Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychologism, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. The works of this brilliant writer are Russia’s greatest asset.

In August 1828, a classic of Russian literature was born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province. The future author of War and Peace became the fourth child in a family of eminent nobles. On his father's side, he belonged to the old family of Count Tolstoy, who served and. On the maternal side, Lev Nikolaevich is a descendant of the Ruriks. It is noteworthy that Leo Tolstoy also has a common ancestor - Admiral Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin.

Lev Nikolayevich’s mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died of childbirth fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Lev was not even two years old. Seven years later, the head of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died.

Caring for the children fell on the shoulders of the writer’s aunt, T. A. Ergolskaya. Later, the second aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father’s sister P. I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced her nephew, and the writer called his childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Leo Tolstoy described his impressions of life at the Yushkov estate in his story “Childhood.”

Silhouette and portrait of Leo Tolstoy's parents

The classic received his primary education at home from German and French teachers. In 1843, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, choosing the Faculty of Oriental Languages. Soon, due to low academic performance, he transferred to another faculty - law. But he did not succeed here either: after two years he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wanting to establish relations with the peasants in a new way. The idea failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved social entertainment and became interested in music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and...

Disappointed with the life of the landowner after spending the summer in the village, 20-year-old Leo Tolstoy left the estate and moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The young man rushed between preparing for candidate exams at the university, studying music, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet in a horse guards regiment. Relatives called Lev “the most trifling fellow,” and it took years to pay off the debts he incurred.

Literature

In 1851, the writer’s brother, officer Nikolai Tolstoy, persuaded Lev to go to the Caucasus. For three years Lev Nikolaevich lived in a village on the banks of the Terek. The nature of the Caucasus and the patriarchal life of the Cossack village were later reflected in the stories “Cossacks” and “Hadji Murat”, the stories “Raid” and “Cutting the Forest”.

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy composed the story “Childhood,” which he published in the magazine “Sovremennik” under the initials L.N. Soon he wrote the sequels “Adolescence” and “Youth,” combining the stories into a trilogy. The literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich his first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: an appointment to Bucharest, a transfer to besieged Sevastopol, and command of a battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the series “Sevastopol Stories”. The works of the young writer amazed critics with their bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them a “dialectic of the soul,” and the emperor read the essay “Sevastopol in December” and expressed admiration for Tolstoy’s talent.

In the winter of 1855, 28-year-old Leo Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Sovremennik circle, where he was warmly welcomed, calling him “the great hope of Russian literature.” But over the course of a year, I got tired of the writing environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners. Later in Confession Tolstoy admitted:

“These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”

In the fall of 1856, the young writer went to the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 he went abroad. Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe for six months. Visited Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there to Yasnaya Polyana. On the family estate, he began arranging schools for peasant children. With his participation, twenty educational institutions appeared in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, he studied the pedagogical systems of European countries in order to apply what he saw in Russia.

A special niche in the work of Leo Tolstoy is occupied by fairy tales and works for children and teenagers. The writer has created hundreds of works for young readers, including good and instructive fairy tales “Kitten”, “Two Brothers”, “Hedgehog and Hare”, “Lion and Dog”.

Leo Tolstoy wrote the school textbook “ABC” to teach children writing, reading and arithmetic. The literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice for teachers. The third book includes the story “Prisoner of the Caucasus.”

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

In the 1870s, Leo Tolstoy, while continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted two storylines: the family drama of the Karenins and the home idyll of the young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed to be a love affair: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of existence of the “educated class”, contrasting it with the truth of peasant life. "Anna Karenina" was highly appreciated.

The turning point in the writer’s consciousness was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight occupies a central place in the stories and stories. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “Father Sergius” and the story “After the Ball” appear. The classic of Russian literature paints pictures of social inequality and castigates the idleness of the nobles.

In search of an answer to the question of the meaning of life, Leo Tolstoy turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but even there he did not find satisfaction. The writer came to the conclusion that the Christian Church is corrupt, and under the guise of religion, priests are promoting false teaching. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication “Mediator,” where he outlined his spiritual beliefs and criticized the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church, and the writer was monitored by the secret police.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received favorable reviews from critics. But the success of the work was inferior to “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace”.

For the last 30 years of his life, Leo Tolstoy, with his teachings on non-violent resistance to evil, was recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy disliked his novel War and Peace, calling the epic “wordy rubbish.” The classic writer wrote the work in the 1860s, while living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, entitled “1805,” were published by Russkiy Vestnik in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated controversy among critics.

Leo Tolstoy writes "War and Peace"

The novelist took the features of the heroes of the work, written during the years of family happiness and spiritual elation, from life. In Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, the features of Lev Nikolaevich’s mother are recognizable, her penchant for reflection, brilliant education and love of art. The writer awarded Nikolai Rostov with his father’s traits - mockery, love of reading and hunting.

When writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence of Tolstoy and Volkonsky, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. His young wife helped him, copying his drafts out clean.

