Biography
Olga Antonova was born on December 22, 1937. She is a native of the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
What kind of family did our heroine grow up in? Her father was a famous prose writer. Sergei Antonov wrote several books published in thousands of copies.
Little Olya never dreamed of becoming an actress. From the age of 6, the girl was interested in cutting and embroidery. Relatives were confident that she would have a successful career as a fashion designer.
The father practically did not raise his daughter. He spent most of his time meeting with friends and performing at poetry evenings. When Olya was 7 years old, her parents divorced.
The girl was accompanied to first grade by her mother. Olechka immediately found a common language with the other guys. She also had no conflict situations with teachers.
Childhood and family of Olga Antonova
Olya was born into the family of the famous Soviet prose writer Sergei Antonov on December 22, 1937.
When the girl was seven years old, her parents divorced. Contrary to custom, the father “yielded” his son to his wife, and kept the daughter for himself. Olya's mother and brother left for another city, and the girl stayed with her father in Leningrad. According to the actress’s recollections, they lived in a communal apartment on the sixth floor, in the house where the comedy theater was located. They lived poorly. The girl did not have dolls as a child.
The father was not particularly involved in raising the child. Friends often visited him. There were endless conversations about literature, poetry was recited. Olya, sitting under the table and making some kind of toy for herself, listened to the conversations of the adults. Today, the actress believes that there is no point in raising children with words. It’s just that parents should lead a vibrant life and give their children the opportunity to feel its charm.
As a child, Olga was seriously ill. She had problems with her spine and for several months she was literally tied to a hospital bed.
After graduating from school, Antonova entered the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography.
Theater
In 1965, Olga graduated from university. The girl had no intention of leaving her native Leningrad. The talented actress was invited to work at the Comedy Theater. Artistic director N. Akimov involved her in several performances - “Don Juan”, “Quill Feather”, “Incognito” and others.
At first, Olga Antonova got the roles of maids, schoolgirls and princesses. Her stage colleagues came up with a nickname for her - “fairy-tale elf.”
Our heroine worked at the Comedy Theater for exactly 40 years. She performed many roles in performances staged based on the works of A. Ostrovsky, A. Arbuzov, C. Goldoni and others. In 2020, the actress retired. Olga Sergeevna fondly remembers her collaboration with such theater directors as R. Viktyuk, V. Titov and N. Akimov. And she developed friendly relations with Pyotr Fomenko. In 2012, the famous director passed away.
Theatrical career of Olga Antonova
After graduating from the institute in 1965, she was invited to the Leningrad Comedy Theater. Olga Antonova’s whole life is connected with this theater. On its stage, the actress created stage images that audiences loved. The theater became a second home for the actress, and in the literal sense: during the period when Antonova and her husband had nowhere to live, they were “sheltered” for some time by the theater’s former shoemaker’s workshop.
The personal life of actress Olga Antonova was tragic
Spectators and critics appreciated the young actress’s first work. The purity, sincerity, charm of Olga Antonova in the role of Shura Zalygina based on the play “Incognito” by B. Ratzer and V. Konstatinov was recognized as one of the most interesting works of the season.
At first, Antonova was trusted with the roles of angular schoolgirls, drag queens, maids and taciturn princesses. Having played about two dozen such roles, Antonova gradually developed her own special style. The actress was called “Fairytale Elf” by her admirers and admirers behind her back.
Over the 40 years of her theatrical career, Olga Antonova played many roles in plays based on the works of K. Goldoni, A. N. Ostrovsky, J. B. Molière, A. Arbuzov, M. Zhvanetsky and other authors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaK1jG8WAVw
Antonova remembers with extraordinary warmth the directors with whom she had to work. This is the first director N.P. Akimov, who invited the young artist to the theater, and R. Viktyuk, and Yu. Dvorkin, and V. Titov. Olga Sergeevna especially highlights Petra Fomenko. According to Antonova, Fomenko had a very special way of thinking and it is no coincidence that the actors of his theater and everyone who worked under his leadership are called “Fomenki”.
Film career
Olga Antonova is an actress with great talent and amazing performance. She first appeared on screens in 1969. The blond beauty played a truck driver in the film “Her Name is Spring.”
In 1977, director Pyotr Fomenko approved Olya for the role in his film “Almost a Funny Story.” After the film was released, Antonova woke up famous. People came up to her on the street and asked for her autograph. In this film, Olga played the eccentric and sublime girl Illaria.
