Webinar about Lermontov: from Caucasus to self-portrait

The thematic webinar “Mikhail Lermontov: marking 205th Anniversary of the Birth” was held at the Presidential Library. The event was attended by numerous remote access centers located both in Russia and abroad. A meeting recording is available on the institution’s YouTube channel.

The audience watching the broadcast was presented with a review of the materials of the electronic collections of the Presidential Library, dedicated to one of the most romantic classics of Russian literature – Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841).

Many people tried to illustrate his life. The Presidential Library’s portal features the work Mikhail Lermontov (1914) by children's writer V. P. Avenarius, "specializing" in biographies of famous artists. He also wrote the novels “Pushkin's Adolescent Years” and “Pushkin's Youthful Years”, as well as books by Avenarius about Gogol, composers Glinka and Mozart. The illustrations for the book about Lermontov depict family members and the closest associates of Mikhail Yuryevich: grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna, parents - Yuri Petrovich and Maria Mikhailovna, as well as the poet himself in his childhood.

In addition, the Presidential Library’s collections contain publications dedicated to specific topics in Lermontov’s work, for example, the Caucasus, which he loved very much. First of all it is about the book of L. P. Semenov Lermontov and the folklore of the Caucasus (1941).

Admirers of Russian literature will be interested in looking through the publication Mikhail Lermontov in portraits and illustrations (1941) available in electronic form.

Lermontov himself was so much gifted in the form of visual arts. According to the materials of the Presidential Library, one can trace the chronology of the creation of his drawings and paintings, starting from childhood and ending with mature works. The latter include a reproduction of Lermontov’s drawing “Dance of the Georgians” (1837).

In addition, the Presidential Library’s collection contains Lermontov’s Masquerade in theatrical sketches of A. Ya. Golovin (1941), edited by academician of painting E. E. Lancere, published on the centenary of the poet’s death.

Self-portraits of 1837 and 1837–1838, portrait of an unknown artist Mikhail Lermontov in childhood 1820-1822 and other images of the classic of Russian literature, created by different artists, illustrate the independent nature and at the same time, the romantic structure of the soul of Mikhail Yuryevich.

Speaking at the webinar, Inna Lokotnikova, head of the Lermontov Central Library (St. Petersburg), spoke about various cultural events related to the poet’s name.