The novel was read avidly, striking readers with the breadth of its epic canvas and subtle psychological analysis. Leo Tolstoy characterized the work as an attempt to “write the history of the people.”

According to the calculations of literary critic Lev Anninsky, by the end of the 1970s, the works of the Russian classic were filmed 40 times abroad alone. Until 1980, the epic War and Peace was filmed four times. Directors from Europe, America and Russia have made 16 films based on the novel “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection” has been filmed 22 times.

“War and Peace” was first filmed by director Pyotr Chardynin in 1913. The most famous film was made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

Leo Tolstoy married 18-year-old in 1862, when he was 34 years old. The count lived with his wife for 48 years, but the couple’s life can hardly be called cloudless.

Sofia Bers is the second of three daughters of the Moscow palace office doctor Andrei Bers. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they vacationed on a Tula estate near Yasnaya Polyana. For the first time Leo Tolstoy saw his future wife as a child. Sophia was educated at home, read a lot, understood art, and graduated from Moscow University. The diary kept by Bers-Tolstaya is recognized as an example of the memoir genre.

At the beginning of his married life, Leo Tolstoy, wanting there to be no secrets between him and his wife, gave Sophia a diary to read. The shocked wife learned about her husband’s stormy youth, passion for gambling, wild life and the peasant girl Aksinya, who was expecting a child from Lev Nikolaevich.

The first-born Sergei was born in 1863. In the early 1860s, Tolstoy began writing the novel War and Peace. Sofya Andreevna helped her husband, despite her pregnancy. The woman taught and raised all the children at home. Five of the 13 children died in infancy or early childhood.

Problems in the family began after Leo Tolstoy finished his work on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with the life that Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. The count's moral turmoil led to Lev Nikolayevich demanding that his relatives give up meat, alcohol and smoking. Tolstoy forced his wife and children to dress in peasant clothes, which he made himself, and wanted to give his acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made considerable efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​​​distributing goods. But the quarrel that occurred split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. Upon returning, the writer entrusted the responsibility of rewriting drafts to his daughters.

The death of their last child, seven-year-old Vanya, briefly brought the couple closer together. But soon mutual grievances and misunderstandings alienated them completely. Sofya Andreevna found solace in music. In Moscow, a woman took lessons from a teacher for whom romantic feelings developed. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for “half-betrayal.”

The couple's fatal quarrel occurred at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia a farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but could not do otherwise.

Death

82-year-old Leo Tolstoy, accompanied by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, the writer fell ill and got off the train at the Astapovo railway station. Lev Nikolaevich spent the last 7 days of his life in the stationmaster's house. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy’s health.

The children and wife arrived at the Astapovo station, but Leo Tolstoy did not want to see anyone. The classic died on November 7, 1910: he died of pneumonia. His wife survived him by 9 years. Tolstoy was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
• All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his own door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• It's easier to live without love. But without it there is no point.
• I don't have everything I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world moves forward because of those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows whether he will survive until the evening.

Bibliography

• 1869 – “War and Peace”
• 1877 – “Anna Karenina”
• 1899 – “Resurrection”
• 1852-1857 – “Childhood”. "Adolescence". "Youth"
• 1856 – “Two Hussars”
• 1856 – “Morning of the Landowner”
• 1863 – “Cossacks”
• 1886 – “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
• 1903 – “Notes of a Madman”
• 1889 – “Kreutzer Sonata”
• 1898 – “Father Sergius”
• 1904 – “Hadji Murat”

Photo fund

IN State Museum of Leo Tolstoy stored in Moscow about 26 thousand copies of photographs main fund. The museum has not only the most complete collection of photographs of Leo Tolstoy (about 12 thousand copies), but also unique and diverse photographs of persons, places, events related to the life and work of the writer.
The foundation of the museum's photographic fund was the exhibits of the Tolstoy exhibition, which opened in 1911 on a voluntary basis in the Historical Museum in Moscow. The owners of the photographs (among them K.K. Bulla, F.T. Protasevich, the company “Scherer, Nabgolts and Co.”, who photographed Tolstoy) donated them to the permanent museum of Leo Tolstoy, which opened in 1911 in Moscow on Povarskaya Street, and in 1921 came under the control of the state. Based on the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR 1939 about concentration in the State. The Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow contains all materials related to his life and work; the photo collections have been replenished with new materials from various museums across the country. Of particular value among them are photographs and negatives by S.A. Tolstoy, the writer’s wife, received by the museum from Yasnaya Polyana, the Library named after. V.I. Lenin (former Rumyantsev Museum), Historical Museum: L.N. could have seen them. Tolstoy, hold in hands; they have inscriptions and notes from the writer’s family members.

