The Museum of Vadim Sidur. Exhibits, photo, visitor reviews

Last year, the 90th anniversary of the birth of Vadim Sidur, a famous Soviet nonconformist sculptor and artist, was celebrated. He was born in Ukraine, but Vadim worked in Russia. His sculptures were installed in Germany. And in the Russian capital there is the only museum of Vadim Sidur in the country (this building, which used to be his workshop). It presents the works of this master, in stark contrast to the canons existing in the era of socialist realism .

Who is Vadim Sidur?

Vadim Abramovich Sidur is not only a sculptor, graphic artist and painter. He is also a philosopher, prose writer and poet. Vadim Abramovich Sidur stayed in the war for only a few months, but he said to himself that his life experience is 80% of the military.

In the village Latovka, which is located in the valley of the river. Ingulets, in 1944 there were fierce battles. Vadim Sidur was here. When he reached his hometown as an 18-year-old junior lieutenant, he saw that nothing remained of the house in which he was born and raised. In the war he was almost killed. However, Sidura was given a second life. At the age of 19 Vadim became an invalid of the II group. He received several combat medals, which, however, was of little comfort.

Vadim liked to sculpt and draw from childhood. He dreamed, however, about the career of a doctor. Vadim Abramovich studied for a year at the Dushanbe Medical Institute, but soon realized that he would never be able to dull his compassion for human pain. At age 21 he came to another operation in Moscow and entered the Stroganov School for the faculty of monumental sculpture. Most of the sculptor's works are bare and seemingly defenseless before the pain, misfortune, the surrounding world.

The founding of the group "LeSS"

With a short period of the Khrushchev thaw Vadim's participation in the "new wave" exhibitions coincided. Together with Nikolai Silis and Vladimir Lemport, he founded the LeSS group. She received profitable orders. For example, the Warsaw Palace of Science and Culture entrusted her sculptural design. Vadim Sidur was admitted to the Union of Artists. He was given a workshop. Vadim Abramovich in 1961, after the first transferred heart attack, miraculously survived. In 1962, the well-known exhibition at the Manege was defeated.

Vadim Sidur did not pursue the titles, he worked alone, never joined any groups, except the one mentioned above. He even had practically no exhibitions at home. The Soviet authorities did not recognize Sidur, who was in the position of an outcast. In 1986, Vadim died.

Opening of the museum

Three years after his death, in 1989, the museum of Vadim Sidur was opened in Moscow. In 2011 he joined the "Manezh", a museum and exhibition association. A year later, the museum of Vadim Sidur was officially closed for repairs. However, the work did not begin - his fate was unknown. After some time, it was decided to postpone the overhaul and do cosmetic in the shortest possible time, after which, by the jubilee of the master, to open the exposition.

The permanent exposition was named "In Search of Man". In the work of the sculptor, one of the main themes was the borderline state of people between life and death.

Portrait of Albert Einstein

Coming to the museum of Vadim Sidur, you will see a lot of interesting works, but this should be said separately. Vadim Abramovich in the 1970s created one of his most famous creations - a portrait of Albert Einstein. He is two-faced: on the one hand we see the majestic face of the creator, and on the other - this same face, however distorted by horror from the understanding of what was done to them. The fact is that in August 1939 Albert Einstein together with his colleagues sent a letter to Roosevelt on the need to intensify activities related to the creation of an atomic bomb and the supply of uranium to the United States. This meant the beginning of the atomic project.

Sidur's workshop in the mid-80s was visited by physicists from the laboratory, in which Einstein worked in recent years. Seeing this portrait, they were amazed at how you can convey with such a modern, plastic language an amazing portrait resemblance and a complete life-likeness. Sidur, at the request of scientists from America, made a plaster copy of this portrait. He presented it to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which handed it over to the Americans. The sculpture was cast from bronze and installed in America.

Portrait of VL Ginzburg

The museum also presents other portraits, no less remarkable. One of them is Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich, a Nobel laureate and a sculptor's friend. Nearby is a joint photo of Ginzburg, Vadim Sidur and a portrait of Vitaly Lazarevich.

