"I paint a revolution!" at the State Historical Museum (19.04 -19.06), Moscow schoolchildren - witnesses of the events of 1917 in Moscow - talk about the enthusiasm with which they met the February Revolution, the food crisis and the bloody October coup. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the exhibition curator, senior researcher at the State Historical Museum, Yevgeny Lukyanov, explains how schoolchildren's view of events changed during 1917 and draws a parallel with today's Russia.
Evgeny Lukyanov: In the title "I'm painting a revolution!" used a quote from a children's essay in 1917. Our drawings were made by children - eyewitnesses of the revolutionary events in Moscow from February 1917 to the beginning of 1918. The collection is quite extensive - it contains more than 600 drawings. They came to us from the famous scientist and teacher Vasily Voronov almost a hundred years ago. The collection includes drawings by Moscow students of the Lomonosov gymnasium and the Alexandrov real school. All drawings of boys from 8 to 15 years old. This is a real historical source, very valuable because it is direct.
The exhibition will feature numerous quotes from children's writings. Voronov taught drawing and calligraphy, so he collected not only drawings, but also texts. Unfortunately, we do not have the original texts, but Voronov wrote several extensive articles in those years, where he cited a lot of excerpts. They give a special atmosphere to the exhibition: it is interesting to combine how the child saw and how he understood the revolution. In addition, in the halls you can see photographs taken by adult eyewitnesses of those events.
It was a real war that the kids partly expected because they wanted to be with their parents in World War I, but they couldn't. When the war came to the city, many soon regretted it. There was a lot of blood, it was scary, and this is clearly reflected in children's drawings.
- Has the view of children on the revolutionary events changed over the year?
Yes, it has changed radically. February Revolution was greeted with enthusiasm by all, supported by all sectors of society. Children write about it: they walked the streets, sang the forbidden Marseillaise, put on red ribbons and shouted slogans of freedom. By October, the look has completely changed. During this time, there was no food, there was no unified power, the elections to the Constituent Assembly did not produce results. The final point was the war in the city. Even Voronov wrote that "the flowers that suddenly bloomed in March were destroyed and scattered by the October storm."
Context
Nobody supported October - it was a bloody seizure of power, culminating in the seizure of the Kremlin. If in February in children's notes one often finds "I will never forget the Russian revolution", then in October the child writes an essay where a connection is made with the biblical legend of Cain and Abel, when a brother kills a brother.
- How does the view of an adult and a young person on revolutionary events differ??
Not every adult would dare to portray what a child portrayed. Voronov called the children little chroniclers: what they saw, they depicted. Here comes a car with soldiers, here is the queue for meat, the so-called Moscow "tails". Adults at that time understood that something terrible was coming. Everyone was waiting for everything to explode. Adults had some self-censorship. Everyone felt that life would be hard, and no one knew how to get out of this situation.
- How will the exhibition help in understanding the revolution?
In fact, a hundred years have passed since the revolution, and such a period allows us to draw conclusions and put an end to the understanding of the revolution. But, unfortunately, this does not happen. We have so many political scientists and historians, so many opinions about the revolution. They only agree that the Russian revolution was of worldwide significance.
- Which approach to understanding the revolution seems right to you?
In connection with the revolution, a term appeared that had never been used before - "The Great Russian Revolution" by analogy with the Great French Revolution. It seems to me that this is the correct approach. The French Revolution is a long process of upheavals, just like ours. It is correct to consider these events as a single process. Everyone agrees on this, but it does not solve the problem.
Why is this happening? I see a parallel between what happened then and what is happening now. Maybe the authorities do not want to realize and notice this. In those years, the intelligentsia also predicted that the revolution was coming. But then the authorities did not want to listen to this, and politicians were small as individuals, no one could stop these processes. If you mark and emphasize, then people will see parallel processes.
- A survey by the Levada Center showed that society is not very interested in the topic of revolution ...
They talk less about the revolution, because there is no clear state position on what it is. As it happens now: a signal from above should be given, but there is no signal. It was said that the revolution should be celebrated in such a way as not to sow even more discord in society. But how to do it? After all, the topic is very sensitive.
I think that an incorrect interpretation of the lessons of the revolution, the silence of this topic, the emphasis not on the internal causes of the revolution, but on external ones, can lead to the historical oblivion of the people. And it's scary! In general, our people have a very short historical memory, now Stalin turns out to be good. I just see the task of the museum in presenting people with a genuine picture historical events no matter how ugly she may be. Otherwise, it may turn out that after a whole century, Russia will again find itself in a state where "the top cannot, the bottom do not want to." What will be the consequences of the next "Russian rebellion", only God knows ... Let's learn the lessons of the past and not repeat its mistakes!
See also:
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Through the eyes of schoolchildren
At the exhibition "I'm painting a revolution!" From April 19 to June 19, the State Historical Museum will feature about 150 drawings by children who witnessed the events of 1917 in Moscow. The viewer will see how the children portrayed political figures, how their view of what is happening changed, how they celebrated the first anniversary of the coup. In autumn, some of the drawings will be shown at the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
According to the curator of the exhibition, Yevgeny Lukyanov, the children welcomed the February Revolution of 1917 with joy. In their writings, they wrote that they walked the streets, sang the forbidden Marseillaise, put on red ribbons and shouted slogans about freedom of speech and freedom from monarchy and dictatorship.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
This drawing shows the triumphal baroque arch of the Red Gate and the bell tower of the Church of the Three Saints, which were demolished in 1927. In February, the children wrote "I will never forget the Russian revolution" and "I was seized with a joyful feeling of love for everyone." School essays and drawings a hundred years ago collected famous teacher Vasily Voronov.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
Almost all of the drawings are nameless, says exhibition curator Yevgeny Lukyanov in an interview with DW, so the fate of the children is unknown. "Down with the provisional government and the bourgeoisie!" - this is a typical slogan that was on the lips and on the posters. Number 5 is the number of the Bolsheviks in the lists of parties in the elections to the Constituent Assembly.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
Moscow "tails"
Queues ("tails") became the main sign of the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917. The food crisis, which primarily affected big cities, became the first sign of trouble for children: “Under the tsar there was little bread, and now even less. In September they began to give out a quarter of a pound, and where they wouldn’t give it at all,” we read in one of the childhood memories.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
So the children portrayed speculators - "the worst kind of bourgeois," says the curator of the exhibition. Then the propaganda said that "Jews and Germans are to blame for everything," children also wrote about this. However, this is a family influence, because the child did not understand anything, Evgeny Lukyanov believes. In the drawings, one can see different views - from openly nationalist to atheistic.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
Another sign of that time is the trains, which have become a symbol of the country's movement towards a better life. “There were few trains, and movement around the country was difficult. Trains arrived and left full in Moscow, so they were taken by storm,” the curator explains.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
According to Yevgeny Lukyanov, cars with armed soldiers were interesting objects for children. “Everyone was in a joyful mood. Trucks with soldiers in whose hands were guns drove through the streets,” writes one of the then Moscow schoolchildren.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
In October 1917, heavy artillery was used in Moscow. As a result, many houses in the city center burned down, and, according to various estimates, more than a thousand people died. The memoirs of the children say: "It was dangerous to leave the house all these days, and we could not get bread, for four days we ate potatoes."
