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Exhibition “The Don. Sholokhov. Russia”

On October, 5, 2011, in Tula, in the gallery of “Yasnaya Polyana” an exhibition of the State M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve “The Don. Sholokhov. Russia” was opened.

The director of the State Memorial and Natural Reserve “Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy “Yasnaya Polyana” Vladimir Tolstoy and director of the State M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve Alexander Sholokhov speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition drew attention to the fact, that the appearance of the exhibition narrating about the life and work of the author of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” in the homeland of Leo Tolstoy is not accidental. The two museums are connected by a long-time friendship, several joint projects have already been realized: in 2006-2007 some exhibits from Yasnaya Polyana and Vyoshenskaya were exposed at the exhibition “To the Tops of Russian Literature. A Dialogue Between Russia and Taiwan”, in 2009-2010 a travelling exhibition “A Garden of Leo Tolstoy” was taken to the Don by the museum-workers of Yasnaya Polyana, in 2010 the museums co-operated in a joint exposition in the State A.S. Pushkin Museum in Moscow “The Place of the Genius” devoted to the great writers of the Russian and French literature.

The exhibition “The Don. Sholokhov. Russia” will enable the Tula visitors to learn more about the writer, about the importance of his literary heritage for the Russian and world culture, about the Don country, the history and traditions of the Cossacks. The exposition displays more than 300 exhibits, which are mostly originals.

The Don. Sholokhov. Russia. These words have been closely connected for a long time. The exhibition shows the writer’s life and work inseparably connected with the history and people of the country. There are laid out ethnographic exhibits of the early XX century – Cossack clothes, everyday life utensils and tools, battle awards of the Cossacks in the wars “for the faith, tzar and Motherland”.

In the section devoted to the writer’s work unique exhibits are displayed: a writing-table, where the novels “And Quiet Flows the Don” and “Virgin Soil Upturned” were created, books from the Sholokhovs’ collection, personal belongings, hunting and fishing tackles reflecting the family’s hobbies. There are first editions of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”, manuscripts of the “Virgin Soil Upturned” and chapters of the novel “They Fought for Their Country”. For the first time the original photographs are exhibited: Misha Sholokhov with his parents in 1912; Misha and his teacher Ermolov in the years of studies at the Moscow G. Shelaputin school.

There are first exhibited works of a photo artist N. Kochnev, showing the moments, when the genius was speaking with his countrymen, met with the readers, talked with his fellow writers or was simply standing staring into the distance he solely was aware of.

In the section of “The World Recognition” there are main awards and prizes of M.A. Sholokhov, editions of the writer’s works in many languages of the world. In the glass-cases there are evening dresses of the Sholokhovs, which they were wearing at the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony in 1965.

The exhibition displays paintings and drawings by the well-known artists – B. Shcherbakov, O. Vereiskiy, Y. Rebrov, Kukryniksi and others.

The organizers of the exhibition “The Don. Sholokhov. Russia” expect it to become a noticeable event in the cultural life of Tula and will be interesting for people of different generations, for all those, who are interested in and value the history and culture of Russia.

Irina Koveshnikova