The Chaliapin Estate Museum exhibits a porcelain statuette that brilliantly captures the singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin as Tsar Boris Godunov. A low, irregularly shaped pedestal holds a figure of a man dressed in a historical Russian costume, making an elaborate turn. His slightly raised head with a short beard and a mustache is turned to the left. There is a small cap placed on his dark hair. The man’s hands, pressed to his chest, are clutching a salad green handkerchief and a yellow scarf strewn with patterns. He is wearing festive boots. The Tsar is dressed in a light long shirt and over it is a dark caftan ornamented with floral patterns and lined with crimson fabric.
The work was created by Yakov Abramovich Troupyansky, who emphasizes the inevitability of tragedy in the Tsar’s appearance: the half-turned head, the obvious uneasiness, the confusion and hopelessness… Chaliapin’s interpretation of Boris Godunov amazed his contemporaries. Boris, at first a young and majestic Tsar full of strength, appeared in the final scenes as a decrepit, delirious old man. This truly became one of the singer’s best portrayals. The displayed figurine participates in antique exhibitions, and interestingly it is referred to as “Godunov” rather than “Chaliapin”, as in this figurine Troupyansky managed to express the monumental nature of the character.
The sculptor Yakov Troupyansky was born in Odesa. He graduated from the Odesa School of Art and the Naples Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg alongside the sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev.
Early in his career, Troupyansky preferred monumental and decorative sculpture. He decorated the facades and interiors of many buildings in Saint Petersburg, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa.
He also worked at the Leningrad Porcelain Factory and created some impressive works that became incredibly popular, including the sculpture of Feodor Chaliapin, the bust of the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the bronze figurine of the great Russian painter Ilya Repin. At some point, Troupyansky became head of a bronze foundry in Leningrad. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, he started restoring and conserving sculptural monuments of Leningrad. During the post-war years, the craftsman taught at the Leningrad Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
The work was created by Yakov Abramovich Troupyansky, who emphasizes the inevitability of tragedy in the Tsar’s appearance: the half-turned head, the obvious uneasiness, the confusion and hopelessness… Chaliapin’s interpretation of Boris Godunov amazed his contemporaries. Boris, at first a young and majestic Tsar full of strength, appeared in the final scenes as a decrepit, delirious old man. This truly became one of the singer’s best portrayals. The displayed figurine participates in antique exhibitions, and interestingly it is referred to as “Godunov” rather than “Chaliapin”, as in this figurine Troupyansky managed to express the monumental nature of the character.
The sculptor Yakov Troupyansky was born in Odesa. He graduated from the Odesa School of Art and the Naples Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg alongside the sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev.
Early in his career, Troupyansky preferred monumental and decorative sculpture. He decorated the facades and interiors of many buildings in Saint Petersburg, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa.
He also worked at the Leningrad Porcelain Factory and created some impressive works that became incredibly popular, including the sculpture of Feodor Chaliapin, the bust of the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the bronze figurine of the great Russian painter Ilya Repin. At some point, Troupyansky became head of a bronze foundry in Leningrad. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, he started restoring and conserving sculptural monuments of Leningrad. During the post-war years, the craftsman taught at the Leningrad Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