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
The Kremlin is shown from Red Square. Cannonballs fly over the battlemented wall in November 1917, the Nikolskaya Tower is in gaping holes, the domes of the Assumption Cathedral are pierced. According to the curator of the exhibition, the Kremlin was badly damaged and if the capital had not been moved to Moscow, it is not known when it would have been restored.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
Revolutionary events in Moscow unfolded in the center. On the Theater Square in Moscow in October 1917 there were fierce battles. The picture shows a green armored car with the inscription "SR and SD", which means "Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies".
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
After the Bolsheviks took power on November 10, the Bolsheviks were buried near the Kremlin wall, and the funerals of the junkers and officers, who were the last stronghold of the Provisional Government, were in the fraternal cemetery outside the city.
1917 in children's drawings: red ribbons, Marseillaise and rallies
Friedrich Adler is an adherent of Austro-Marxism, who also came to power after the revolution. This demonstrates the global significance of the events in Russia in 1917, emphasizes the curator of the exhibition. In October, the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin will open an exhibition dedicated to global importance Russian revolution.
30 years ago, in 1987, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution, a unique pocket-size book called “Moscow. 1917 Drawings of eyewitness children”. The publication published an unparalleled fantastically interesting collection of drawings by children - little Muscovites, who, by the will of fate, were witnesses of the revolutionary events of 1917.
Descriptions of children's work are given from the list of illustrations at the end of the book. Additional descriptions - from the text of N.N. Goncharova, - in quotation marks. It must be said that the ideology of the Soviet era left a deep impression on the art history study of children's works. Some descriptions may cause amazement in the modern reader, others a sarcastic smile. It should be remembered that the book was published at the beginning of the active phase of Gorbachev's reforms...
The publication presents a collection of drawings in the form of a dramatic narrative, and begins with "images of the era", or a series of "typical portraits", referring to the famous series of photographs "Russian types", which we present in our today's publication...
images revolutionary era
1. THE GREAT BOLSHEVIK PARTY. 1917
2 . DOWN WITH THE WAR, GIVE US BREAD. 1917
Author Ivan Kashtanov Paper, graphite and colored pencils. 33.2X24.0 cm. Signature of the author at the top: on the left - Ivan, on the right - Kashtanov. Inscriptions: on the banner - Down with the war, give us bread; on the right in the frame - the Bolshevik is the person who goes P(p) oti (c) wars and asks for a lot of bread.
Unknown author Paper, pencil, watercolor. 34.7X 26.5 cm. Inscriptions: Down with the war and the bourgeoisie; below - Bolshevik. A Bolshevik is one who is against the war; on the back (by V. S. Voronov) - Figure 12 years old. r baby.
4. BOLSHEVIK. 1917
5. JUNKER AND THE BOLSHEVIK. November 1917
Juncker [ Juncker- Pupils of military schools that trained officers.During the Great October Socialist Revolution in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the main military forces of the counter-revolution]; on the right is the Bolshevik.
6 . SAILOR-BOLSHEVIK. 1917
7. SAILOR-BOLSHEVIK FROM THE CRUISER "AURORA". 1917
"... The image of a Bolshevik sailor from the Aurora cruiser is endowed with great inner strength. The author thinks unconventionally. The image is close to the viewer, enlarged to the size of half of life and built on the principle of a shoulder portrait, which is unusual for children's drawing. As a rule, children , inherent in the desire to embrace the image as a whole, to complete and express it through the details. The drawing is also striking in color - it is sustained in only multifaceted developed ocher tones. There are no banners or appeals here, but the image has a truly hypnotic power. Such an impression is achieved by the whole combination artistic means - composition, color, bold decorativeness, rhythmic repetition of lines in facial features "" .
8. PROLETARIAN. 1917
9. MASHA-BOLSHEVICH. 1917
“... The image of Masha the Bolshevik, a girl from the people, who for the first time in history becomes the true mistress of life, is extremely attractive with her healthy fresh beauty, strength, confidence. Her posture says the same. This impression is enhanced by a bright major combination of blue and red, a clean, bold outline. The carefully traced style of the dress and jewelry makes her look sharply modern. At the same time, the special decorative gift of the author should be noted, which manifested itself not only in color, but also in patterning, the ornamental nature of the silhouette, in symmetry, static, which makes one recall the folk clay toy - a whistle" [p. 21].
10 . RED GUARDS WITH A BANNER. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 34.5X26.4 cm. Inscriptions: on the banner - Long live Germany. Long live the world. Hooray); below - a Red Guard [Red Guard - voluntary armed detachments of workers organized to defend the revolution. Existed from April 1917 to March 1918; were dissolved in connection with the formation of the Red Army]; on paper in hand—Vote for No. 5 [“Vote for No. 5” is an electoral call to vote for the list of Bolshevik candidates (List No. 5) in the elections to the Moscow city and district dumas].
“...Figure 10 carries a large informative load. The slogans on the banner of the Red Guard hero have been brought to their logical end - not only "Long live the world!", But also "Long live Germany!" It would not be surprising if the drawing refers to the time of the revolution in Germany. But no, the electoral call "Vote for List No. 5" in the hands of a Red Guard speaks of the time of elections to the Moscow city or district dumas. This means that the drawing dates from June or September 1917. There is a war going on with Germany, she is an enemy, nevertheless the Bolsheviks boldly put forward an internationalist slogan. The people understood him, accepted, and even the child the slogan "Long live Germany!" did not seem treacherous" [p. 22].