In subsequent years, large and significant receipts came from archives V.G. Chertkova , granddaughters Tolstoy S.A. Tolstoy-Yesenina , son and grandson of the writer S.L. and S.S. Tolstykh , great-grandson A.I. Tolstoy , acquaintances of the Tolstoy family - H.N. Abrikosova, P.N. Boulanger, P.A. Sergeenko, N.N. Guseva, and also from the archive K.S. Shokhor-Trotsky and others.
The museum's photographic Tolstoyan culture is numerous and varied. This is a whole photographic chronicle of the writer’s life, which was created over 60 years - from the first daguerreotype image to photographs obtained as a result of instant shooting.

There are few images of the young Tolstoy. These are daguerreotypes (mirror prints on a silver plated metal plate) 1849 and 1854 (of the 4 daguerreotypes of the writer known to us, three are in our museum) and the first photographs in the modern meaning of the word, i.e. prints on paper, works S.L. Levitsky, M.B. Tulinova, I. Zheruzet (1856, 1862). Subsequently, as photographic equipment improved and Tolstoy’s popularity grew, his photographs became more and more numerous, especially in the first decade of the twentieth century.

L.N. Tolstoy was photographed by representatives of well-known photographic firms, correspondents from newspapers and magazines, members of his family, relatives, friends, acquaintances and random visitors.

The first amateur images of the writer (with the exception of a self-photoportrait of 1862) were taken by a neighbor on the estate, Prince S.S. Abamelk-Lazarev (1884), a family friend of M.A. Stakhovich (1887) and wife S.A. Tolstoy (1887). The first two authors created entire photo collections - portraits of Tolstoy, his family, relatives and guests of Yasnaya Polyana; Many photographs are of a genre nature, conveying the emotional atmosphere of the Yasnaya Polyana estate.

L.N. Tolstoy next to his sculptural portrait by I.E. Repina. 1891 Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by E.S. Tomashevich.

In the 1890s, in addition to the already mentioned S.S. Abameleka-Lazarev and S.A. Tolstoy, the writer was photographed by Adamson, E.S. Tomashevich, J. Stadling (Swedish journalist), P.F. Samarin, P.I. Biryukov, D.I. Chetverikov, artist N.A. Kasatkin, P.V. Preobrazhensky, the son of the writer Ilya Lvovich and others. All of them captured important, significant moments of the writer’s social activity, his activities and interests: Tolstoy mowing with a Yasnaya Polyana peasant; compiles lists of starving people in Begichevka, Ryazan province; among like-minded people on a farm in Rusanov, Tula province; at the booths on Devichye Pole in Moscow...

The largest number of photographs of L.N. Tolstoy was made in the 1900s, when instant machines appeared. Among the authors are people close to the writer: wife Sofya Andreevna, daughters Maria and Alexandra, son Ilya; friends and acquaintances: V.G. Chertkov, D.A. Olsufiev, P.I. Biryukov, D.V. Nikitin, I.M. Bodyansky, D.A. Khiryakov, P.A. Sergeenko and many others. In their photographs, Tolstoy appears to us in a relaxed, confidential atmosphere, with family and guests, like-minded people and acquaintances, at work and on a walk, in Yasnaya Polyana, Moscow and other places. Psychological intimate photographic portraits alternate with dynamic photographs that convey the expression of a moment or a separate story.

L.N. Tolstoy.1903 Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by A.L. Tolstoy.

In 1901, in connection with the “Decree of the Holy Synod” on the fall of Count L.N. Tolstoy was officially prohibited by the Orthodox Church from taking and distributing images of the writer, so there are few professional photographs of him from the 1900s. I still ordered portraits of my husband S.A. Tolstaya to the company "Scherer, Nabgolts and Co." In 1903, on the 75th anniversary of L.N. Tolstoy, his son Ilya Lvovich invited his friend, professional photographer F.T., to Yasnaya Polyana. Protasevich, who took many photographs of the hero of the day, his family and guests. On the eve of the writer’s 80th birthday (1908), St. Petersburg photographer from Novoye Vremya K.K. came to Yasnaya Polyana. Bulla with her son. In two days they created an entire pre-anniversary collection, which still amazes viewers with its life truth and technical brilliance: psychologically meaningful portraits of the writer, his family, guests, peasants, views and interiors of the estate and its surroundings.

In the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. 1908 Photo by K.K. Bulls.

The last professional photograph of Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana was taken by photographers from the Otto Renard company, who in 1909 came to Yasnaya together with representatives of the Gramophone company, who wanted to record the voice of the “patriarch of Russian literature.”

Chronicle of L.N.’s trips Tolstoy in 1909 and 1910 to his friend V.G. Chertkov in Krekshino near Moscow, to his daughter T.L. Sukhotina in Kochety, the writer’s last visit to Moscow in September 1909 was reflected (in addition to photographs by V.G. Chertkov and T. Tapsel) in photographs of professional craftsmen S.G. Smirnova, A.I. Savelyev, the company “Yu.Mobius”, in film footage by A.O. Drankova, J. Meyer (Pathe company); They also filmed the mourning days of November 1920 in Astapov and Yasnaya Polyana, which were also captured by professionals T.M. Morozov, F.T. Protasevich and cameramen from A.A. Khanzhonkova.