In 1978, our heroine received the main role in The Comedy of Errors, based on the work of Shakespeare. Her colleagues on the set were Mikhail Kononov, Sofiko Chiaureli and Mikhail Kozakov.
For the next few years, Olga Antonova did not act in films. The directors did not inundate her with offers of cooperation. And the actress’s unconventional appearance is to blame.
Career continuation
Only in 1989 Antonova appeared on the screens again. She successfully got used to the image of Natasha in the film “Asthenic Syndrome”. For this role, the actress received an award at the Constellation festival. Olga Sergeevna won in the category “Best Actress”. Her performance was also highly praised at the Berlin Silver Bear festival.
In the 1990s, Antonova continued to develop her film career. Her filmography has been replenished with new roles in TV series and feature films. Let us list her most striking and memorable works:
- “The Kingslayer” (1991) – the empress;
- “Presence” (1992) - Natasha;
- “Castle” (1994) – inn owner;
- “Russian Revolt” (2000) - Catherine II;
- “With a Pen and a Sword” (2007);
- “Reading the Siege Book” (2009).
Olga Antonova, actress: personal life
The blue-eyed petite blonde has always been popular with the opposite sex. In her youth, she had dizzying novels. But they did not reach a serious relationship.
Olga got married for the first time after graduating from university. Her chosen one was a young writer. This marriage produced a charming daughter. The couple were happy. But their relationship began to gradually deteriorate. After 11 years of living together, Olya decided to leave her husband. The actress took her daughter with her and filed for divorce.
For some time, Antonova lived with friends. She understood that she was in someone else’s house with “bird rights.” She wanted to become the mistress and keeper of the family hearth. And soon Olga Sergeevna met an impressive man - Igor. At that time he worked as an artist at the Comedy Theater located in Leningrad. The man adopted Olya’s daughter from his first marriage into the family.
The actress has been living with her husband Igor for more than 35 years. Their feelings did not fade away at all, but on the contrary, they became noticeably stronger. The only thing Antonova regrets is that she did not meet her lover earlier.
Several years ago, our heroine lost her daughter. She has no grandchildren.
"The magic of love." Olga Sergeevna Antonova and her dolls.
This is a very sincere, subtle, touching story by Olga Sergeevna about herself and her life, which gives the viewer the opportunity to get to know this wonderful woman better and better understand the following story. Prologue. There is such a common truth that with age, a person’s character traits are more and more clearly reflected in his appearance. People who have crossed the border separating maturity from wisdom bear on their faces the stamp of all their virtues and vices. And indeed: sometimes looking at faces as pure as a drop of dew, at eyes as clear as a child’s, you understand that the person in front of you has carried an unclouded soul throughout his entire long life, as if in a crystal vessel. And then, and now - he has her bright and unsullied, virginally pure and still enthusiastic. Such a soul is always ready for new discoveries, always burning with the fire of knowledge, the thirst for new feelings, no matter how much it is given to experience.
Olga Sergeevna with her favorite Briton Antosha (photo from the Internet) . Most of us know Olga Sergeevna Antonova as a theater and film actress. But for us, the enthusiastic inhabitants of the doll country, this extraordinary woman is interesting for another reason - she is a passionate fan of dolls. Moreover, the fan is very active. And this is not expressed in the fact that in just a couple of years she has created a collection around herself that any of us will envy. And it’s not that for the sake of dolls, at just over eighteen years old, she was not afraid to take computer courses, mastered the Internet and switched to modern digital technology. And not because he visits puppet exhibitions with enviable regularity, including foreign ones, and enjoys making acquaintances with masters of the puppet stage. The most important thing is that Olga Sergeevna lives with dolls, she let them into her soul, gratefully accepts their support and in return gives them her sincere love!
O.S.: So I wake up in the morning, and they are staring there on the window: I woke up - I didn’t wake up?! After all, every doll carries such magic of love and discovery of the artist! And it was given to me! And that keeps me going. I understand it so much! Because I see how Igor (Olga Sergeevna’s husband is Igor Alekseevich Ivanov, St. Petersburg painter, theater artist - O.G.’s note) draws, as he speaks. What is he thinking about? So much soul is put into each painting! When he writes Petersburg... He survived the blockade, for him every corner is like his body. His life, his roof. His faith. And now his paintings hang, and all this is conveyed to me. I'm wrapped up in all of this. So much energy invested! It's the same with dolls. We determine whether the author is worth it. And if so, then we want to know everything about him: first name, last name, something about him. You get to know him, you become close to him. You make a friend...