11 . RED GUARDS-BOLSHEVIK. 1917
12 . SR-AGITATOR. 1918
Unknown author. Paper, gouache, watercolor, pencil. 34.7X25.5 cm. Inscriptions: below - Against the new government, they want to have the old government; at the top on the flag - S.R. [Socialist-Revolutionaries are members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the successors of populist traditions in the Russian revolutionary movement].
13. CADET WITH CANE. 1917
Unknown author Paper, watercolor, pencil. 24.3X12.3 cm. Inscription at the bottom: Cadet. [The Cadets are members of the Constitutional Democratic Party (People's Freedom Party). Immediately after the October Revolution they were declared enemies of the people].
“... in another drawing, the Bolshevik is represented by a monster with bulging evil eyes, shooting from a pistol. This drawing would not have stopped our attention if it were not for the inscription. In its first part, as in many other works, the Bolshevik’s program is set out - “goes against the war and the government” (maybe these are the words of a teacher?), But the second part of the inscription - “and wants to betray Russia” (!) - undoubtedly expresses his own opinion, more precisely - family, environment. These words are attributed to the same child's hand, but small, hastily, with a different pencil, obviously not simultaneously with the first part. Likewise, the face of a Bolshevik (by the way, in terms of clothing, he can least of all relate to the Bolsheviks, since he is wearing the uniform of the Cossack troops) is rubbed and rubbed with an elastic band to give him especially “brutal” features. One might think that the atrocity, as such, was associated in the boy with the Cossacks, with the dispersal of demonstrations, that is, with what the child saw himself, what he knew about from adults. I heard from adults that the Bolshevik is “a traitor and a villain”, and combined both figures - a Cossack and a Bolshevik” [p. 23-24].
15. BOLSHEVIKS AND FREE RUSSIA. July - October 1917
Author A. Konstantinov. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 34.1X23.9 cm. Signed and dated lower right: A. Konstantinov. 1917. Inscriptions: Bolshevik at the bottom. Let us in there. Russia, no, I won’t let you go, you are very good gentlemen; on a woman's dress along the hem - Ros ci I; on the door behind Russia is a sign with the inscription: Freedom. [The drawing was made after the July 3rd demonstration].
“The penetration of the class contradictions of the era into the minds of children is also reflected in the drawing by A. Konstantinov, solved in allegorical form. Russia is represented here in the image of a girl in a Russian outfit, behind her back is the door to a "free" country (but the "freedom" that brought The February revolution, in fact, is just as ostentatious, operetta, like this girl herself in a sundress and kokoshnik). She refuses to let the Bolsheviks, terrorists, and disturbers of public order, depicted with a smoking bomb in their hands, into the “free” country” [p. 24].
“... A boy by the name of Nikitin made a drawing with a certain intention to ridicule the idea, the bearer of which is a Red Guard. This is how the caricaturized type of anarchist usually appears to us: hands in pockets, a cigarette in the mouth, flawed top part faces due to the hypertrophied lower. The hat is pulled down over a red nose, indicating a penchant for alcohol. There is a red bow on the neck, demonstrating the extreme left position of its owner. All components of the picture are actively working on the task. The silhouette is especially expressive - the head, the clothes, the tails of the French coat, the wavy line of lowered trousers. Confidently, firmly, with pressure, the contour is defined, the coloring easily and evenly fills the form" [p. 23].
17. Bourgeois with a cigarette. 1917
18. Bourgeois with a box of sweets. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 34.1X26.8 cm. Inscriptions below: on the right - bourgeois; on the left - bourgeois. On the candy box - T-in S. Ciy and Co. Moscow [S. Ciy and Co. is a company that owned a confectionery factory (Petrogradskoye shosse, 13) and six confectionery shops in Moscow. On the basis of the Ciy factory, the Bolshevik confectionery factory was formed].
“... The main idea embodied in the image of a bourgeois with a box of chocolates is his complete worthlessness. This is a slacker, a dandy and a reveler. With amazing flair, a color solution was found for the picture - the red-crimson tone of the tailcoat in combination with black (cylinder hat, tailcoat lapels) and yellow (box, boutonniere, monocle). This color chord, bright but refined, already in itself creates an idea that is incompatible with any labor activity. The idea, fully expressed by color alone, is supported by the pose and attributes. In a helpless, graceful gesture, idle hands holding a cane and sweets are set aside. It turned out to be a laconic, but quite complete satirical portrait of a creature that parasitizes at the expense of the working part of society” [p. 25].
“... The speculator is frankly scary. His figure is ominous: a blue-gray coat and a top hat, a blue mustache, a beard and eyebrows, villainous eyes are set obliquely on the yellow pancake of his face. The sharply negative attitude of the child to his character also determined the uniqueness of the image, its instantaneous finding. The drawing of the hands is a circle lined with five lines (as a result of which, by the way, it turns out not five, but six fingers), and the inscription, ornamentally large letters included in the drawing, testify to the very young, preschool age of the author" [p. 25-26].
20. BourgeoisWITH THE NEWSPAPER "RUSSIAN WORD". 1917
Unknown author Paper, watercolor, pencil. 26.5X15.3 cm. Inscription at the top: Bourgeois; on the newspaper - Russian about(f) word. [« Russian word"- a daily Moscow newspaper published by I. D. Sytin. Represented the interests of the liberal bourgeoisie. It was closed in January 1918.].
“... Bourgeois with a newspaper - public figure, stockbroker, Octobrist. The main detail characterizing it is the bourgeois newspaper Russkoye Slovo. The little artist, who could not even cope with the word "bourgeois", nevertheless, very accurately finds an artistic solution for his hero. The expressive ratio of colors (yellow, purple, black), the sharply drawn outline of the silhouette resembling a large bird of prey, contribute to revealing the essence of the self-confident "owner" of life" [p. 25].
social - democratic parties against the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks].
“... The comparison on one sheet of a Bolshevik and a Menshevik is significant. The Bolshevik is huge, the Menshevik in front of him is like a fungus. What prompted the child to such an interpretation? Yes, the fairy-tale names themselves, the characters of fairy tales themselves. A giant, a boy with a finger are creatures familiar from early childhood, they are always there, they are close and familiar. But not only in size does the author prove the difference between these people. The little one, though small, is dressed in an expensive fur coat, while the big one has all his pants in multi-colored patches, he is in a leather jacket, boots and is armed. This is a worker, a poor man, a revolutionary. And that little one is rich, he is not for the revolution. Thus, the social essence of relations is understood by the child not at all as primitively as it might seem at first sight. 26].