The most significant collections of Tolstoy iconography are the works of the writer’s wife S.A. Tolstoy and his friend V.G. Chertkov - both in the number of photographs and in the variety of subjects.

Photos by S.A. Tolstoy (about 1000 stories) is a kind of chronicle of the last twenty years of L.N.’s life. Tolstoy (1887-1910). Her camera recorded both important events and everyday, prosaic ones. In her photographs we see Leo Tolstoy at work, on vacation, with his family and guests, with prominent cultural figures; Other favorite subjects of her photographs are portraits of children and grandchildren, relatives, numerous guests, landscapes of her beloved Yasnaya Polyana, episodes of everyday life. Many photographs show the work of S.A. Tolstoy was also captured by the author himself, since she filmed with a road camera, which she installed on a tripod.

Yasnaya Polyana

L.N. and S.A. Thick with sculptor I.Ya. Ginzburg (left) and critic V.V. Stasov. 1900 Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.

Among the photographs marked by a somewhat static composition, there are many in her photo collection that are bright and lively. “snatched” from the everyday life of Yasnaya Polyana or Photo by S.A. Tolstoy. Moscow family life, where “every moment, according to I. Repin, was deeply interesting - as only the Tolstoys could be.” Collection of S.A. Tolstoy is unequal in terms of execution technique (she did not even have a special room for processing photographs), but in terms of the nature of the plots that convey the full-blooded lifestyle of L.N. Tolstoy, the atmosphere in which he lived is unsurpassed.

Friend and like-minded person of Tolstoy V.G. Chertkov created his photo collection (about 360 subjects) in just five years (1905-1910). First of all, he tried to express through photography the peculiarity and complexity of L.N.’s spiritual appearance. Tolstoy. Hence his predilection for close-up portraits, for the themes “Tolstoy and Nature”, “Tolstoy and the People”, through which, in his opinion, the writer’s personality was most revealed. Few amateurs, not to mention professional photographers, had access to the same extent as Chertkov, moments when it was possible to “spy” and take a close-up of Tolstoy’s face during a casual conversation, alone with his thoughts, at the moment of creativity. Instant cameras made it possible for Chertkov to shoot whole series of simultaneous close-up portraits of Lev Nikolaevich. Each “tape” of such photographs (there are 10 such series in the museum) conveys Tolstoy’s face in motion, in the endless variety of his expressions. Some of Chertkov’s photographic portraits in their psychological capacity and degree of generalization can compete with even the best paintings and graphic images of the writer, delighting us with the perfection of technical execution (the photographs were developed and printed by professional T. Tapsel, specially invited by Chertkov from England).

L.N. Tolstoy. 1907 Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by V.G. Chertkova

The value of the photographic fund is represented by a unique collection of daguerreotypes (portraits of L.N. Tolstoy, his relatives, friends and acquaintances) from 1844-1856. works by V. Shenfeldt, K.P. Masera, A.Ya. Davignona, M.A. Abadi, N.A. Pashkov, Blumenthal brothers. All seventeen daguerreotypes have survived to this day in good condition, with the exception of the 18th, which has partially lost its image.

Among a large number of photographs of various people from L.N.’s circle. Tolstoy's museum contains photo albums of representatives of secular society from the 1850s to 1870s. from the archives of the Chertkovs, Panins, Levashovs, Vorontsovs-Dashkovs; albums of “photo portraits of august persons and persons famous in Russia” by G. Denyer (1865).

In the “Different Places” section, noteworthy are close-up photographs of views of the Caucasus taken by photographers and topographers of the General Staff of the Caucasian Army in the 1850s-1860s, an album of light paintings by Count Nostitz (1896) with views of Moscow and Crimea.

Photographs of people and places associated with the life and work of L.N. Tolstoy make up about 2/3 of the total number of photographs, but no matter how large this part of the main photographic fund is, the boundaries of its expansion are limitless - Tolstoy absorbed so much, so wide and varied were his connections.

1888
From left to right are: Alexander Emmanuilovich Dmitriev-Mamonov (son of the artist), Misha and Maria Tolstoy, M.V. Mamonov, Madame Lambert (governess); sitting: Sasha Tolstaya, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, Alexander Mikhailovich Kuzminsky (husband of Tatyana Kuzminskaya), artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, Andrey and Lev Tolstoy, Sasha Kuzminsky, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya (sister of Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy), Mikhail Vladimirovich Islavin, Vera Aleksandrovna Kuzminskaya, Misha Kuzminsky, Miss Chomel (governess to the Kuzminsky children); in the foreground are Vasya Kuzminsky, Lev and Tatyana Tolstoy. During 12 years of friendship with Tolstoy, Ge painted only one picturesque portrait of Tolstoy. In 1890, at the request of Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy, Ge sculpted a bust of Tolstoy - the first sculptural image of the writer, and even earlier, in 1886, he completed a series of illustrations for Tolstoy’s story “How People Live.”