Dolls are like children, even more than the artist’s children, because the dream of children is embedded in them. How would you like to see them? And understand and invest what you dream of. What do you personally lack, what do you lack in your children? And you invest in this essence, in this toy. And she ceases to be a toy and becomes a creature. And she has already been released into the world and conveys all your aspirations, all your thoughts, all your love. Both your talent and your search - everything passes on to your people... “Consumer” is a bad word, but there is no other word. We consume energy, and we consume it from dolls in the same way. Such the highest spirituality. This is very close to faith, to the concepts of the galaxy, of the creation of man, because nothing can be born out of water, just like that, without thinking. Creatures with such the finest creation, with such filigree workmanship, one might say - execution... Each puppeteer artist is so many worlds! Everyone follows their own path, it would seem that everyone follows the same path, but nothing like that. So many possibilities!
O.G.: Probably, puppeteers feel partly like creators, creators. Because the prototype of the doll is still a person. You will involuntarily feel like a demigod...
O.S.: Yes. But this is so twofold, because, on the one hand, it is like a reflection. On the other hand, as in any creativity, there comes a moment when you cease to control the situation. Just like a writer who writes, writes, and then says: look what she did?! Like Pushkin: “And Tatyana threw something away!” When the doll begins to find itself within itself, it begins to dictate to the author: “No, I don’t need eyes like these. Try these, in this color, I don’t like these! Well, I put it in - blame yourself, I don’t see it in them!.. I want a different hair color. I have character! Look at me carefully!
O.G. You say that as if you yourself have already made at least a dozen dolls. It’s as if everyone has gone through personal experience. O.S.: Well, I sewed dolls. Why do I say that I think of one thing, do it, do it, achieve it, change it... And it seems like I did something, but it’s not exactly what I want. And that motivates me to redo it again. And then, finally, it turns out what I want, completely third, unexpected, which even surprises me. That’s why I say that I didn’t expect that I would succeed like this! I even look as if not at my child, but at something that appeared as if by itself. Something third grew out of trial and error, beyond my expectations. Therefore, you have to do and do, because the doll itself gives you discoveries, a path.
O.G.: Have you tried to sculpt yourself?
“I sculpt from plasticine” (song from the film “Almost a Funny Story”) O.S.: I sculpted a lot when I taught my daughter. I bought plasticine, then we got to clay. I sculpted, but when she began to sculpt better than me, I cooled down to it (laughs). I drew in exactly the same way... But when I married an artist, I looked and understood... ...My grandfather was a singer. He was even sent in his youth to study with the same teacher, Vincento, who was Caruso’s teacher. He sang at the Bolshoi Opera House, however, then he got sick and left the stage... Somehow I also had a desire. And I saw dreams that I was singing. Mom woke me up: “Why are you screaming and crying?” And I sang! And I was so displeased that they woke me up... I lived there in such euphoria in a dream, that everything was going so well, that finally I was singing... And all this was forgotten instantly upon awakening, and I was sad. But when I went to college, the teacher told me that yes, you have a voice. Let's put it on, we have to work. But I was lazy. In addition, I listened to some other singers and realized that I would never be able to do this, and I also cooled down. Withered... No, well, when I need to walk on stage - yes, I sing. This was very useful to me in acting. I can sing this way and that, and choreographed arias, and in a gypsy voice... There’s something like that in me, no one taught me this. Apparently genetics. Moreover, at rehearsals I sing worse than when I go out and know that I need to sing... Someone gives me strength and such a real voice... But with dolls it’s a completely different story.
Olga Sergeevna during a tour of the Hildegard Gunzel porcelain manufactory in Duisburg.
I have a feeling that if we are given another turn in existence, the only thing I would like is to be sent straight to the workshop where dolls are made and I would start doing something there... I would learn, starting from the very first step of the appearance of the doll, higher and higher. And it seems to me that in another life I will have time to make a good doll! When I saw Eva Danker, an artist who makes dolls at the age of 83, I thought: Lord, how much time is ahead! So we have to try! There is an idea in my head! The main thing is that she herself - the doll - does not lead in the other direction, as she wants...