24. BOLSHEVIK LENIN AND MENSHEVIK DAN. July - October 1917
Unknown author / Paper, graphite and colored pencils. 36.3X21.9 cm. Inscriptions: at the top of the banners - Down with the Bourgeois Government you will find protection only from the Bolsheviks; at the bottom in the middle - the Bolshevik Lenin; on the appeal that Lenin holds in his hand - Do not submit to the provisional government (y) to the traitor Kerensky. Ask the Bolsheviks for peace with Germany. Arm yourself and go against the provisional government); under a long scroll right hand Lenin - these are the appeals of the Bolshevik; on the right under the small figure - Dan Menshevik [Gurvich-Dan Fedor Ilyich (1871 - 1947) one of the leaders of the Mensheviks. In 1922 he was exiled abroad.]; on a sheet in the hand of a Menshevik - beat the Bolsheviks sh i onov betray l(her).
“A Bolshevik and a Menshevik are V. I. Lenin and F. I. Dan. A sharp political struggle is expressed in the opposition of the two leaders of the Social Democratic parties. Through their size, the spiritual significance and moral strength of these people are conveyed. Both images are accompanied by extended texts defining their political platforms. Lenin opposed the Provisional Government, in defense of the people. Dan's appeal reflects only a factional struggle against the Bolsheviks, contains abuse and a call to beat the Bolsheviks. Finally, although both of them are poorly dressed, there are still many more patches on Lenin's clothes. History itself resolved their dispute very soon. Lenin was and will remain the leader of the world proletariat, Dan has already been forgotten by his contemporaries” [p. 26-27].
When using the material, a reference to the publication is required:
Moscow. 1917 Drawings of eyewitness children. From the collection of the State Historical Museum. / Comp. and the author of the text N.N. Goncharova. –M., 1987.
Digitization:
Internet magazine "Podmoskovny ethnographer", 2017 When reposting, a link to trojza.blogspot.com is required.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Revolution, the State Historical Museum organized an exhibition of drawings made in the first post-revolutionary year by students of two Moscow educational institutions: the I.I. Aleksandrov and the male gymnasium named after M.V. Lomonosov.
Drawings and small children's texts about the events of those days began to be collected in February 1917 by a scientist, teacher, teacher of graphic arts Vasily Voronov. In 1919 he transferred the collection to the State Historical Museum.
Evgeny Lukyanov, exhibition curator, art critic, senior researcher at the State Historical Museum:
Obviously, another drawing is dedicated to the same event.
As Yevgeny Lukyanov said in an interview with Radio Liberty, the drawings from the collection of Vasily Voronov were made by boys: the collector taught drawing and calligraphy in boys' gymnasiums. The age of the authors is from 7 to 14 years.
“The Russian people did not like Tsar Nicholas II and decided to remove him. The king fulfilled the desire of the people and abdicated. Having gained freedom, the people began to rob and kill each other, ”this is one of the texts in the Voronov collection.
Many drawings are dedicated to rallies and demonstrations. It is especially interesting to read the slogans that the boys wrote on the banners - many of them are relevant today.
But the places depicted in the drawings have changed after so many years.
According to historians, in the children's drawings and texts preserved in Voronov's manuscripts, the difference in the perception of the two revolutions of 1917 - February and October - is very clearly visible. “One revolution is a revolution that liberated the country from tyranny, and the second is a bloody coup that plunged the country into tyranny,” Evgeny Lukyanov notes.
In 1919, Vasily Voronov, a scholar and teacher of graphic arts, donated to the Russian Historical Museum a collection of children's drawings dedicated to the First World War and the Revolution. Voronov taught from 1906 at the Ivan Alexandrov Real School in Moscow, and from 1910 at the Lomonosov Men's Gymnasium. In 1914 he began to collect children's drawings about the war, and three years later he added drawings about the revolution.
Voronov's collection is made up of drawings of older boys preschool age, students lower grades city schools and secondary educational institutions Moscow - at the age of seven to thirteen years. Basically, these are the works of his students. Almost all the drawings, according to the testimony of the collector himself, were executed at home, as works on free themes, without the help and instructions of the teacher, only under the influence of events and moods that the city lived during the years of war and revolutions.
In 1917, Voronov, in addition to drawings, began to collect children's texts dedicated to the events taking place at that time. Some of these notes were published by the scientist in 1927, on the tenth anniversary of the February and October revolutions. The names of the authors of the texts, as well as most of the drawings, are unknown.
Demonstrations, rallies and queues
Images of revolution
"Moscow War"
Demonstrations, rallies
and queues
Unknown author. Demonstration near the factory with the motto "Freedom of speech!". February 1917 State Historical Museum “It was spring. People began to worry and made a revolution"
Demonstration with slogans "Long live free Russia!" and "War to victory!". The drawing is signed by the name Kosarev. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum “During the war, turmoil began in Moscow, one day, when I was walking with my grandmother and came home, I found out that the sovereign had been driven from the throne. When I sat down to drink tea, then suddenly we heard a noise outside our windows, I saw a large crowd of workers.
Unknown author. Rally at the Red Gate. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum The figure shows the baroque arch of the triumphal Red Gate and the bell tower of the Church of the Three Saints (demolished in 1927).
“On March 1, under the leadership of students, tsarism was overthrown, and a provisional government took its place. But it soon brought Russia to the point of no
Unknown author. Car with revolutionary soldiers. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum “Soon a manifestation appeared, it was very large and grandiose. They carried red banners trimmed with gold lace. Every man or woman had a red bow. At that time, I was seized by a joyful feeling of love for everyone.
Unknown author. Demonstration on a wide street. Summer 1917 State Historical Museum One of the many demonstrations in the summer of 1917. The slogans on the posters are given only in initial letters: "DZSDRP" - "Long live the Social Democratic Labor Party"; "DZDR" - "Long live democratic Russia"; "PVSS" - "Proletarians of all countries, unite."