August 1897
The photographs were taken at the request of Ilya Yakovlevich Ginzburg, during his stay in Yasnaya Polyana, when he was working on a full-length sculptural portrait of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy. Using these photographs, the sculptor sculpted a figurine of the writer and then sculpted it from life, correcting what had been previously done.

Anton Chekhov at Leo Tolstoy's in Gaspra
1901

Breakfast on the terrace of a house in Gaspra
December 1901

Leo Tolstoy with his family on his 75th birthday
1903 Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana
From left to right are: Ilya, Lev, Alexandra and Sergei Tolstoy; sitting: Mikhail, Tatyana, Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Andrey.

Leo Tolstoy with peasant children on Trinity Day. May 17, 1909

Leo Tolstoy riding Zorka
1903

Leo Tolstoy with his sister Maria Nikolaevna in Yasnaya Polyana
July 1908

Leo Tolstoy near the terrace of the Yasnaya Polyana house
May 11, 1908

Leo Tolstoy in his study at home in Yasnaya Polyana
1909

1909 Tolstoy was photographed in the music store of Yuli Genrikhovich Zimmerman on Kuznetsky Most while listening to the new musical device “Minion”, which reproduces the performance of famous pianists.

1909 In the background on the left is the grandson Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy, on the right is the son of the servant Alyosha Sidorkov. “In my presence,” recalls Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov, “Lev Nikolaevich, at 82 years old, played gorodki with Alyosha Sidorkov... the son of the old Yasnaya Polyana servant Ilya Vasilyevich Sidorkov. There is a photograph depicting Tolstoy’s “blow”. Of course, he could no longer play for a long time and “seriously”: he just “tried his strength.”

Going to the opening of the People's Library in the village of Yasnaya Polyana: Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra Tolstaya, Chairman of the Moscow Literacy Society Pavel Dolgorukov, Tatyana Sukhotina, Varvara Feokritova, Pavel Biryukov
January 31, 1910

19 May 1910
One of the last portraits of the writer. Filmed by Vladimir Grigorievich Chertkov at a time when Tolstoy and his secretary Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov were sorting out the mail. On the day of the shooting, May 19, 1910, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “Taking portraits. It’s unpleasant that I can’t refuse.” Lev Nikolaevich crossed out the last line, not wanting to upset Chertkov.

Set of postcards “L. N. Tolstoy in photographs of his contemporaries” with some comments...

Lev Nikolaevich, being the fourth child in the family, was born in 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana - the estate of his mother Maria Nikolaevna. Quite early on, the children were left without parents and were taken care of by their father's relatives. Nevertheless, very bright feelings about my parents remained. My father, Nikolai Ilyich, was remembered as honest and never humiliated himself before anyone, a very cheerful and bright person, but with eternally sad eyes. About his mother, who died very early, I would like to note one quote found from the memoirs of Lev Nikolaevich:

“She seemed to me such a high, pure, spiritual being that often in the middle period of my life, during the struggle with the temptations that beset me, I prayed to her soul, asking her to help me, and this prayer always helped me.”
P. I. Biryukov. Biography of L. N. Tolstoy.

This biography is also notable for the fact that L.N. himself took part in its editing and writing.

Moscow, 1851. Photo from Mather's daggerotype.

In the photo above, Tolstoy is 23 years old. This is the year of the first literary attempts, the usual revelry of that time, cards and random companions in life, which was subsequently described in “War and Peace”. However, the first school for serfs was opened by him four years earlier. Also, 1851 is the year of entry into military service in the Caucasus.

Tolstoy the officer was very successful and, if not for the reaction of his superiors to a sharp pamphlet in 1855, the future philosopher would have been under stray bullets for a long time.

1854 Photo from a daggerotype.

The brave warrior, who showed his best side during the Crimean War, finished writing “Sevastopol Stories” already in the rear, in St. Petersburg. Acquaintance with Turgenev brought Tolstoy close to the editorial board of the Sovremennik magazine, where some of his stories were also published.

Editorial Board of the Sovremennik magazine, St. Petersburg. Standing from left to right: L.N. Tolstoy, D.V. Grigorovich. Seated: I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, A.V. Druzhinin, A.N. Ostrovsky. Photo by S.L. Levitsky.

1862, Moscow. Photo by M.B. Tulinov.

Perhaps, Tolstoy is characterized in an important way by the fact that while in Paris, he, a participant in the heroic defense of Sevastopol, was unpleasantly struck by the cult of Napoleon I and the guillotining, which he happened to be present at. Later, a description of the order that reigned in the army will emerge in 1886, in the famous “Nikolai Palkin” - the story of an old veteran will again shock Tolstoy, who served only in the active army and was not faced with the senseless cruelty of the army as a means of punishing the rebellious poor. The vicious judicial practice and one’s own inability to protect the innocent will also be mercilessly criticized in “Memoirs of the Trial of a Soldier,” which tells the story of 1966.

But sharp and irreconcilable criticism of the existing order was still to come; the 60s were years of enjoying a happy family life with a loving and beloved wife, who did not always accept, but always understood her husband’s way of thinking and actions. At the same time, “War and Peace” was written - from 1865 to 68.