O.G.: And in childhood?
OS: As a child, yes, I had good toys, dolls... But again: what toys after the revolution? There were no such beautiful antique dolls. My parents were not able to give me one of these, because my grandfather turned out to be an enemy of the people, and everything that the family had (and the family was wealthy), everyone came and took it with a search. The grandchildren got nothing. Everyone was evicted. And then the war began, the blockade. My father took us out, we lived near Sverdlovsk until the war ended. Then I fell ill with tuberculosis - I needed treatment, there was no time for toys...
I always saw toys on store shelves. These were amazing dolls! I grabbed one, then another... But when they were in my hands, they lost their face. They weren't what I saw on the shelves. There was such dissatisfaction, and I sobbed and cried and never saw that same doll. I first saw her four years ago on the Internet, in some magazines, in pictures... In Paris, I saw one doll that almost drove me crazy - I didn’t even think this could happen! And then I became interested in them, and began to dig and dig and got to the bottom of what I saw, it turns out that what was going on! That there is its own world in the galaxy, its own core, which lives by it, which breathes it, deals with it, makes discoveries. These are special people! After all, look: what faction, what companies can simply send money to someone by mail, without seeing the person, without knowing the person, but only by seeing a doll in a photograph?! Send money to nowhere and know that you won’t be deceived, that they will send it to you! For me it was some kind of fairy tale! What could this be in our country? ...And now I have half of my house sitting with dolls, for which I trustingly send, as many as they say, and they trustingly and courteously, with joy and love, send me... This is also a discovery in life, besides dolls! It's amazing! Because in other collections everything is from hand to hand. Let's hold on: you give me money, I'll give you a vase. You give me a car, I give you money. And there is also a lawyer sitting next to him who is monitoring all this. No coalition belongs to each other so trustingly and sincerely as these puppeteers. This says something! And why do they trust, because only a person who is not empty, a sincere person can love a doll, cherish it so much and understand that it is beautiful.
There will be a doll - any option: whether it’s a doll with humor, or just a rag doll, like an amulet - the soul is still put into it, because they give birth to it! It’s not the machine that does it, but there is some kind of magic of creation. And those dolls are even more expensive, which are created in small quantities, personally painted, sewn, checked, molded by the artist himself... They are valued more. Why? Unclear. It would seem that there is a repeater walking nearby who, looking at your doll, does the same thing, but not the same. I put them next to each other, but they are different! Why? It would seem that the method is the same, the mold is the same. But what an artist does is one thing, and what someone who is hired, but not an inventor, not a parent, does is a little different. Even the setting of the eyes... Sometimes the doll's eyes talk to you, ask for something, explain, give you something. And there are empty eyes. So the empty ones were put by that empty person who does not talk to her, but only earns money. I scribbled it and went - on sale!
The slightest shift, the focus of the eye, the color of the lips, the unfinished corners completely change the facial expression. They turn the face into one pumped up with Botox, “unpolished”, unfinished, undefined... It becomes similar to one another. Even at Himstedt. I really love her faces. But the first persons, the first molds - even in the photographs you can see the difference, they are so refined, elegant, as if the rest of the dolls had an extra centimeter everywhere. Of course, she couldn’t keep up with every issue. This is impossible. And to hire people who understand this - if you hire a good one, he is already an artist himself and will want to make his own doll.
O.G.: There is always a hidden dilemma here: when you are a first-class author, you make wonderful dolls, you have more and more fans, and everyone wants to have your dolls. But people, unfortunately, are limited by both time and physical capabilities...
OS: And then I want to make another doll. You've already done one, you need to move on. And what you need is to spank this one, and spank, and spank... And you, too, are sad. You cannot paint the same picture several times. But he is still a copyist. There is a different soul in every paint, in every brush stroke there is a different being, a different magic, a different magnetism.
