cowboy and repeated: “Great man , great man! Great show." To be honest, I had a great suspicion that it was the first time in his life that he had gone to ballet.

In conclusion, I really want to wish you inspiration, although this probably makes no sense - it never leaves you. I hope you will continue to amaze us with your brilliant... I was going to say - brilliant works, but decided to show restraint - only history will put everyone in their place...

I have enough inspiration: wish me better health (it is necessary for creativity) - and, as the Poles say, a little Penenza, so that the state will finally understand who Shemyakin is and support me and my workshop.

Kyiv - Vilnius - Kyiv

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Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin. Born on May 4, 1943 in Moscow. Russian and American artist, sculptor. Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

Father - Mikhail Petrovich Shemyakin - was born in 1908 in Vladikavkaz. His father died early and his stepfather's last name is Shemyakin, who was an officer in the White Guard. His adoptive father disappeared on the fields of the Civil War, and young Mikhail Shemyakin (senior) became the son of the Red Army regiment, at the age of 13 he received one of the first Orders of the Red Banner, and throughout his life he claimed that he belonged to the Kabardian family of the Kardanovs. Colonel Shemyakin ended the Great Patriotic War as the commander of the 8th motorized rifle Bobruisk Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov brigade and a holder of 6 orders.

Mother - Yulia Nikolaevna Predtechenskaya, actress.

Most of Mikhail Mikhailovich's childhood was spent in the GDR.

In 1957, 14-year-old Mikhail returned to the USSR, to Leningrad.

“My grandfathers were shot, in uniform and buried. And I lived in a communal apartment on Zagorodny Prospekt. In one room were my mother and sister, in the other was me. 38 people in the apartment!” he recalled.

He was admitted to the secondary art school at the I. E. Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied from 1957 to 1961. Then he was expelled for “aesthetic corruption” of fellow students and non-compliance with the norms of socialist realism.

From 1959 to 1971 he worked as a postman, a watchman, and for five years he worked as a rigger in the Hermitage.

In 1962, the first exhibition of Shemyakin opened at the Zvezda magazine club.

In 1967 he founded the group of artists “Petersburg”. Together with the philosopher Vladimir Ivanov, he created the theory of metaphysical synthetism, dedicated to the search for new forms of icon painting based on the study of religious art of different eras and peoples. For two years he was a novice in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, during the period when the monastery was governed by the governor, Archimandrite Alypiy (Voronov).

In 1967, Shemyakin staged D. Shostakovich’s opera “The Nose” in the studio of the Leningrad Conservatory.

After numerous arrests of exhibitions, confiscation of works and forced treatment in psychiatric hospitals, the authorities expelled Shemyakin from the USSR in 1971. “When I was expelled from the country, the KGB set a condition: I did not have the right to inform even my parents about my departure. There was no “dump” and there could not have been. I was expelled silently - within three days. I was forbidden to even take a small suitcase with me. At the beginning of my life in the West, the government gave me 50 dollars,” said the artist.

According to Mikhail Shemyakin, the initiator of the persecution was often not law enforcement agencies, but the Union of Artists of the USSR.

Was friends with. They met in Paris thanks to dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and remained friends forever. Vysotsky dedicated his songs to Shemyakin, who, in turn, drew illustrations for the works of Vladimir Semenovich, and after his death created a monument to the poet, installed in Samara.

Although many people tried to record songs performed by Vysotsky, none of Vladimir Vysotsky’s professional recordings can compete with Shemyakin’s collection in volume, purity of sound, and exceptional selection of songs. These recordings are unique in that Vysotsky sang not for the record, but for a close friend, whose opinion he valued so much. The recordings were made in Paris in 1975-1980 in the studio of Mikhail Shemyakin. Vysotsky was accompanied on the second guitar by Konstantin Kazansky. The recordings were published only in 1987, after processing in New York by Mikhail Liberman. The series includes 7 records. In memory of the work of V. Vysotsky, Mikhail Shemyakin created a series of lithographs dedicated to the songs and poems of Vladimir Semyonovich. The lithographs were printed only in 1991, and were published as a complete edition in 2010.

He lived in Paris and in 1981 moved to New York. In Paris he organized exhibitions and published works of his colleagues - Russian artists and nonconformist writers. In October 1990 he signed the “Roman Appeal”.