1868, Moscow.

It is difficult to find an epithet for Tolstoy’s activities before the 80s. Anna Karenina is written, and there are many other works that subsequently earned a low rating from the author in comparison with his later work. This is not yet formulating answers to fundamental questions, but preparing the foundation for them.

L. N. Tolstoy (1876)

And in 1879, A Study of Dogmatic Theology appeared. In the mid-80s, Tolstoy organized the publishing house of books for popular reading, “Mediator,” and many stories were written for him. One of the milestones in the philosophy of Lev Nikolaevich comes out - the treatise “What is my faith?”

1885, Moscow. Photo of the company Scherer and Nabholz.

L.N. Tolstoy with his wife and children. 1887

The 20th century was marked by intense polemics with the Orthodox Church and excommunication from it. Tolstoy took an active part in public life, criticizing the Russo-Japanese War and the social structure of the empire, which was already beginning to burst at the seams.

1901, Crimea. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.

1905, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy returns from swimming on the Voronka River. Photo by V.G. Chertkov.

1908, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy with his favorite horse Delir. Photo by K.K. Bulla.

August 28, 1908, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy on his 80th birthday. Photo by V.G. Chertkov.

1908, Yasnaya Polyana. At the terrace of a Yasnaya Polyana house. Photo by S.A. Baranov.

1909 In the village of Krekshino. Photo by V.G. Chertkov.

1909, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy in his office at work. Photo by V.G. Chertkov.

The entire large Tolstoy family often gathered at the family estate Yasnaya Polyana.

1908 House of Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by K.K. Bulla.

1892, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy with his family at the tea table in the park. Photo by Scherer and Nabholz.

1908, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tanya. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.

1908, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy plays chess with M.S. Sukhotin. From left to right: T.L. Tolstoy-Sukhotina with M.L. Tolstoy’s daughter Tanya Tolstoy, Yu.I. Igumnova, L.N. Tolstoy, A.B. Goldenweiser, S.A. Tolstoy, son of M.L. Tolstoy Vanya Tolstoy, M.S. Sukhotin, M.L. Tolstoy, A.L. Tolstoy. Photo by K.K. Bulla.

L. N. Tolstoy tells a tale about a cucumber to his grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya, 1909

Despite the pressure from the church, many famous and respected people maintained close relations with Lev Nikolaevich.

1900, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy and A.M. Gorky. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.

1901, Crimea. L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.

1908, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy and I.E. Repin. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.

In the last year of his life, Tolstoy secretly left his family in order to live the remaining time according to his own worldview. On the way, he fell ill with pneumonia and died at the Astapovo station in the Lipetsk region, which now bears his name.

Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tanya, Yasnaya Polyana, 1910

1910 In the village of Zatishye. Photo by V.G. Chertkov.

Most of the photographs presented above were taken by Karl Karlovich Bulla, Vladimir Grigorievich Chertkov and the writer’s wife Sofia Andreevna. Karl Bulla is a famous photographer of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, who left a colossal legacy that today largely determines the visual understanding of that long-gone era.

Karl Bulla (from Wikipedia)

Vladimir Chertkov is one of Tolstoy’s closest friends and like-minded people, who became one of the leaders of Tolstoyism and the publisher of many of Lev Nikolaevich’s works.

Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Chertkov

Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana (1908).
Photographic portrait by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky. First color photograph. First published in “Notes of the Russian Technical Society.”

In the memoirs of another like-minded Tolstoy - Pavel Aleksandrovich Boulanger - a mathematician, engineer, writer, who introduced Russian readers to the biography of Buddha (published to this day!) and the main ideas of his teaching, Tolstoy’s words are quoted:

God gave me the highest happiness - he gave me such a friend as Chertkov.

Sofya Andreevna, née Bers, was a faithful companion to Lev Nikolaevich and it is difficult to overestimate all the support she gave him.

S. A. Tolstaya, ur. Bers(from Wikipedia)

The State Museum of L.N. Tolstoy in Moscow houses about 26 thousand copies of photographs. The museum has not only the most complete collection of photographs of L. N. Tolstoy (about 12 thousand), but also unique photographs of persons, places, events related to the life and work of the writer.

The foundation of the museum's photographic fund was the exhibits of the Tolstoy exhibition, which opened in 1911 on a voluntary basis in the Historical Museum in Moscow. The owners of the photographs (among them K.K. Bulla, F.T. Protasevich, the company “Scherer, Nabgolts and Co.”, who photographed Tolstoy) donated them to the permanent museum of L.N. Tolstoy, which opened in 1911 in Moscow on Povarskaya Street, and in 1921 it came under the jurisdiction of the state. Based on the 1939 resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on concentration in the State. Museum of L. N. Tolstoy in Moscow with all materials related to his life and work, the photo funds were replenished with new materials from different museums of the country. Of particular value among them are photographs and negatives of S. A. Tolstoy, the writer’s wife, received by the museum from Yasnaya Polyana, the Library named after. V.I. Lenin (former Rumyantsev Museum), Historical Museum: L.N. Tolstoy could have seen them, held them in his hands, they have inscriptions and notes from members of the writer’s family.