O.G.: Many puppeteers say that they were self-taught and started by simply taking mass for modeling and copying someone else. But in the end, they became cramped within these frameworks, and they began to do something of their own. And Heidi Pluschok, talking about her collaboration with Zapf, said that she missed her dolls so much during this period, which she didn’t even hold in her hands! She didn’t paint them, didn’t dress them, didn’t comb their hair, didn’t come up with outfits. And then she and Zapf came to the conclusion that, at least for the American market, the artist would be able to produce her own studio dolls. And when the contract came to an end, she opened studio production for Europe. OS: The very first studio dolls of Heidi Pluschok, even with all their disproportion, have so much charm in their faces, in the turn of their heads, and the oval of their faces... What is coming out now - I like them, but they are a little different. I don’t even really like that she started making hinges. I do not need them. A tribute to BJD shoes... I like it when they bend, but with a wire frame inside... But this is only a sign that everything is moving forward and there will be discoveries, discoveries. And it’s a pity that time is running out and I won’t see some discoveries... But maybe I’ll see from above! (laughs)
O.G.: I know that you approach dolls without false embarrassment, and if you don’t like something about them, then you can remake them...
OS: Yes, I don’t like the eyes - I can rearrange them. That's when they come, for example, with red eyes - at Himstedt. Well, God himself ordered to help her! You can’t let this rabbit into life... I replace them with glass ones, choose which color suits best. If there is no cap on the head, I dissect it carefully, myself, with a lancet, my husband helps. We buy special glue. I even bought a special file to file the eye socket if necessary. It happens that you bought an eye that seems to be the right size, but it doesn’t fit. I glue the eyelashes. And immediately the doll looks at you and comes to life...
Then I took it to the theater to the dressing room, where my little body was stitched up, my wigs were straightened, and makeup was applied. I bought one of the earlier ones, it has a disproportionate body. With such a marvelous face and stance - an absolutely disproportionately long body. Igor (husband) even measured it with a centimeter and compared it with his age - well, the small head and long body are out of proportion! And he gave the dimensions to the artists, they carefully tore it apart, gave it to a mechanic - he shortened the legs. They sewed everything up again, with such a hand stitch, just amazing! And suddenly she became like this - she looked even prettier! She became so cheerful, her eyes lit up!
...Then I sew and knit... So I knitted a scarf and a hat for old Kae Wiggsik, and he also became happy! I altered the clothes of many people. But I don’t want to change everyone’s clothes. Himstedt came to me, Bonnie. I really liked this doll! And I sewed so many things for her, and they also gave them to me. And then I dressed her in her native suit - it suits her best! Whatever I didn’t put on there, she’s the most elegant in it! Now she is standing in her old place again! And some dolls suit new ones. Same Himstedt. Sometimes their clothes are of such a “dirty” color. And when I dressed them in lace, in white embroidery... Oh! How prettier they immediately became! Just transformed! These are the ones I have standing in country dresses and straw hats... Such girls from the suburbs! So “Austin”! O.G.: How do you choose a doll? Here you see it: what should you feel? O.S.: I must suffocate! But this is only when you also have a photograph in your hand. Now, if my camera loves her, then I don’t yet see what he sees. And suddenly I look at it through the eyes of my camera, from the side, and I rediscover it. And I can no longer part with her. Some of the dolls I receive in the mail I open and immediately close. I don't even take pictures. I understand that this is not mine and it should not be dusted, and it should not be touched. I immediately sell it or re-gift it. But with a gift, you also need to know who will like it! You should only give what you like. And if you doubt it yourself, then this gift may alienate someone else. It happens, of course, that I know in advance that a person wants this. And then she comes to me, and I see that she is most likely not mine. This happened with two dolls...
Once my friend bought me a doll as a gift, I really dreamed about it. But I gave it back to her a week later. I couldn't live with her. Well, she's not mine! And then she brought her to her home and everyone said: “Olga Sergeevna, she looks like you!” The doll already lives at home, everyone loves and cherishes her, but I couldn’t talk to her... She sits opposite, and it’s hard for me to talk to her... It was hard to talk to her. And sometimes it happens that they still take root. I wanted to sell one baby, and then I looked at him and somehow felt sorry for him. So he still lives with me. O.G.: Yes, it’s not without reason that they say that for women it’s just one step from pity to love! OS: And now I’ll never give it back! He and I have already been through so much! O.G.: Probably, there really are some maternal feelings for dolls. Especially when it comes to baby dolls, reborns... OS: Well, there is a slightly dangerous line there, unlike collectors... But if it helps people survive... Why not! After all, if there are dogs who are taught to be helpers, who, like children, help, lead you by the hand, and give you the phone, and bark when it rings, and bring you slippers, and keep an eye on everything, then if a doll is able to bring you to justice condition... Why can a cat heal, but a doll cannot? They reanimate some feelings in us that make it possible to exist more or less calmly. So this is happiness! This is an artist, which means he put these forces into the doll! So it exists! God willing, I just personally cannot say that I welcome it with passion, but I understand it very much and do not deny it. It’s just a little more difficult for me to communicate with such people, because I somehow have a broader view of all this, but if it’s purely personal, then I understand it and bless it so much... If this is a medicine, then this is a colossal medicine...
