Exhibition of the Ilya Selvinsky House-Museum

About exhibition

The exhibition covers all stages of the life and work of the poet and war correspondent Ilya Lvovich Selvinsky (1899–1968). Visitors will see memorial items that reveal the vivid personal fate of the Krymchak poet who managed to play a significant role in the literary life of the Soviet era (leadership in the Constructivist group, creative collaboration with director V. E. Meyerhold, acquaintances with A. M. Gorky, V. V. Mayakovsky, B. L. Pasternak, M. A. Voloshin and other masters of poetic art, and teaching at the Gorky Literary Institute). Facts of the poet's public and private life are illustrated by authentic exhibits, among them rare books, newspapers, documents from the late 19th–early 20th centuries, photographs of family members and prominent cultural figures, the poet's manuscripts, diaries, letters and personal belongings. A significant part of the museum's collection is devoted to Selvinsky's family: his daughter Tatyana Ilyinichna — a painter, stage designer, teacher and poet known in Russia and abroad, and the creator of sketches for her father's productions; and his stepdaughter Cecilia Alexandrovna Voskresenskaya — who until the last days of her life served as secretary for Ilya Lvovich's literary legacy and was the author of memoirs about him for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The exhibition materials can serve as a valuable informational supplement for students studying 20th-century history and Russian literature, and for teachers conducting elective classes on issues of local literary studies.