The hall of the Pushkin House dedicated to Russian literature of the early 20th century displays portraits of Maxim Gorky painted during his lifetime, as well as his personal belongings. Among them is an oil-on-canvas portrait by Valentina Khodasevich, painted from life in the writer’s apartment in Petrograd.
This is how the artist recalled working on this
portrait,
I painted Gorky’s portrait in the summer of 1918 in his new apartment on Kronverksky Prospekt, 23. Alexei Maximovich [Gorky’s real name] was a very ‘involved’ and patient sitter, and, in order to prevent him from becoming fatigued, I decided to paint him seated at a small table. I depicted him full length, in oil. Alexei Maximovich posed for me eight or ten times, but not every day. The sessions lasted two to two and a half hours. During the sessions, Alexei Maximovich, trying not to change his posture, shared with me some of the most interesting adventures of his youth — various stories about the people of Nizhny Novgorod, the life and customs of famous merchants, fairs, clergy, monasteries, Arzamas and America, Italy, Finland and much, much more.
Gorky, according to Khodasevich, was satisfied with the portrait. He said, “This is great! Well done! You have captured me cleverly! The eyes are blue, and the shirt is blue, and the sky in the background… it’s a pity that I didn’t dye my mustache blue, you can include that in another portrait, and I am very pleased with this one!“.
The background is designed to serve as a decorative element and is meant to evoke the themes of Gorky’s stories that the artist heard during their sessions. Khodasevich described the style of this work as “decorative realism.”
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