One of the remarkable representatives of the Silver Age was a multifaceted and very original person (he was called the most eccentric Russian of the beginning of the 20th century) - Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932). He fit in very organically with that wonderful period of Russian literature, to which the words of the poetess A. Akhmatova so fit: “And the silver month has brightened over the silver age ...”, although M. Voloshin himself did not belong to any of the areas that dominated Russian then art.
Talented person is talented in everything
In May 1877 in Kiev, a son was born in the family of a college adviser (rank VI, corresponding to army colonel) A.M. Kiriyenko-Voloshin and E.O. Glaser. Immediately after the birth of the child, the mother, who absorbed the free morals of that time, abandoned her husband, who died three years later, and never again remembered him. She raised Little Max herself in accordance with her extravagant disposition. And, probably, she was right if the encyclopedist Maximilian Voloshin, a skilled and talented translator, a wonderful, peculiar poet and an amazing artist, appeared in Russia as a result of her upbringing. He was also an interesting literary critic. And, in confirmation of everything said, it was as if nature itself had created a profile of a bearded man on Karadag, to which Maximilian Voloshin became incredibly similar over time.
Unusual fate
And his fate was fortunate. This cheerful person, a stupid hoaxer, in principle, lived to the end of his days, as and where he wanted, wrote that he wanted, however, was not published. And later, only for the storage of his poems, people could disappear without a trace. The Bolsheviks did not even take away his estate, which consisted of two 2-story mansions and a spacious outbuilding. And in Koktebel, right up to the death of this “shaggy Zeus,” hundreds of friends and friends of his friends drove in during the summer. The Voloshin estate was something like a free sanatorium, a home of creativity for poets, writers and artists.
Tipping year
Maximilian Voloshin studied at the gymnasiums of Theodosia and two at Moscow, at Moscow University (at the legal department), and he studied science everywhere. And then, years later, he said that ten years spent in educational institutions did not enrich him with a single thought, and that these years were thrown away. However, he attended lectures of interest to him at the Sorbonne and was trained in the workshops of artists in Paris.
In 1900, which M. Voloshin considers the year of its formation, he was expelled from Moscow to Central Asia for participating in student unrest. It is here that he decides to devote himself to art and literature, for which, in his opinion, he needed to "go to the West."
From undergraduates to encyclopedists
Maximilian Voloshin, whose biography until 1912 will be closely connected with Paris, traveled all over Europe and traveled to Egypt. Over the years, the unlearned student turned into a scholar - he wandered around the cities, spending a lot of time in libraries, absorbing, like a sponge, the culture of ancient and medieval civilizations. He was actively engaged in translations, revealing to the French Russian poets, and to his compatriots - French. His critical articles were intensively published in popular Russian publications, and by the time he returned to Koktebel he already had a literary name.
Talented hoaxer
But in 1913, this absolutely free man, whose views were always different from those of others (and his mother’s motto was the motto: grow by anyone, just not like the others) did two things, the result of which was a boycott announced to him. The first story was a talented hoax with the poetess Elizabeth Dmitrieva. They published a series of poems under the pseudonym Cherubin de Gabriak. Poems were wildly popular. But the exposure was difficult, as a result, defending the honor of a woman, M. Voloshin fought in a duel with N. Gumilyov. Maximilian Alexandrovich was count A. Tolstoy as a second.
Contrary to public opinion
The second story quarreled Voloshin with many literary friends. In February, he gave a lecture at the Polytechnic Museum, in which he dared to express his opinion, which was different from everyone, regarding the reason for the maniac’s attack on Ivan Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible kills his son.” In 1914, the book of his essays “Faces of Creativity” was published, which became very popular. And in 1910 the first collection of his poems was published, before that neither M. Gorky nor V. Ivanov had published his poetry.
Land in Crimea
Some researchers believe that in our days neither the scale of the person, nor the creative heritage of the artist, poet and literary critic named Voloshin Maximilian is completely appreciated. Koktebel is inextricably linked with his name. The idea to live there belonged to his mother. Back in 1893 (Max was then 16 years old), she was one of the first to buy a piece of land by the sea, believing that only the air, nature and centuries-old history of Crimea, in which so many different cultures left their mark, suits her priceless Maximilian, in which mixed so many different bloods.
Legendary house
Since returning from abroad, the poet and artist have been living on his estate almost all the time, which is gradually becoming a kind of center of cultural thought in Russia. Although, according to rumors, they were not only thinking here. In the most difficult years of the Civil War, the house of Maximilian Voloshin was a haven for all his friends, regardless of their “color” - he saved the reds from the whites, and the whites from the reds. He did not go into exile, although his friend A.K. Tolstoy in 1918 (who returned to Soviet Russia in 1923) begged him to flee abroad. Voloshin did not abandon his homeland.
Cimmeria Singer
While in Koktebel, M. Voloshin painted a lot - according to contemporaries, two watercolors a day. Many of his works are accompanied by beautiful verses. He was in love with his Cimmeria (among the ancient Greeks - “Northern Countries”), wrote about it and painted it. Maximilian Voloshin painted his paintings in cycles. Some of them took part in exhibitions of artists of the World of Art. But for a long time they were not familiar to a wide audience, although now beautiful collections, accompanied by poems, can be found in the wide access. Many works of the master are stored in the museum named after him and in Feodosia, in the museum of Aivazovsky.
Guardian of heritage
The Maximilian Voloshin Museum in his house in Koktebel opened in 1984. He owes his existence to the widow of Maximilian Alexandrovich M.S. Voloshina (nee Zabolotskaya), who until 1976 not only lived in the former estate, but carefully preserved and collected everything that was connected with her beloved husband. She knew that someday the inhabitants of Russia will appreciate the heritage of the great artist and poet.
The museum hosts the annual International Maximilian Voloshin Prize for the best poetry book, the days of its delivery are called Voloshinsky September. The poet and artist are buried nearby - on Mount Kuchuk-Yanyshar. Under one stove, his wife is lying next to him.