“I have only had one passport for a long time - an American one, since I was deprived of Soviet citizenship. Before that I had a Nansen passport - a temporary document for stateless persons... A person without a homeland - I endured this terrible humiliation for many years. I did not want to receive a French passport, to be a "second-class" Frenchman. And only when I moved to America did I get a passport there," he said.

Begun in the 1960s, his research into the art of all times has grown into a collection of millions of images, organized into technical, historical and philosophical categories, for which the artist was awarded five honorary doctorates. This collection served as the basis for the creation of the Institute of Philosophy and Psychology of Creativity (France).

In the period from 1981-1982 in New York several joint exhibitions with the Kyiv artist Alexander Kostetsky.

In the 1990s and to this day, together with the clown V. Polunin, he organizes processions and shows in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Venice.

In 2000, he founded the Imaginary Museum in Hudson, New York, which exhibits research-related exhibitions. In 2002-2003, he created 21 episodes of the cycle “The Imaginary Museum of Mikhail Shemyakin” for the Russian channel “Culture”.

In 2001, at the Mariinsky Theater, Shemyakin staged his version of P. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” with choreography by Kirill Simonov.

In 2001, a monument created by Mikhail was opened in London, dedicated to the tercentenary of Peter the Great’s visit to London, and in Moscow, the sculptural composition “Children - Victims of the Vices of Adults” was unveiled.

In 2003, a monument to Anatoly Sobchak was opened in St. Petersburg and the composition “The Tsar’s Walk” in the Konstantinovsky Palace.

Three of his monuments were erected in St. Petersburg: to Peter the Great, to the victims of political repression and to the pioneer architects of St. Petersburg. A version of the monument to Peter the Great was erected in Normandy.

In 2005, he staged a ballet based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s fairy tale “The Magic Nut” - with his own libretto and design, with original music by Sergei Slonimsky and choreography by Donvena Pandurski.

In 2006, the Mariinsky Theater staged three one-act ballets designed by Shemyakin and choreographed by Donvena Pandurski.

In 2007, Shemyakin returned to France, where he settled near the city of Chateauroux.

Since 2009, he has been organizing exhibitions based on his research materials at the Mikhail Shemyakin Foundation in St. Petersburg.

In 2010, he created a new version of L. Delibes’ ballet “Coppelia” for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater with choreographer Kirill Simonov.

In 2013, he released the first catalogs of research results.

The range in which Mikhail Shemyakin works is very wide: from drawing to monumental sculpture, theater and cinema. The themes of his work are also varied: from theatrical grotesque to metaphysical images.

Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of Kabardino-Balkaria, People's Artist of Adygea, honorary doctor of a number of higher educational institutions.

He is indifferent to politics, he says, and tries to avoid it.

Friendly with Eduard Limonov. “I helped him get out of prison. One day his representative came to me and asked on behalf of Limonov that I put in a word for him before Putin. And when meeting with the president, I raised this issue and said that it’s not good for Russia, it’s a shame when a writer sitting," he said.

Mikhail Shemyakin in the program "Alone with Everyone"

Personal life of Mikhail Shemyakin:

Was married twice.

First wife - Rebekah Borisovna Modlina(September 6, 1934 - 2014), sculptor, artist. In 1958 she graduated from art school in Leningrad. In the 1950s she was the wife of the artist Richard Vasmi, and in 1960-1962. - was married to the artist Alexander Arefiev.

“When we met, she was decorating shop windows, abandoning sculpture. In 1964, our daughter Dorothea was born. We lived in a communal apartment. To go abroad, we needed a divorce. We filed for divorce in 1970. Dina Verni helped my wife and daughter go to France ", a famous gallery owner, one of the rich women, and once a girl from Odessa. She owned all of Maillol. In her youth, she was his model, and after his death she got all his property, including houses," Shemyakin said.

In the summer of 1971, Rebekah Borisovna emigrated to France with her daughter Dorothea and lived in Paris. In 1983 she moved to Greece. In the last years of her life she returned to France again, lived in the city of Loches.

Doroteya Mikhailovna Shemyakina - artist, painter, book graphic artist. Since 1986 he has lived in Athens.

Second wife - Sarah de Kay, American.

