Museum Collection
M.A. Sholokhov. A Photo by A. Uzlyan
This picture taken in the mid 1930-s, when the writer worked over his novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”, again and again thinking over the final chapter of the novel. He was young and full of energy.
A press-photographer Alexander Uzlyan took a picture of Mikhail Alexandrovich dressed in a sweater holding a pipe in his hand, against the bookshelves of the big family book collection, thus having created a true, bright, impressive image. As the photo artist considered, looking at the picture the viewers will have an impression of a unity of the two notions of “a writer” and “books”.
Books for Sholokhov were known to be a part of his creative work, they were read and reread. He collected his books purposefully, choosing the most necessary, most valuable for him editions. In his article “Three Meetings” (“Literatura i Zhizn” (Literature and Life) of 9.01.1959) A. Uzlyan recollected: “I visited Vyoshenskaya in the autumn of 1937. My companion, a reporter Aralichev, was to receive new chapters of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” from Sholokhov…” Speaking Mikhail Alexandrovich paced the room and often came up to the bookshelves taking and turning over the pages of one book or another. It seemed very characteristic of Sholokhov, and I asked for permission to take a picture of him against the bookshelves”.
The second marked detail is a pipe in M.A. Sholokhov’s hand. In those years he preferred a curved pipe to smoke, which was more convenient for him. In one of his letters to E.G. Levitskaya, Moscow, early in the 1930-s, he facetiously inquires: “… Where is the pipe promised to me?... A curved pipe is better for hunting”.
Alexander Uzlyan, who worked for the “Ogonyok” and “Literaturnaya Gazeta”, in the mid 1970-s left the USSR and his name was missed from the pages of the Soviet periodicals. He should be noted to be a high-class photographer, he could quickly and masterly set up a picture, prearrange a plot and a perspective of the would-be photograph. Owing to the professional flair of the press photographer there appeared one of the brightest and most impressive pre-war photographs of M.A. Sholokhov.
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