It was the distant winter of 1914. Fyodor Chaliapin, the idol of the people of Kharkiv, visited Ilya Repin, a great son of Kharkiv, at his estate in Kuokkala (Grand Duchy of Finland).
In issue No. 8 of the magazine *Ogonyok* from 1914, we find the following account of this visit:
For several days during Holy Week, Fyodor Chaliapin—the pride and glory of Russian vocal art—stayed as a guest of the renowned Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin at his country estate, “Penates,” in Finland
…..Our photographs, better than any description, capture the winter village idyll of these two famous contemporaries.
It was then that Ilya Efimovich began work on a magnificent portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin.
However, it should be noted that it is only thanks to old photographs that have miraculously survived and the curiosity of the ever-present journalists of that time that we are able to get an idea of how this great Kharkiv native wished to portray the favorite and idol of Kharkiv’s residents. The story behind this portrait itself is extremely complex and fascinating.
We can learn about her from the writings of Repin’s close friend and neighbor, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky. He left behind memories of this meeting and of Shalyapin’s portrait that are no less magnificent than the photographs.
…Yesterday at noon—Shalyapin arrived, with his little dog and a Chinese man named Vasily. Ilya Efimovich took out a huge canvas—and is painting him in a reclining pose. Repin gazes at him like a cat looking at a piece of bacon: fondly, lovingly. And he looks at Repin as if he were a kind old man, kissing him on the forehead, patting him on the head, and telling him bedtime stories…
This morning I stopped by Ilya Yefimovich’s place—to ask Vasya to drive me to the station. He took me to see the portrait of Chaliapin. It’s a very grand, passionate, colossal piece of art. I just blurted out, “Ah!”
— When did you find the time to do that in three days?
— I wrote the whole thing from memory; I just checked it against the original afterward.
Later, in 1917, Korney Ivanovich returned briefly to Kuokkala and visited Repin. Ilya Efimovich was delighted to show him his new paintings:
…he (Repin) painted a bizarre naked woman, with her stomach illuminated and her torso covered from the waist up. She has a strange hand—and a little dog by her side. “Ah, yes, it’s Shalyapin’s little dog!” I exclaimed.
— Yeah, yeah… it was a portrait of Chaliapin… It just wasn’t working out… I fiddled with it this way and that… And then I ended up making a woman. I need to check it against a live model. The belly button’s too big…
In 1926, Repin himself recalled:
My portrait of Chaliapin has long since been ruined. I couldn’t bring myself to accept my failed portrait. I painted and painted for so long—without a model, relying solely on memory—that I finally scrapped it entirely and destroyed it; only its rough sketch remained, and so all that hard work was lost.
It is important to note that the fate of this portrait, which got off to a promising start, is typical of many of Repin’s later works. After all, as is well known, Ilya Efimovich had an extremely difficult personality.
But what exactly is “Chukokkala”?! The thing is, Korney Chukovsky lived in Kuokkala for about 10 years.
It was Chukovsky’s witty friend and neighbor, Ilya Repin, who coined the word “Chukokkala” (a combination of the words “Chukovsky” and “Kuokkala”). However, Korney Ivanovich did not take offense. On the contrary, “Chukokkala” became the title of a handwritten humorous almanac that Korney Ivanovich kept until the very end of his life…
That’s what they’re like, those great geniuses from Kharkiv. They eye famous singers “like a cat eyeing a piece of bacon” and come up with “new” names for towns and villages.
- About the military pilot school and the airfield in Kharkiv… - 04.11.2020
- Nikanor Savich—A Political Career by Mistake - 13.07.2020
- And once again, about the Cavalry Guards… - 21.01.2020