“As soon as the revolution began, I could not sit at home. And I was drawn to the street. All the people went to Red Square, where students made speeches near the Duma. Everyone was in a happy mood. The streets were driven by trucks with soldiers in whose hands were guns.
Unknown author. Rally near the monument to Pushkin. Summer 1917 State Historical Museum One of the rallies in the summer of 1917 is depicted. The monument to Pushkin stands in its original place, at the beginning of Tverskoy Boulevard on Pushkin Square (it was moved to the opposite side of the square in 1950).
“Under the tsar, there was little bread, and now even less. In September, they began to give out a quarter of a pound, and where they won’t give it at all. ”
Unknown author. Demonstration near the Bolshoi Theater with the slogan "Long live the democratic republic!". August 1917 State Historical Museum Thousands of Muscovites gathered on Theater Square to protest the Moscow State Conference. It was convened by the Provisional Government and took place on August 12-15, 1917 under the chairmanship of the premises of the Bolshoi Theater. In the middle of the red banners is the black banner of the anarchists. In the foreground is a red poster of the railway workers of the sorting station with the inscription: "Long live the democratic republic!"
Unknown author. The queue at the Chuev bakery on Solyanka. 1917 State Historical Museum Queues ("tails") became the main sign of the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917. The food crisis affected primarily the large cities, and for children this was the first sign of trouble.
Images of revolution
Unknown author. Bolshevik with the banner "Down with the war and the bourgeoisie." 1917 State Historical Museum “The people were divided into many parties, there were Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks were the landowners and rich people, and the Bolsheviks were the people, the workers, and the artisans, and the peasants.
A. Konstantinov. Bolshevik going to the rally. 1917 State Historical Museum The picture shows a Bolshevik going to an election rally. In his hands is a flag with the number 5, which indicates the number of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolshevik Party) headed by Lenin in the electoral lists for the elections to the Constituent Assembly.
Unknown author. Masha is a Bolshevik. 1917 State Historical Museum "Now we have begun to recognize what kind of bourgeois"
Unknown author. Bolshevik and Menshevik. 1917 State Historical Museum The Bolshevik and the Menshevik are opposed to each other: the Menshevik is tiny and dressed in an expensive fur coat; Bolshevik is huge, he is in a leather jacket, pants with multi-colored patches, felt boots and is armed.
Unknown author. Bolshevik and bourgeois. 1917 State Historical Museum “When I came home, I began to draw how people walk along the street with flags, and drew as many as 14 Red Flags. My father asked me when he came, What are you doing? I told him that I was drawing a revolution!”
Unknown author. Speculator. 1917 State Historical Museum "Moscow War"
Unknown author. Fight on the Theater Square. November 1917 State Historical Museum On the Theater Square in Moscow in October 1917 there were fierce battles. In the picture - a green armored car with the inscription "S. R. and S. D.”, that is, the “Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies”.
“Once I was walking along Sukharev Square and saw barricades, I didn’t know what they were. When I got home, I asked my mother, but she didn't know either. In the evening, when I was sitting at home and doing my homework, we heard shots and then I found out that this was a revolution.
“I watched from the window through binoculars as they fired from a machine gun. All these days it was dangerous to leave the house, and we could not get bread, for four days we ate potatoes. At night, we slept without undressing, and dad and other men who live in our house were on duty with revolvers in turn in the yard.
Unknown author. Battle for the Kremlin. November 1917 State Historical Museum The Kremlin is shown from Red Square. Cannonballs are flying over the battlement wall, the Nikolskaya Tower is in gaping holes.
“Since our house is at the corner of Myasnitskaya and Yushkov Lane, they fired from both sides along our house. A Bolshevik machine gun stood at our gates. Once we went out into the yard, but suddenly they started shooting hard, and we went home. A bullet hit the window above our apartment in our house. I went to see her"
“On Monday they continue to shoot, my mother stood at the window and looked at her stocking, and as soon as she moved away, the bullet hit our window, but did not fly into the room, but broke through the first glass and remained on the windowsill”
“When a truce was announced, I ran to the center with two comrades to see what the Bolsheviks and the Junkers had won. We saw a lot of houses upholstered with large windows shattered to smithereens, and several houses were all burned down. Everywhere people went safely and everyone talked about how the Moscow war was going on.
Unknown author. Shelled houses near the Kremlin. November 1917 State Historical Museum “In the days of revolution it was very fun. And I will never forget the Russian revolution"
“The Bolshevik victims were not buried, but speeches were made and music was played, and the people marched with red banners and ribbons. I used to go to Red Square to watch how the grave was dug up and laid with boards. The people were arguing among themselves everywhere, and some were cursing."
Unknown author. At the open mass grave. November 1917 State Historical Museum On November 10, 1917, Red Guards who died in revolutionary battles were buried in Moscow. 238 coffins were lowered into the graves on Red Square. Two mass graves are located near the walls of the Kremlin, on both sides of the Senate Tower.
From April 19 to June 19, 2017, the State Historical Museum will host the exhibition "I'm painting a revolution!": Children's drawings from the Great Russian Revolution from the collection of the State Historical Museum, which will present children's drawings, photographs of revolutionary Moscow, rare posters 1917 and documentary evidence of eyewitnesses.
We continue to publish illustrations from the book “Moscow. 1917 Drawings of eyewitness children” (M., 1987). Children's drawings collected by V.S. Voronov since 1919 are stored in the State Historical Museum.
After acquainting readers with a series of "revolutionary types", the author of the publication, candidate of art criticism N. N. Goncharova, publishes drawings of Muscovite children, reflecting the plot scenes of the period between the February and October revolutions of 1917.
Between two revolutions
25. DEMONSTRATION NEAR THE GRAND THEATER. August 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 26.4X16.9 cm. The inscriptions on the posters: Long live the democratic) republic b(face); Long live the republic! Long live the democratic republic Sorting. [Thousands of Muscovites gathered on Theater Square to protest the Moscow State Conference. It was convened by the Provisional Government and took place on August 12-15, 1917 under the chairmanship of Kerensky in the premises of the Bolshoi Theater. Black flag - anarchists. The red flag (the first one from the viewer) is for the railroad workers of the sorting station of the Kazan railway].
