Relationship of academician O. I. Brodskyi with Ukrainian writers and the Brodskyi family’s art collection (based on documents of the Institute of Archival Studies of VNLU

Abstract

This article presents a research of a group of documents from the personal archival fund of academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleksandr Illich Brodsky, which is deposited in the Institute of Archival Studies of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. The publication is based on the scientist’s notebooks, his correspondence with writers and museum staff, greeting telegrams, photographs and other documents. These sources shed light on the scientist’s relationship with his contemporary writers and give the idea of the composition of the Brodsky family’s art collection. They give us reasons to say that the scientist’s talents lay not only in the field of physical chemistry, which was his life work, but in creating a private artistic environment based on his personal taste, which was full of music, art, literature etc. Until now, this topic has not been a subject of scientific research. It would be a pity not to use the available documents and not to celebrate O. Brodsky as a real Renaissance man. Brodsky’s outstanding intellect and all-round education made him a magnet for writers, who loved to spend time with him, valued his opinions and views on the contemporary literature. These writers included Natan Rybak and Volodymyr Kyseliov. O. Brodsky was a lover of both literature and fine arts. Together with his wife, they owned an artistic collection, which included paintings of the 18th century French artist Jean-Louis Voille, Russian artists Fyodor Rokotov, Konstantin Korovin, Boris Kustodiyev and others, which were of interest for famous art museums. The archival documents show that representatives of large museums often asked Brodsky to temporarily display works from his family collection in their halls. Thus, O. Brodsky, a representative of the Ukrainian scientific elite, was held in high esteem not only in scientific circles, but also among writers and artists.

Keywords

• Oleksandr Illich Brodsky, Brodsky family art collection, Mykola Platonovych Bazhan, Natan Rybak, Volodymyr Leontiiovych Kyseliov, Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, State Museum of Russian Visual Art in Kyiv, Institute of Archival Studies of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.