Alexander Vertinsky: a comeback

The auction will be held by Kyiv’s Antique Center in conjunction with the Ministry for Culture and Tourism of Ukraine. Some of the raised money will be spent on erecting a monument to Alexander Vertinsky (1889-1957), a stage and cinema actor, composer, poet, and singer who was born and raised in Kyiv. He went to Emperor Alexander I’s and the Classical gymnasiums. Once he became a theater buff, he played in amateur productions and as an extra on the stage of what was known as Solovetsky Theater. He began to shape his world outlook and artistic style at the literary salons of Sophia Zelinska whose house would gather many interesting personalities, such as poet Mikhail Kuzmin, and the artists Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, and Nathan Altman. At the same time, he tried himself in literature: local journals published his short stories Portrait, Cigarettes, Vesna, and My Fiancee. The young poet also wrote reviews of theatric performances by such celebrities as Chaliapin, Valtseva, Vavich, Karinskaya, and Ruffo. Thus his name was well known in the milieu of Kyiv artists and litterateurs. Last year we marked the 120th anniversary of Vertinsky’s birth. An exposition was opened on this occasion at the Museum of One Street — his daughter Anastasia Vertinskaya and granddaughter Daria Khmelnitskaya visited it (Den carried this story in its issue No. 48, 2009). Vertinsky is important now as never before. We need him so that Kyiv remains Kyiv. Many seem to share this idea, so many artists and art collectors supported the salon’s initiative. Incidentally, a pre-auction exhibit is underway right now. It consists of the works of world-famous masters and classics of Ukrainian and Russian schools of painting, such as Robert Falk, Alexander and Albert Benoit, Konstantin Korovin, Konstantin Gorbatov, Ivan Trush, Petro Levchenko, Nikolai Prakhov; the works of Soviet-era artists Viktor Zaretsky, Mykola Hlushchenko, and Serhii Shyshko; and works by the best contemporary artists Oleg Tistol, Oleh Pinchuk, and Sergei Poyarkov.   

“There must be a monument to Alexander Vertinsky in Kyiv,” says the Mandry group frontman Foma, who sang the singer’s famous songs at the exhibit opening ceremony. “He is one of the 20th century’s most prominent artists! Our compatriot. An ethnic Ukrainian. A Kyivan. I am a longtime admirer of Vertinsky’s works. His songs are living human stories mixed with dreams and even visions. He performed them in a very individual and highly original style. I hope I will have made a full-scale concert program consisting of the maestro’s works by March 18, The Day Vertinsky was born and, incidentally, my birthday, too.”  

Ukrainian sculptors will take part in a competition to select the monument. It is will be erected on Andriivsky uzviz.