“The days of the Moscow State Conference (August 12-14, 1917) include the sheet “Demonstration near the Bolshoi Theater”. A small fragment of the square adjacent to the theater is depicted, and the movement of the demonstration is directed first into the depths (in this case, we see only the backs and hats), and then it turns to the left, filling the square almost to capacity. One gets the impression of an infinity of moving masses of people demanding the establishment of a republic in the country. Among the red banners, the black banner of the anarchists looks like a sharp dissonance. In the foreground is a red poster with the words “Long live the democratic republic”, and below the postscript: “Art. Sorting” . This is a column of railway workers from the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya station, perhaps the same station on the Moscow-Kazan railway, where on April 12, 1919, the first communist subbotnik was held” [p. 60].
26. DEMONSTRATION WITH THE SLOGANS “DOWN WITH THE OLD GOVERNMENT. LONG LIVE THE NEW." 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 22.5X25.6 cm. The inscription on the banner: Down with the old (th) government) long live the new.
The theme of "demonstration" can be opened with a drawing of a very young child, no doubt a preschooler. The kid cannot, of course, consciously reveal the meaning of what is happening. But this fact has become so ordinary, familiar that even he draws a demonstration. The slogan on the flag conveys the most abstract demands of any protest group - "gone old, yeslong live the new." Equally laconic, but, like a formula, the drawing itself is comprehensive” [p. 56-57].
27. DEMONSTRATION ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE HOUSE UNDER A GREEN ROOF. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 26, ЗХ 35.7 cm. Inscriptions on the posters (from left to right): Long live the revolution; down with the king, cheers; Earth and Will [ "Land and Freedom"- the slogan of the Left SRs and the name of their newspaper, published in Moscow from March 1917 to May 1918.]; Long live the institution d(noun) meeting) [ constituent Assembly- a representative institution formed to develop a form of government after the overthrow of the monarchy]; Long live free Russia; Down with manarchism.
28.
DEMONSTRATION WITH THE SLOGAN "LONG LIVE A FREE RUSSIA".
February 1917.
Author Yatskevich. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 25.9X 34.4 cm. Inscriptions: on the wall - Bookstore; on the banner - Long live the freePocciI.
“... an older boy (named Yatskevich) is already able to convey the originality of the picture that appeared before him. His demonstration is typical of the first days of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. The pure public (officers, ladies) with red bows on their chests, with the slogans “Long live free Russia!” Goes and goes. There are no common people among the demonstrators. Characteristics are characterized extremely detailed, convincingly. A close-up allows you to consider the lordly faces, confident in their rightness to decide the fate of Russia. A soldier with military awards (on the right) seemed to accidentally stick to the demonstration, his figure expresses uncertainty and bewilderment: is he on the way with these gentlemen? [with. 57] .
29. DEMONSTRATION WITH A MILITARY ORCHESTRA. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, colored and graphite pencils. 35, ZX 26.4 cm. The inscription on the banner: Down with the bourgeois i yu, long live the peace of the whole world.
“... in the “Demonstration with a military band” sheet, humorous notes were deliberately introduced. A drunkard fell, broke a bottle, bloodied his nose, some laugh at him, others teach. This episode, brought to the forefront, for the child, perhaps, constituted the main content of the drawing. / February of the seventeenth year was not bloodless. The revolution began with a general strike, armed clashes between workers and soldiers, and an open manifestation of contradictions between the masses of soldiers and officers. A child's drawing introduces us to one of these dramatic incidents in the barracks. In detail, in several episodes, the action unfolds on a horizontally stretched sheet. The workers who have just arrived (on the right) call on the soldiers to join them, next to them are soldiers with red armbands, sympathizing with the revolution, in the middle - a soldier with the royal flag, and on the left side of the picture - monarchist-minded officers are guarding warehouses of weapons locked with a large lock. How exactly this story ended is unknown, but the February Revolution won. Let us think that here, too, the officers were disarmed, the warehouses seized, and the soldiers went over to the side of the revolution. 64].
30. DEMONSTRATION WITH THE SLOGAN "WAR UNTIL VICTORY". Spring 1917
Author Kosarev. Paper, graphite and colored pencils, ink, pen. 34.5X 26.8 cm. Poster caption: Long live free poc ci I! War to victory. Hooray! Authorship is established by analogy with figures 42 and 66.
“Kosarev's drawing is extremely expressive, the strong creative temperament of the young artist is obvious. There are no minor details, no designation of the scene, there are only people united by a common idea. They move straight towards the viewer. This alone is unusual for children's drawing, as it narrows the possibilities of a pictorial story, the desire for which is so characteristic of children's thinking. The contour stroke with a pen, with which the artist finishes the work done with a colored pencil, gives the drawing the energy of movement, makes it consonant with the graphics of the revolutionary era” [p. 58-59].
31. DEMONSTRATION ON A WIDE STREET. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, graphite and colored pencils. 26.5X 34.9 cm. Inscriptions: above the entrance to the store - the sale of bread from urban communities (venous) bakers (en); slogans (from left to right) - PVSS [Proletarians of all countries, unite]; DZDR [Long Live]; DZSDRP [long live the Social Democratic Labor Party]; DZDR; VDDZR [Long live long live (?)]; 3 and B [Land and freedom (SR slogan)]; Yes Hello. Social Dem. Slave. Steam.; by car - Moscow State University [Moscow City Council].
“Sometimes a drawing, which adds almost nothing new to the actual course of events according to the works already considered, surprises with a peculiar refraction of the psychology of the era in the minds of children. Here is one of the demonstrations in the summer of 1917. Numerous slogans on the posters attract attention: all of them are given only in initial letters. Deciphering them requires a certain amount of mental effort. For example: DZSDRP - Long live the Social Democratic Labor Party; PVSS - Proletarians of all countries, unite. Of course, no one walked with abbreviated slogans, and even if they did, the child would not be able to reproduce them exactly. And of course, it was not the desire to encrypt the text that guided him. He did this simply for speed and to fit as much as possible in the drawing. And abbreviations of long names were common in those years. Parties and organizations were abbreviated. The child does the same in his work. There is no humor here. On the contrary, the boy acts like adults.”[ with. 63].
32. DEMONSTRATION AT THE CROSSROADS. February 1917
Author Alexander Ponomarev. Paper, watercolor, pencil, ink, pen. 26.3X 34.9 cm. Signature of the artist at the bottom right: The work of Alexander Ponomarev. Inscriptions: on the poster - Long live free Russia; next to a running man ( half-erased) - the same words.