In subsequent years, large and significant in content receipts came from the archives of V. G. Chertkov, Tolstoy’s granddaughter S. A. Tolstoy-Yesenina, the son and grandson of the writer S. L. and S. S. Tolstoy, the great-grandson of A. I. Tolstoy, acquaintances of the Tolstoy family - Kh. N. Abrikosov, P. N. Boulanger, P. A. Sergeenko, N. N. Gusev, as well as from the archives of K. S. Shokhor-Trotsky and others.

The museum's photographic Tolstoyan culture is numerous and varied. This is a whole photo chronicle of the writer’s life, which was created over 60 years - from the first daguerreotype image to the color photograph portrait made by the pioneer of color photography S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky.

Tolstoy is filmed by professionals

There are few images of the young Tolstoy. These are daguerreotypes (mirror prints on a silver-plated metal plate) of 1849 and 1854 (of the four daguerreotypes of the writer known to us, three are in our museum) and the first photographs in the modern meaning of the word, i.e. prints on paper, works by S. L. Levitsky , M. B. Tulinova, I. Zheryuze (1856, 1862). Subsequently, as photographic equipment improved and Tolstoy’s popularity grew, his photographs became more and more numerous, especially in the first decade of the twentieth century. L. N. Tolstoy was photographed by representatives of well-known photographic firms, correspondents from newspapers and magazines, members of his family, relatives, friends, acquaintances and random visitors.

In the 1870s, there were still few images of the writer. The author of “Anna Karenina” appears before us in photographs by the professional I. G. Dyagovchenko (1876) and M. M. Panov (1878-79).

In the 1880s - 90s, the company Scherer, Nabholz and Co., which photographed Tolstoy and his family for almost a quarter of a century, occupied a special place among professional photographers in the writer’s documentary iconography. Most of the writer’s photographic portraits were made on the initiative of Sofia Andreevna for the collected works of her husband that she was preparing. During these same years, many amateur photographs of Tolstoy appeared, which was associated with the simplification of photography techniques.

Tolstoy in amateur photographs

The first amateur images of the writer (with the exception of a self-photoportrait of 1862) were made by a neighbor on the estate, Prince S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev (1884), family friend M. A. Stakhovich (1887) and wife S. A. Tolstoy (1887). The first two authors created entire photo collections - portraits of Tolstoy, his family, relatives and guests of Yasnaya Polyana; Many photographs are of a genre nature, conveying the emotional atmosphere of the Yasnaya Polyana estate.

In the 1890s, in addition to the already mentioned S. S. Abameleka-Lazarev and S. A. Tolstoy, the writer was photographed by Adamson, E. S. Tomashevich, J. Stadling (Swedish journalist), P. F. Samarin, P. I Biryukov, D. I. Chetverikov, artist N. A. Kasatkin, P. V. Preobrazhensky, the son of the writer Ilya Lvovich and others. All of them captured important, significant moments of the writer’s social activity, his activities and interests: Tolstoy mowing with a Yasnaya Polyana peasant; compiles lists of starving people in Begichevka, Ryazan province; among like-minded people on a farm in Rusanov, Tula province; at the booths on Devichye Pole in Moscow...

Some authors created heartfelt portraits of the writer, such as P. I. Biryukov, others managed to convey the spontaneity of a captured moment, such as the “vertical split” of Tolstoy mounting a horse in a photograph by the artist N. A. Kasatkin.

The largest number of photographs of L.N. Tolstoy were taken in the 1900s, when instant cameras appeared. Among the authors are people close to the writer: wife Sofya Andreevna, daughters Maria and Alexandra, son Ilya; friends and acquaintances: V. G. Chertkov, D. A. Olsufiev, P. I. Biryukov, D. V. Nikitin, I. M. Bodyansky, D. A. Khiryakov, P. A. Sergeenko and many others.

In their photographs, Tolstoy appears to us in a relaxed, confidential atmosphere, with family and guests, like-minded people and acquaintances, at work and on a walk, in Yasnaya Polyana, Moscow and other places. Psychological intimate photographic portraits alternate with dynamic photographs that convey the expression of a moment or a separate story.

The last decade of the writer's life in photographs

In 1901, in connection with the “Decree of the Holy Synod” on the fall of Count L.N. Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church, it was officially forbidden to take and distribute images of the writer, so there are few professional photographs of him from the 1900s. She continued to order portraits of her husband S. A. Tolstaya from the company “Scherer, Nabgolts and Co.” In 1903, on the 75th anniversary of L. N. Tolstoy, his son Ilya Lvovich invited his friend, professional photographer F. T. Protasevich, to Yasnaya Polyana, who took many photographs of the hero of the day, his family and guests. On the eve of the writer’s 80th birthday (1908), St. Petersburg photographer from Novoye Vremya, K. K. Bull, came to Yasnaya Polyana with his son. In two days they created an entire pre-anniversary collection, which still amazes viewers with its life truth and technical brilliance: psychologically meaningful portraits of the writer, his family, guests, peasants, views and interiors of the estate and its surroundings.