In general, any great talent is a deviation. But we really accept and even demand deviation on stage, in paintings, in some kind of productive work, but in life we do not recognize this deviation, but laugh and blame it. It's unfair, it's wrong. If one thing leads to another, you must be able to understand this and forgive. Find the strength to help this person, and not push him away. And how many of my friends have I gotten hooked on dolls? (laughs) But not everyone gets hooked, only dreamers! O.G.: Some women collectors complain about their husbands, who do not understand their hobby. You are very lucky: Igor Alekseevich not only fully supports you, but also acts as your first adviser when you create a new image and new clothes for the dolls. Why do you think it is different?
OS: This is how I imagine: the very first creatures that were brought to Earth... Well, let them be monkeys. I don’t believe this, of course, but let it be. Let some first people, some half-creatures. They let them all in: crocodiles, elephants, dogs, mammoths... And suddenly one of the creatures suddenly decided that it would eat meat from a leaf, then from a clay plate. And another took a stick and decided: why not make a stripe or a cross on it... Some people have some kind of impulse, something happens in their brains that I want beautifully! And off we go... Why do men prefer the one who eats meat from her hand, and not the one who invented this beautiful bowl? O.G.: Because she needs something else. And from the hand it’s all simple. Predictable. OS: But a woman who still has some kind of attraction frightens and arouses jealousy. This means that something else could happen to her. She might see something else. She may feel something, and the other half categorically does not like it. Especially if he is not involved in it and does not support it. And the worst thing is that he doesn’t understand. Doesn't see, doesn't hear. And everything seems wild and ugly to him. The other side... And it causes horror, which he is afraid to show, and it spills out only in behavior.
Olga Sergeevna became interested in dolls relatively recently. Her experience as a collector can still be recorded as a single digit number. But do numbers really mean anything to true love? OS: Now all my work is measured not in dollars and euros, but in dolls. How many dolls will I get for this (laughs). I can’t force my family to lose everything. And when Sanechka bought... (I myself have loved dolls since childhood...), I thought: “How strange! It would be better if I bought myself a nice bra!” She said: “Mom, buy me a bra. And this pleases me so much!..” I only realized this later...
O.G.: You have already visited many doll exhibitions here, in Russia, and in Europe. How do they differ, in your opinion? OS: Our jump amplitude is higher than theirs. Even if the descent is lower. Everything is more interesting in our color design. Our people allow themselves everything; they have no limitations in their imagination. The same Chagall - after all, they are all from Russia. No Michelangelo would allow himself to express that hooliganism, that strange dream in a drawing, but we allow ourselves everything. We take risks. Having bitten the bit, we say: let it be! They will laugh: let them! I'll try! I may be a freak, but I'll try! Because in our country, on the one hand, beards were trimmed and everything was prohibited, we had some kind of internal spring that was restrained, held back... And then - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghaly 2018-2018 Come what may! And jumped into the hole! After all, no one jumps into their ice hole. And ours will get drunk, take a steam bath, and jump into the ice hole... So now the puppeteers are jumping into the ice hole. I walked around this entire huge exhibition in Eschweg, all four houses. There are dolls and dolls all around. And among the homemade, hand-made items, the only chairs I saw were fabulous, wicker ones. Then marvelous knitting and embroidery. But I haven’t seen hand puppets. Only made, well dressed. Only factory ones.
O.G.: What about the porcelain doll from Hiltrud Schwing that you bought? She makes them herself: she sculpts them, makes plaster molds, casts porcelain in them, fires them, paints them. She does all this herself!
Doll Hiltrud Schwing, purchased by Olga Sergeevna in Eschweg
Olga Sergeevna with Hiltrud Schwing.