Screaming Sculptures

In one of the articles devoted to Sidur, it was said that his work was refused to be installed in the Victory Park of the city of Moscow, since the capital allegedly does not need sculptures that "shout." However, Vadim Sidur could not have done otherwise. His sculptures reflected what was on his mind and was asking for outside. Terrible impressions after the war, which generates countless victims and endless disasters, did not allow the master to brush aside, to stop sharing his thoughts on the fate of all mankind with the world. He could not help but warn us about possible global catastrophes. That is why we see in some works the fragility and beauty of the world around us, and in others it shows the contrast that can result from the soulless attitude of people towards nature and violence. Vadim Sidur simply could not keep silent about this. His sculptures because of his irreconcilable social position did not enjoy great popularity during the author's lifetime. Today, fortunately, the situation has changed.

Coffin-art

Sidura can be called a prophet artist. His mission is to reach out to each of us, to warn that new wars, global catastrophes and natural disasters are coming. For this purpose, he uses any material. In his basement during the period of stagnation, he creates a coffin-art. These are compositions made from details of motor vehicles, sewer pipes and other wastes of human civilization.

These works are a warning to those living that their soulless attitude towards the world around them will lead to the fact that the coffin-art will triumph. This is shouted by the "Iron Prophets", who stretch their arms-stubs out of metal, the remains of human bodies in the work "Field of Experiments." Coffin art is considered the pinnacle of creativity of Vadim Sidur. These are not just objects made from trash, which was stored for many years in the workshop of Sidur. This is a whole philosophy, the main thesis of which is that everyone could not be born, but all must die. This is a frank, metaphorical, blasting art. Sidur, playing with the form, seeks to show the most authenticity of the very essence of man.

Sidura Pictures

The artist Vadim Sidur created many interesting works. In his works - screaming, pain, pity, warning, but at the same time, love, tenderness, compassion. These feelings we find in the illustrations of the master to the novels of I. Meras about Jews living in the Lithuanian ghetto. These same feelings are seen in the set of his engravings, watercolors, drawings. Here, as in sculptures, there are eternal, biblical themes. Beautiful as women in the depiction of the master, and men. Many of the works created by the artist Vadim Sidur are erotic. Vadim Abramovich covered with a colorful magical painting the standard wall cabinets that stood in his Moscow apartment. Before us are the beautiful naked Adam and Eve. They bliss in the greens, flowers, birds, fish and animals. The Sidur Museum often exhibits part of this painting. The exhibition was named "Paradise Life in the Corridor". Biblical themes in the works of Sidur acquired universal, not just national sound.

The fate of the workshop after the death of Sidur

But all these works could be expected after the death of the master of a sad fate. The fact is that the artist rented a basement workshop from MOSH. What would happen to hundreds of heavy and voluminous pieces of art, how could they have been saved if the lease period had not been extended? Sidur thought about this until the last days. Already in the hospital he wrote poems full of anxiety:

"What will happen to my children?"
When I disappear. "

Of course, it was a question of sculptures. After the death, the heirs had to fight to save the workshop. The struggle was crowned with success after the article by VL Ginzburg "Sculptures, which we do not see" appeared in 1987. Its author is a close friend of Vadim. Today the museum has become one of the most prominent cultural centers of Moscow. Thousands of people have visited here, who left worried records in the book of reviews. Constantly updated in our days is the exposition of Vadim's works: the exhibits of the museum would not fit in it all at the same time.

Museum today

The museum of Vadim Sidur is a place where various periods of his work are represented: from realistic plastics typical for the mid-1950s to the avant-garde coffin-art and the above-mentioned "Iron Prophets" to which the hall is dedicated.

After the reconstruction, the Moscow State Museum of Vadim Sidur also got a lecture hall / cinema. There are lectures and documentaries. Also in the museum there is a zone with a grand piano. It is designed for conducting poetry evenings and chamber concerts. The museum today is a modern place. Here you will find interesting works of the master, and a comfortable environment, and a lot of educational programs.

The former workshop of such an interesting sculptor as Vadim Sidur, the museum-address has the following: Moscow, Almaz Technical Center, ul. Novogireevskaya, 37a.

Monument installed near the museum

A monument to soldiers killed in Afghanistan is located not far from it. Sidur himself called this work "Monument to those who remained without burial." The opening of the monument took place in February 1992.