The last professional photograph of Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana was taken by photographers from the Otto Renard company, who in 1909 came to Yasnaya together with representatives of the Gramophone company, who wanted to record the voice of the “patriarch of Russian literature.”

The chronicle of L. N. Tolstoy’s trips in 1909 and 1910 to his friend V. G. Chertkov in Krekshino near Moscow, to his daughter T. L. Sukhotina in Kochety, the writer’s last visit to Moscow in September 1909 was reflected (in addition to photographs of V. G. . Chertkov and T. Tapsel) in photographs of professional craftsmen S. G. Smirnov, A. I. Savelyev, the company “Yu. Moebius", in film footage by A. O. Drankov, J. Meyer (Pathe company). They also filmed the mourning days of November 1910 in Astapov and Yasnaya Polyana, which were also captured by professionals T. M. Morozov, F. T. Protasevich and cameramen from the company A. A. Khanzhonkov.

S. A. Tolstaya and V. G. Chertkov - creators of outstanding photo collections

The most significant collections of Tolstoy iconography are the works of the writer’s wife S. A. Tolstoy and his friend V. G. Chertkov - both in terms of the number of photographs and the variety of subjects.

Photographs by S. A. Tolstoy (about 1000 scenes) are a kind of chronicle of the last twenty years of L. N. Tolstoy’s life (1887 - 1910). Her camera recorded both important events and everyday, prosaic ones. In her photographs we see Leo Tolstoy at work, on vacation, with his family and guests, with prominent cultural figures; Other favorite subjects of her photographs are portraits of children and grandchildren, relatives, numerous guests, landscapes of her beloved Yasnaya Polyana, episodes of everyday life. Many photographs of S. A. Tolstoy’s work depict the author himself, since she took pictures with a road camera, which she mounted on a tripod.

Among the photographs, marked by a somewhat static composition, in her photo collection there are many such photographs that vividly and vividly reflect the everyday everyday life of the Yasnaya Polyana and Moscow family life, in which, according to I. Repin, “every moment was deeply interesting - as can only be Tolstykh." The collection of S. A. Tolstoy is uneven in terms of execution technique (she did not even have a special room for processing photographs), but in terms of the nature of the subjects conveying the full-blooded lifestyle of L. N. Tolstoy, the atmosphere in which he lived, it is unsurpassed.

Tolstoy's friend and like-minded person V.G. Chertkov created his photo collection (about 360 subjects) for only five years (1905 - 1910). First of all, he tried to express through photography the peculiarity and complexity of the spiritual appearance of L. N. Tolstoy. Hence his predilection for close-up portraits, for the themes “Tolstoy and Nature”, “Tolstoy and the People”, through which, in his opinion, the writer’s personality was most revealed. Few amateurs, not to mention professional photographers, had access to the same extent as Chertkov, moments when it was possible to “spy” and take a close-up of Tolstoy’s face during a casual conversation, alone with his thoughts, at the moment of creativity. Instant cameras made it possible for Chertkov to shoot entire series of simultaneous close-up portraits of Lev Nikolaevich. Each “tape” of such photographs (there are 10 such series in the museum) conveys Tolstoy’s face in motion, in the endless variety of his expressions. Some of Chertkov’s photographic portraits in their psychological capacity and degree of generalization can compete with even the best paintings and graphic images of the writer, delighting us with the perfection of technical execution (the photographs were developed and printed by professional T. Tapsel, specially invited by Chertkov from England).

Around Tolstoy

The value of the photographic fund is represented by a unique collection of daguerreotypes (portraits of L. N. Tolstoy, his relatives, friends and acquaintances) from 1844 to 1856. works by V. Shenfeldt, K. P. Mazer, A. Ya. Davignon, M. A. Abadi, N. A. Pashkov, the Blumenthal brothers. All seventeen daguerreotypes have survived to this day in good condition, with the exception of the 18th, which has partially lost its image.

Among a large number of photographs of various people from L. N. Tolstoy’s entourage, the museum contains photo albums of representatives of secular society from the 1850s to the 1870s. from the archives of the Chertkovs, Panins, Levashovs, Vorontsovs-Dashkovs; albums of “photo portraits of august persons and persons famous in Russia” by G. Denyer (1865).

In the “Different Places” section, noteworthy are close-up photographs of views of the Caucasus taken by photographers and topographers of the General Staff of the Caucasian Army in the 1850s - 1860s, an album of light paintings by Count Nostitz (1896) with views of Moscow and Crimea.

Photographs of persons and places associated with the life and work of L.N. Tolstoy make up about 2/3 of the total number of photographs, but no matter how large this part of the main photographic fund is, the boundaries of its expansion are limitless - Tolstoy absorbed so much, so wide and diverse were his connections.