Before we start talking about Velimir (Victor Vladimirovich) Khlebnikov (1885-1922), we should trace the roots of the Khlebnikov's family. We know that many of the Khlebnikovs were merchants and outstanding people. Kharlampi Nikolayevich Khlebnikov, uncle of the poet, was elected a leader of the Astrakhan nobility. Pyotr Alexeevich Khlebnikov, Velimir's another uncle, was Professor of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. The poet's father Vladimir Alexeevich was the organizer and the first director of the Astrakhan National Reserve in Volga's delta. It was him who taught his children to love and understand nature.

The poet's mother Ekaterina Nikolayevna (born Verbitskaya) studied at the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens in St. Petersburg. She spoke three foreign languages, played the piano perfectly. She gave her children a sense of beauty and creativity.

This green cup was Velimir's present to his mother, and this water color portrait of Vladimir Alexeevich was presented to him by Vera, his youngest daughter, future famous artist. Here you can see the Certificate of Ekaterina Verbitskaya (mother of the poet), a Red Cross nurse. She went to the war between Russia and Turkey to help wounded. She was also associated with the "Narodnaya Volya" (revolutionary organization) and took part in actions in its work. It is from her Velimir inherited the love for history.

Here is a water color by Vera Khlebnikov entitled "The Still Life with Tangerines". Here you can also see the Chinese cup of dark blue glass that belonged to Vera. We have this original cup in our display.

Here are her water colors which she made when she was a kid. Velimir liked them a lot and always had them with him.

Since at the moment we are in the room of this man of genius and "Lomonosov of the 20th century", it is the right moment for reading his verses.

                      When horses die, they sigh
                      When grasses die, they shrivel
                      When suns die, they flare and expire
                      When people die, they sing songs

When Velimir came to Astrakhan in 1911, Astrakhan was an ethnical museum under the open sky: there were thirty four Russian Orthodox churches, five Armenian-Gregorian churches, two Roman-Catholic cathedrals, eight Tartar mosques, two synagogues, a Lutheran church, a Persian mosque, and a Kalmyk Buddhist house of prayer called Khurul. Velimir fell in love with this city of his ancestors and became aware of its spirit. He was so deeply impressed by Astrakhan that for the next two years he was writing "Khadzhi-Tarkhan", a poem devoted to old-time Astrakhan.

                      Russia, I give you my divine
                      white brain.
                      Be me. Be Khlebnikov.

He gave his "divine brain" to many more lands than Russia alone: his verse is known in the UK, Germany, Poland, Hungary, etc. In our Museum alone, we have nearly seventy editions of his poems in foreign languages and foreign author's books about Khlebnikov.

Now let us have a look at the poet's personal belongings exhibited in this Hall. This tie was presented to Velimir by poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. These two wooden dolls were bought by Velimir from monks of the Serghiev-Posad. Here are some books from his personal library and his comb.
This is his chest, his pencil, a base of an inkpot, and a self-made pen of a willow twig he used to write the article "The Willow Twig".

Here in Hall Five, we exhibit some unique editions by Khlebnikov provided with lithographs. The copy of the "Velimir Khlebnikov Vestnik №1" used to belong to Velimir.

In 1960, the poet's remains were re-buried in the Novodevichye Cemetery in Moscow. On his grave they put a "stone woman", one of the major motifs of his poetry.

The Mermaids. The eyes of the mermaids are focused on an oriental prince who drowned; they are looking at him with curiosity and admiration. You see the rich color range of pearl and ash hues.

The Old and the Young. You can see a figure of an Old woman beetling like a kite over a tiny silhouette of a Girl. The painting is remarkable by its colors and the novel manner of painting.

An Artist's Path. This painting has a theme of the Promethean's destiny. It shows a woman artist with her head thrown back and being tormented by wild birds. An Artist's path is thorny. Vera was making the painting during the Civil War when good quality canvases or paints were very hard to come by. Now the painting is doomed to die as its colors are getting darker and there is no way to save it.

Self-Portrait. Vera made it when she was nineteen and was educated at St. Petersburg studio of artist Tsionglinsky. The painting has an evident trace of cubism. The self-portrait was made before the artist left for Paris to become a pupil of Kess van Dungeon.

The Herring Flow. This five-meter picture has an Astrakhan theme but it was painted in Moscow for the Fish Department of Polytechnic Museum. Here you see how talented Vera was as a colorist.

His drawings make up the majority of works displayed in this hall. They are: "Down The Volga River", "The Portrait of Velimir" (with a deer's antlers) and other works as well as copies of the sketches of his "volnoviks" (aircrafts).

The artist was awarded a gold medal of the Russian Academy of Arts for his jubilee exhibition in Moscow in the year 2000 summing up his art for the last fifty years.

Also exhibited in this hall is a fragment of Botiev's series of drawings entitled "Khlebnikov Field".

A.A. Mamaev,
director
of the Museum of Velimir Khlebnikov in Astrakhan.