A cultured person
A charming woman. A talented artist and graphic artist. A professor at the Institute of Arts and Culture...
The unique Children’s Art Gallery — every Volgograd resident should visit it at least once, at 26 Sovetskaya Street — which Elena Orlova has headed for so many years, was for a long time the only children’s museum in the world! The mistress of the gallery is convinced: children can do everything. They are much more talented and sharper-sighted than adults.
But what makes a person grown-up? What — since one does not live by bread alone — does a person live by?
— Elena Vladimirovna, what do you consider impermissible, and conversely obligatory, in bringing up children?
— The further I go, the less I know... and the more I doubt. Usually intuition helps.
— Who commands your respect, and who, conversely, your contempt?
— I respect people capable of achieving harmony with themselves and the world. Contempt? I am not very familiar with that particular variety of emotion.
— In what historical epoch would you not mind finding yourself?
— Apparently I am not very romantic. In none. Here and now!
— What victory, in your opinion, deserves the greatest admiration?
— Victories that allow one to do without bloodshed.
— Which reform do you value especially highly?
— The abolition of serfdom.
— Your favorite places and cities in Russia?
— St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Kazan, Gelendzhik.
— And in the world? If you were compiling a list of seven wonders of the world, what monuments of nature or architecture would you include?
— In order: Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris. Wonders of the world? Simply — the sea. Lake Seliger, Ararat, the Ardennes... Grandiose wonders inspire great respect, but they do not touch the soul.
— What fact from the history of Volgograd do you consider undeservedly forgotten or underestimated?
— The opening of the Children’s Art Gallery.
— Where, besides the Panorama Museum or Mamayev Kurgan, would you take guests arriving from other regions?
— To the Volga, to the gallery, to museums, theatres.
— Favorite season and month in Volgograd?
— April. August.
— What books are now lying on your desk?
— Textbooks on museum work. Bazanov’s “Stage Technology.” Camus’ “The Plague.” Sergey Vasilyev’s “Euonymus.”
— Your favorite literary, theatrical or film hero?
— Gosha from “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” — the eternal girlish dream of a handsome prince.
— What recent event has struck you most? Including in culture?
— The sea in December. January St. Petersburg. Rain early in the morning last week. The festival of contemporary drama at the Theatre for Young Audiences. The exhibition “Angelina, Olya, Stas” at our gallery. “Uncle’s Dream” with Basilashvili and Freindlich at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre.
— If music, then...
— ...jazz, rock.
— If a newspaper, then...
— ...“Volgogradka,” of course!
— If cuisine, then...
— ...home cooking.
— If a director, then...
— ...Albert Avkhodeev.
— Your favorite artist?
— Modigliani, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Korovin, Goryabin.
— Your favorite color?
— Blue — both azure and ultramarine. Red, especially carmine lake. Emerald green, golden ochre and, of course, black!
— Favorite prose writers? Favorite poets?
— Bulgakov, Cocteau, Camus, Sartre, Maugham. Blok, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva and Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Brodsky, Lorca.
— What poetic lines come to mind in moments of excitement or joy?
— My own. And absolutely suddenly.
— Favorite sport.
— In dreams — tennis. On television — biathlon.
— The great architect, in your view, is...
— Nature.
— True rest is...
— ...a walk along a deserted seashore.
— Money is...
— ...only an opportunity to obtain goods.
— A good education is...
— ...encyclopedic knowledge plus developed aesthetic needs. Plus ethical and emotional “well-groomedness.” Plus the ability to use all this practically.
— The best educational institutions in the world, in your opinion?
— I can speak only of what I know first-hand, so — the Lviv “Polygraphic.”
— Is it necessary to graduate from university in order to succeed in life?
— It depends what one means by the verb “to succeed.” Money? Then most likely. A career? Then certainly. Harmony with oneself and the world? Then — not necessarily.
— Your favorite occupation in free time?
— Free time? An untranslatable play on words.
— What tires you most?
— Powerlessness.
— Do you believe in fate and lucky chance? Has it happened in your life?
— Yes. Yes. Yes!
— What do you consider your greatest professional and creative achievement today? What are you proud of?
— The Children’s Art Gallery!
— What human weaknesses do you consider forgivable?
— Even the very strong have a right to weaknesses.
— Which aphorism is closest to you?
— One must judge a person before loving them, for once one loves, one no longer judges. Cicero.
— Your favorite heroines in real life?
— My mother. My sister. My friends.
— Favorite female images in art?
— In literature I have many favorite images, but they are male ones. I do not love Margarita, Tatyana Larina, Turgenev’s girls, or Françoise Sagan’s heroines. But in painting there are many favorites: Modigliani’s women, Petrov-Vodkin’s, Kustodiev’s.
— What quality do you especially value in a man? In a woman?
— In a man — masculinity. In a woman — femininity. And without gender distinctions — honesty, loyalty, decency, self-sacrifice, the ability to love and empathise.
— The main trait of your character?
— Dissatisfaction with myself.
— What do you value most in friends?
— Loyalty, reliability, the ability to love and empathise.
— What do you lack for complete happiness?
— Inner harmony with myself and the world.
— What would be the greatest misfortune for you?
— Do not wake trouble while it is quiet...
— How would you like to see yourself?
— Happy!
— Your favorite names, male and female?
— The names of beloved people.
— What do you hate most?
— When people climb over others’ heads.
— Do you have pets?
— Prokhor the cat, eighteen years old.
— What gifts do you like to receive? And to give?
— Perfume. Flowers. I very much like giving gifts — and for them to be liked.
— A gift you would like to possess?
— To be content with what I have.
— How would you like to die? What would you say to the Lord when meeting Him?
— I want to live!
— Your state of mind at the moment?
— A steep sine wave — rises and falls.
— What is your life motto?
— If you are afraid, do not do it; if you do it, do not be afraid.
Volgogradskaya Pravda, No. 64 (26137), April 9, 2009
