Kozma Petrovich Prutkov was the collective pseudonym used by the poets Aleksey Tolstoy and his cousins Aleksey, Vladimir and Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov in the 1850s–1860s. Kozma Prutkov’s satirical poems and aphorisms and his very image of a dim-witted narcissistic bureaucrat of the era of Emperor Nicholas II ridiculed intellectual stagnation, political “well-meaningness” and parodied literary feeble imitation. Kozma Prutkov’s works were published in the well-known literary magazines of the time: “Sovremennik”, “Iskra”, “Razvleсheniye”, “Svistok”. The author’s undoubted talent was recognized both by his contemporaries and later critics.
Aleksey Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikov (1821–1908), a famous Russian poet and satirist, was privileged to write the first fable that marked the start of Kozma Prutkov’s poetic oeuvre. In his later years, he often stayed at Ilyinovka in Kirsanov District, on the estate of his eldest daughter Olga and her husband Mikhail Andreevich Boratsky, nephew of Yevgeny Abramovich Boratynsky.
The poets meticulously crafted the image of Kozma Prutkov: he was endowed with a detailed biography, characteristic features of his psychological disposition and an appropriate appearance, depicted in the portrait that accompanies all the collections of Kozma Prutkov’s works. The creators of this portrait were the artists Lev Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikov, Alexander Yegorovich Beydeman and Lev Feliksovich Lagorio.
In 1900, Dmitry Stelletsky, then a student in the sculpture department of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, sculpted a bust of Kozma Prutkov from this portrait. After moving to Paris in 1914, Stelletsky became one of the most prominent artists of the Russian abroad. He painted the murals in the Church of St. Sergius in Paris. Thus, the bust of Kozma Prutkov, which is now in the Kirsanov Local History Museum, is one of the first works by the famous sculptor Dmitry Stelletsky.
This exhibit can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Kirsanov Local History Museum. In recent decades, “Kozma Prutkov from Kirsanov” has often been a guest at the exhibitions dedicated to the life and work of Alexey Zhemchuzhnikov held in various Russian cities.
Aleksey Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikov (1821–1908), a famous Russian poet and satirist, was privileged to write the first fable that marked the start of Kozma Prutkov’s poetic oeuvre. In his later years, he often stayed at Ilyinovka in Kirsanov District, on the estate of his eldest daughter Olga and her husband Mikhail Andreevich Boratsky, nephew of Yevgeny Abramovich Boratynsky.
The poets meticulously crafted the image of Kozma Prutkov: he was endowed with a detailed biography, characteristic features of his psychological disposition and an appropriate appearance, depicted in the portrait that accompanies all the collections of Kozma Prutkov’s works. The creators of this portrait were the artists Lev Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikov, Alexander Yegorovich Beydeman and Lev Feliksovich Lagorio.
In 1900, Dmitry Stelletsky, then a student in the sculpture department of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, sculpted a bust of Kozma Prutkov from this portrait. After moving to Paris in 1914, Stelletsky became one of the most prominent artists of the Russian abroad. He painted the murals in the Church of St. Sergius in Paris. Thus, the bust of Kozma Prutkov, which is now in the Kirsanov Local History Museum, is one of the first works by the famous sculptor Dmitry Stelletsky.
This exhibit can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Kirsanov Local History Museum. In recent decades, “Kozma Prutkov from Kirsanov” has often been a guest at the exhibitions dedicated to the life and work of Alexey Zhemchuzhnikov held in various Russian cities.