“The boy very accurately reproduces the situation: the people's column, the military column, the riders in the car - all with flags, everyone rejoices. He also runs alone, shouting a slogan (the text was written near the figure, then erased, but still readable), hurries to join the organized public. Someone from curiosity almost falls out of the window of the third floor - is it the author himself? The artist conveys the atmosphere of general joyful revival not only illustratively and descriptively. The composition itself is dynamic. Its main lines, corresponding to the direction of the streets and two intersecting human flows, form an angle. The mobility of this system is emphasized by the bright colors of the houses, the rhythmic repetition of colored curtains” [p. 58].
33. THREE COLUMNS. 1917
26.0X 34.7 cm. The inscriptions on the posters (from left to right): Let's goi e Ukraine i ana; hello t(wow); Long live the Provisional Government and Kerensk i th; Long live international i online; Long live free Rosi I; 8 o'clock; NexPolcka;
NexPolcko. [Left - a column of Ukrainians carrying a portrait of Vinnichenko, head of the Ukrainian Central Rada, and the slogan "Long live Ukraine" (in Ukrainian).In the middle is a column of Russians calling for support for the Provisional Government. On the right are the Poles with the slogan "Long live Poland" (in Polish). The slogan in the background is "8 o'clock" - the demand for an eight-hour working day. To the right is the corner of the portico of the Bolshoi Theatre.
“Very interesting in content, although inept in execution, is the drawing “Three Columns”. The event shown here is not described, it seems to us, either in the history of the revolution or in memoirs, but the boy could not invent it. If the drawing had been done by an adult, one could say that its theme is the national policy of the Provisional Government. Next to the column glorifying in their slogans the Provisional Government of Kerensky, free Russia and the International, on the right is a column of Poles with the slogan “Long live Poland!”, and on the left are Ukrainian officers with hanging, “Zaporozhye” mustaches and red bows on their chests. They carry a portrait of the head of independent Ukraine and a separate slogan “Let i e Ukra i na”<...>By the picture can accurately determine the place, and hence the time of action. On the right are the steps and one of the columns of the Bolshoi Theatre. Consequently, the action is taking place on Theater Square in front of the Bolshoi Theater on the opening day of the Moscow Conference” [p. 61].
34. DELEGATION OF WORKERS IN FRONT OF THE BARRACKS. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 18.2X 34.2 cm. Inscriptions on the banners (from left to right): dol about(th)..; Long live the democratic republic.
“A characteristic sign of the times from the very February days were cars carrying security service on the streets, with Red Guards, revolutionary soldiers. Naturally, many of them were drawn by children. In these pictures, the romance of the revolution manifested itself most clearly. The drawings are different. One child thinks spatially and unfolds the image in perspective, directing the car towards the viewer, the other two-dimensionally, but, despite this, just as dynamically. Directed forward and the car and the riders - the Red Guards. Feeling of movement intensifies in contrast to symmetrically from machines standing and from that especially stable identical houses, outlined in a thick outline. There are many photographs of 1917, among which there are cars very similar to those in our drawings, but I think this coincidence should not lead to the conclusion that they were copied by children. They only confirm the historical authenticity of the drawings.”[ with. 65-66].
36. DEMONSTRATION NEAR THE FACTORY. February 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 24.2X 36.6 cm. Inscriptions: a sign above the door - bread n(th shop); on the poster - freedom of speech.
“Among the sheets relating to the February days, one of the most impressive is the demonstration near the factory. The artistic form is determined by laconism, graphic, rhythmic repetition. The incompleteness of the composition, as it were, suggests its continuation to the sides, helping to understand that the whole city is engulfed in jubilation, and a similar picture can be seen on all the streets. At the same time, the drawing attracts with its unique concreteness. This is the only sheet that shows the movement of the work column against the backdrop of factory architecture, shown in all its convincing originality. The buildings stretch along the street. The workers march not like the bourgeois public (Figures 30 and 37), but in an organized manner, shoulder to shoulder, ready to fight for their rights. On both sides of the street, on the sidewalk, there are observers, whose stiffness anduniformity is emphasized by the movement of a powerful human stream, as well as the unusualness of what is happening, striking the layman" [p. 59-60].
37. DEMONSTRATION OF THE ZEMSKOY UNION. Spring 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 26.3X 34.7 cm. Inscriptions on banners: VZS [ VZS- All-Russian Zemstvo Union for Assistance to Sick and Wounded Soldiers]. Hello with(tvuet) constituent) assembledi I; VZS.
38. RED GUARDS in a CAR. 1917
39. ELECTIONS TO THE CITY DUMA. 1917
Author P. Grigoriev. Paper, color and graphite carton and dashi. 25.7X 35.0 cm. Signed above: I quarter P. Grigoriev. Inscriptions: on the house on the right - the electoral thought; on banners - earth and will; updated RossiI; down with the war; not a car and leaflets scattered from it - No. 1; on the walls of the houses - leaflets with No. 1, 3, 4. [Figures 39 and 40 show the elections to the Moscow dumas - city (June 24) and district (September 24). The numbers on the sheets are the numbers of the lists of candidates from different parties. List No. 1—cadets, No. 9 2 - People's Socialists, No. 3 - Socialist-Revolutionaries, N 4 - uniters (organization of united social democrats - internationalists), N 5 - Bolsheviks.
Unknown author. Paper, colored and graphite pencils. 25.6 / 34.0 cm. Inscriptions: above - Lubyansk i th passage; on the banners (from left to right): Hello in(ut) revolutionary i he(n)th RossiI; Long live the earth and freedom; Down with the war; Long live the equality of brothers (your) and the world; list number 5; Citizens! Vote(s) fori yu socialist (in) revolutionaries (№ 3).
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil, ink, pen 22.2/33.7 cmi I; in the middle - yes hellofree rossiI; on the gates on the sides of the opening there is a monogram of E.R. Monogram E. R. - Elizabeth Pri m a- Elizabeth the First, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, in whose reign the arch was built. On the left is the Church of the Three Saints, built in 1674. not preserved].
