Shoes should be made by a shoemaker. The Museum of Fine Arts is fortunate: it is headed by an “artistic” person. Elena Orlova has illustrated books, writes poems and paintings. Volgograd owes to her the appearance of the first Children’s Art Gallery in Russia, where an exhibition of the artist’s works, “Ultramarine within the Permitted Limits,” is now on display.
Multifaceted Ultramarine
Lena knew she would be an artist when she was five years old — from the moment she took pencils in her hands and became the winner of a city children’s drawing competition. At the age of ten she crossed the threshold of an art school; later she received a diploma as a graphic artist.
— I returned to Volgograd after graduating from the Lviv Polygraphic Institute, seeing myself in my dreams and plans exclusively as a graphic artist and illustrator, Elena Orlova recalls. — Suddenly, at a meeting of the Union of Artists, I was invited to teach at the club of amateur artists and create a children’s studio. I did come to have a look. I liked it. I agreed.
And soon Elena Orlova received a gold medal for developing an original method of working with children. If works by adults are exhibited, why not show children’s “masterpieces”?! Orlova “invented” the Children’s Art Gallery. The project was new for Russia, and it took ten years of her life to realize it. Elena and her husband agreed to serve as judges in international children’s drawing competitions; they took their payment not in money, but in children’s drawings. Thus they assembled a collection of works by young artists from 36 countries, which became the basis of one of the few museums of children’s creativity.
? What meaning did you put into the title? What are your new paintings about?
— Every exhibition for me is a time of “gathering stones.” I always think with excitement: how will people perceive it? Everything that remains unsaid in life, I want to say in drawings. Somewhere deep in my soul I also wanted to show that the artist has not yet died in the administrator I currently am. This exhibition was conceived as a small journey; the watercolors depict places where I have been: Russia, Bulgaria, France, Belgium. No ideas — what I saw, that I sang, in co-authorship with ultramarine, my favorite color. It is multifaceted and many-layered; it allows one to express everything, from delight to sadness.
? Where do you find time to draw?
— There are travel sketches — small, like snapshots. That is quick. More complex works — paintings — I work on for a long time. I use a technique of strokes that I invented myself. Its essence is an attempt to break a large color down into local pieces.
Do Not Economize on the Development of the Soul
? Have museums outlived themselves?
— Absolutely not! It is frightening to imagine a city without museums; part of its history would immediately disappear. In any crisis, one must not economize on the development of the soul; otherwise spirituality will disappear.
Incidentally, several years ago the whole world experienced a museum boom. Society, apparently having had its fill of various technologies, wanted to receive something genuine, handmade, tested by time. A longing for beauty awakened in the world.
? How do you assess the cultural level of our region?
— We have wonderful premieres in theatres, a children’s symphony orchestra, and the Staraya Sarepta museum-reserve has grown enormously. At the same time, libraries are being closed. We have excellent creative potential, but unfortunately the conditions for its development leave much to be desired. Museums hold collections that are state property, but for now the care for the preservation of exhibits rests mainly on the shoulders of staff members and on sheer enthusiasm.
? What is an indispensable condition for the development of culture in the city?
— First: the attitude of the authorities. Volgograd culture is categorically lacking their attention; city officials are not such frequent guests at premieres and exhibitions. Yet in earlier times even the tsar did not disdain attending a theatre premiere. Second, if we speak of museums, there must be valuable works of art. Volgograd holds the second-largest collection of Mashkov’s paintings, original works by Savrasov, Repin, Aivazovsky, and Shishkin. This is an enormous resource for the city’s image, but alas, it remains unclaimed.
? Then why are tourists not coming here in crowds?
— When a person goes to Paris, he wants to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre; to St. Petersburg — the Hermitage and Peterhof. To develop tourism, we must develop good museum service. After all, tourists coming to Volgograd do not set themselves the goal of living in a hotel or drinking coffee in a Volgograd café! And what can they see so far? A Museum of Fine Arts in a built-in space? To present the goods properly, every museum must have a worthy building. Then a tourist will stay in our city for four or five days. One day he goes to the panorama museum, then to Sarepta, the Museum of Fine Arts, the local history museum. Once such a scheme begins to work, funds will flow into the region. We must not be occupied with patching potholes, but with building the road to the temple!
Natalya Khairulina,
Krestyanskaya Zhizn
October 22, 2015