The artist said: “Vysotsky brought us together with Sarah. There is a lot of mystical stuff in my life... Volodya had already died at that time. The Americans decided to make a film about him. They were looking for people who knew Vysotsky. They found out that I live in New York and asked Sarah contact me, do an interview. She was a famous translator, translated interviews for a film... So we became friends. Sarah helped me learn English, volunteered as a model - I drew her a lot. Then she went with me to Italy, helped me make my two-volume".

Mikhail Shemyakin, Sarah de Kay and daughter Dorothea (center)

His home in France is a beautiful old castle in a village near Paris. The artist himself said about it: “The castle is beautiful. But it’s nothing special. The original building of the late 16th century, completed in the 19th century. There was a school there for 44 years, then it was put up for auction, and we purchased this property. We are rebuilding all the time ". Four floors. Nearby, in the "Hermitage" (as the French call the building of the former stable), there is a scientific library, a research laboratory, and a graphic workshop where I work."

Scars of Mikhail Shemyakin- industrial: “As for scars... some of them are purely industrial injuries. If they know what a knife scar is, they will notice that some of mine are burns. I have a lot of scars, but, fortunately, I don’t walk ", like Mr. Brener naked on the street. There are scars earned in skirmishes - both Parisian and American, but mainly production ones. For example, during melting, a still hot part fell off from a sculpture, moreover, not mine, and fell right on my face."

Monumental works by Mikhail Shemyakin:

“Cybele”, bronze - until October 2006 was located on Prince Street in SoHo, New York, USA;
Monument to Peter I in the Peter and Paul Fortress - St. Petersburg, 1991;
Memorial “To the Victims of Political Repression” (Metaphysical Sphinxes) - St. Petersburg, April 28, 1995;
Monument to the “Prime Architects of St. Petersburg” - St. Petersburg, 1995;
Headstone at the grave of film actor Savely Kramarov - San Francisco, 1997;
Monument to the 200th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Casanova - erected in front of the Doge's Palace in Venice (Italy), 1998;
Monument to Professor Harold Uecker "Dialogue of Plato with Socrates" - Hofstra University, Hampstead, PC. New York, 1999;
A tombstone was erected for Mikhail Manevich - St. Petersburg, 1999;
Monument to Peter the Great - Dettford, London, 2001;
“Children are victims of adult vices” - Moscow, 2001;
Monument “Tsar’s Walk” in the park of the Konstantinovsky Palace - Strelnya, 2003;
Tombstone of the first mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak - St. Petersburg, 2003;
Monument to Vladimir Vysotsky in Samara - January 25, 2008;
Monument to victims of terror - Vladikavkaz, 2010.

Performances by Mikhail Shemyakin:

Staged the opera “The Nose” - Leningrad Conservatory Theater, 1967;
In 1996, Mikhail Shemyakin, together with Vyacheslav Polunin and Terry Gilliam, created the play “Diablo / Devil” in the genre of “philosophical clown Hell”;
Created the design of the stage in St. Mark's Square during the Venice Carnival. As part of the festival, he organizes, together with Vyacheslav Polunin and Anton Adasinsky, the “Memento mori” happening using his sculptures, 1998;
Organizes the procession of masks “Carnival of St. Petersburg in Venice” with the participation of Anvar Libabov and Onofrio Colucci, 1998;
Ballet “The Nutcracker”, staged by the Mariinsky Theater, 2001, in which Mikhail Shemyakin became the author of sketches: costumes, masks, scenery, and also worked on the libretto;
Premiere of the one-act ballet “Princess Pirlipat, or Punished Nobility”, libretto by M. Shemyakin based on the story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, music by S. Slonimsky, choreography by K. Simonov, production and design by M. Shemyakin. Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 2003;
Premieres of three one-act ballets: “Metaphysics” (S. Prokofiev), “The Meek” (S. Rachmaninov), “The Rite of Spring” (I. Stravinsky). Sets and costumes by Mikhail Shemyakin, choreography by Donvena Pandurski. State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria; Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 2005;
Organized the “Embassy of Peter the Great” on St. Mark's Square as part of the Venice Carnival program together with Anton Adasinsky, Vyacheslav Polunin, Alexander Mirochnik and the staff of the Mariinsky Theater, February 2007;
Organized the performance “The Embassy of Peter the Great” in the St. Petersburg Manege, together with Anvar Libabov, Alexander Mirochnik and the staff of the Mariinsky Theater, 2008.