42. RALLYS. March 1917
Author Kosarev. Paper, graphite and colored pencils, ink, pen. 26.7X 34.6 cm Signature of the author at the bottom right: Kosarev III . Inscriptions: bottom left - Rallies; on the pedestal - circus salamons to(wow); Nikitin; Ball masquerade tour. [The Salamonsky Circus is a private circus located on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Salamonsky's own house. After the revolution, the Moscow State Circus was located here. The Nikitin Circus is the second Moscow circus, located on Bolshaya Sedovaya near Staro- triumphal gate(now - Mayakovsky Square).
43. THREE TURNS. 1917
“The military year 1916 was hard and hopeless, 1917 was full of struggle and hopes, 1918 was illumined by work and faith in a bright future ... All of them were accompanied by devastation, a food crisis. The most noticeable sign of trouble for urban children is hunger, its visible expression is queues. There are a lot of drawings depicting queues in stores. / This group of drawings is difficult to date, but they were probably made before the October Revolution. Firstly, by October, the queues had already become so familiar that they had become part of everyday life. Secondly, almost everywhere the inscriptions are made in the old spelling and the types are also pre-revolutionary - high school students, policemen, and so on. Finally, the tonality and plots of the post-October drawings are completely different, household trifles were less interesting for children, too serious transformations took place, putting forward new themes, giving birth to new images. / Children portray queues in different ways, each in accordance with their vision of the world, temperament, the measure of cheerfulness allotted to him: either (“Three queues” or “Queue to Bogomolov's bakery”) calmly accepting the world with all its complexities, then perceiving the environment with anxiety and condemnation" [p. 68].
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 20.7X31.5 cm. Inscriptions: above the door to the store - meat trade E. M. Perlova; sign on the door: locked.[Author error: pearlsthey were not engaged in meat trade, they were the largest tea merchants].
45 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 28.0X35.7 cm. Non-bakery inscriptions: at the top - ( Boo) l full-time Bogomolova; showcases - bread cakes sweets of their confectioner (sky); Bogomolov; street names - 3 Znamen (sky); 1 Znamensky lane; top left; No. 2 V. Ch. [The bakery of N. I. Bogomolov was located in the first Znamensky lane, 6. The dome in the depths is the Church of the Sign in Pereyaslavskaya Sloboda, it is also John the Baptist at the Cross, which is on the Sands in the Sretensky part. Preserved].
“The queue at Bogomolov's bakery is a drawing that is interesting for its almost protocol documentation. It can be argued that the view is accurately drawn - probably from the window. The author also indicates the scene of action - the corner of the 1st and 3rd Znamensky lanes. N.I. Bogomolov's bakery was indeed located at this address. Each house is individual, unlike the other. In the depths is the blue dome of the Znamenskaya Church with golden stars, which is on the Sands in the Sretenskaya part. The attention to detail is amazing: street signs, house numbers, and so on. The people in the queue are described in detail, unhurriedly, with taste: officers, a nurse in a starched scarf, a schoolboy (isn’t it a self-portrait?) ... / The author draws a compositionally and plot-complex scene, although he is clearly unfamiliar with the laws of perspective - the sidewalk does not narrow as it moves away , the stones of the cobblestone pavement in the distance do not become smaller, but, on the contrary, larger: the young artist, apparently, is tired of drawing the same mugs. Social and everyday troubles - war, famine - do not disturb the state of mind of the boy, but only attract and occupy his attention. A multi-colored, bright, full of hopes and expectations world, bright and joyful, is revealed around him” [p. 68-69].
46. THE QUEUE TO S. TITOV'S STORE. 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, pencil. 24.7X 33.2 cm. Inscriptions above the doors of the store - S. Titov. [S. Titov and sons - one of the largest trading houses, united 67 bread shops in Moscow].
“In Line at Titov's Bakery, the color scheme is interesting - a sharp, restless juxtaposition of black and crimson. Each figure is marked by personality traits, many are very funny, especially the schoolboy, the lady with the bun, the Tartar janitor standing behind her, but most of all the first couple: a woman in blue and a police officer supervising the queue, looking tenderly at each other. However, despite the isolation of the characters, the line, thanks to the general opposition to the light background of the wall, is perceived as a whole, in unity” [p. 69-70]. 48. AMBULANCE Wagon. 1916
“Another everyday topic, where the intense pulse of time was especially felt, was trains. It seemed that all of Russia had moved, everyone was on wheels. Some were returning home from the war, others were going for food, others were going to fight for their Motherland, for the revolution. / The picture “Ambulance train” was probably made in 1916, when the greatest pain and the main concern of the country was the war. And yet, how calm the picture looks in comparison with the storm that will be reflected in the images of trains in 1917! Everything is measured, symmetrical, each wounded man in his place” [p. 70-71].
49. CAR "MOSCOW - NIZHNY NOVGOROD". 1917
Unknown author. Paper, watercolor, ink pencil. 25.0 X 34.9 cm. Inscriptions: on the car - Zy class; Moscow - N. Novgorod; announcements above the doors to the vestibules - mѣst n ѣt.
“... In a year, the topic will be filled with sharp social content, clearly conveying the pain of the day. The bulk of the passengers of the car Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod- soldiers going home from the front, and "bagmen" (a word born in the years of devastation) - petty speculators or simple people rushing around the country in search of food. A hodgepodge of arms, legs, heads fills the vestibules, despite the announcements of “no seats”. The car is covered with people, it is not clear what they clung to. They rest, putting bags next to them, the lucky ones who managed to climb onto the roof. / The drawing “Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod Carriage” captivates with the artist’s enthusiasm, the immediacy of impressions, the abundance of situations and details that can be considered endlessly” [p. 71].
Roadside post on the right: 27 ver (hundred).
“In an even more expressive manner, the drawing “Train at the 27th verst” was executed. He rushes across the flat terrain, disappearing into the depths of the leaf. Only the last four carriages are visible, all of different types. The speed of train movement is physically felt. Anxiety, anxiety is caused by the whole silhouette of the train with the roofs of the cars, as it were, ruffled: people with rifles and machine guns are located on them. It already looks like a civil war. / According to the chronologically arranged drawings with trains, one can judge that life in revolutionary Russia was gaining momentum every day” [p. 72].
To be continued...
When using the material, a reference to the publication is required:
Moscow. 1917 Drawings of eyewitness children. From the collection of the State Historical Museum. / Comp. and the author of the text N.N. Goncharova. –M., 1987.
Digitization:
Internet magazine "Podmoskovny ethnographer", 2017 When reposting, a link to .