O.S.: That's right. And there were many equally worthy people nearby: the same Tsvergnase and Gunzel. What struck me about her doll was her facial expression, her meditation, her eyes. East, a fabulous note, not yet available to me. Some kind of kinship with me. What I lost and what I'm looking for everywhere. In books, in movies and in dolls too. Both in memories and in photographs... She “got” me with this. And exactly me. After all, “your own doll” should be what worries you. But there are dolls that excite everyone. Some kind of discovery available for a premium. And there are only your dolls...
Eva Danker doll named Gänseliesel.
Eva Danker's little dolls struck me with some kind of inspired love for their offspring! She loves and understands children so much! Eighty-three years old, and such tenderness! It would seem, where? Go away, don't push me and I'm tired of you all! She probably already has great-grandchildren at that age. And at the same time, a person conveys such a concept of a child, such a little soul! Simply amazing! And love everything so thoroughly: cheeks, eyes, and nose! And to create a character - they are still different! The doll dictates to her, and she obeys it! And therefore, some kind of common work is born, given by you - the perception of life, and what the doll itself advises from above.
She, the artist, is very obedient, she does not spoil her, and therefore a new creature is born every time! This struck me about her! Because at her stand I didn’t see many “buns” standing next to each other, identical but dressed differently. Almost. Of course, she also has different faces. But these are much more different faces. The style is different for each doll. She simply delighted me!
And she herself is like an aged Mary Poppins, as if she knows something, can do something. And when she talks, there is this cunning in her eyes, and kindness, and becoming her, and understanding of herself in the world. The ability to present yourself so beautifully at this age, like a ballerina who retired yesterday. Amazing woman! Everything together was amazing. And there are still these dolls around! There is a stunningly beautiful elderly woman, who you wouldn’t give eighty-three years, next to her is a gorgeous husband, who is about ninety years old, but who you wouldn’t give ninety. And they live with delight. And kids from fairy tales are running around, both courtyard and village children, girls with curls from the twenties... How this wealth of soul has given her so many years! This is why I love her dolls!
Olga Sergeevna with Frau Danker at an exhibition in Eschweg: It’s as if we’ve known each other all our lives!
Olga Sergeevna brags about her new favorite at dinner!
(At this point, a small digression necessary for understanding the further “plot”: at the station in Dusseldorf, Olga Sergeevna’s bag was stolen, which contained this small porcelain doll of Eva Danker, purchased at the exhibition, about which she was very sad. And the artist repeated it for her in exactly a lost copy.)
OS: I asked her: “Make me exactly the same!” And she replied: “I will do even better!” And you bring it, and it really is even better! How did she know this? It might not have worked out, it might have turned out worse. But it turned out better!
Well, it was interesting to see the vikhtels too! Some kind of quintessential children's toy! That's why adults like it too! No nebulae or fantasies, it would seem, only a mask - the Greek mask changes. Such emotion, without wrinkles. But somehow she has nothing superfluous; on the one hand, the quinessence of emotion also works. And it works that it is small, that it is so pleasant in the hand.
At the exhibition in Eschweg, Olga Sergeevna met the dollmaker Heidi Pluschok, who had long been revered by her. And again the truth was confirmed that in order to understand each other, it is not at all necessary to speak the same language! With the help of smiles, gestures and a minimum supply of English words, it turns out that you can pour out your soul if you wish!
OS: I love everyone! (laughs) If only I had a house! I would give them a room! I would set up such a small museum and show it to the children! I have long dreamed of buying out the basement shop in our house and setting it up as a real puppet museum, completely free! But I show it to a lot of people, in the theater, for example. As soon as I arrive, people already ask me: is there anything new? And I carry a camera and show. And they are always ready to help me straighten my wig, color something. My make-up artists are the first participants. Himstedt came to me alone and was so dark, the vinyl was already quite old. And so they gave it to me. They took off her eyelashes, covered her eyes, warmed them up a little, applied them, absorbed them... And she brightened up! Well, then we’ve already gone: we’ve done our hands and done our legs! Vinyl absorbed everything. And nothing gets erased!
I know that Olga Sergeevna has one more dream, besides opening her own doll museum - to mold her own doll! And who knows, maybe there will soon be a new addition to the regiment of puppet artists!
With Olga Sergeevna’s permission, I am showing part of her collection - from the moment I interviewed her, the doll ranks have managed to be replenished with new faces.
I deliberately did not edit the text of the interview at all in order to preserve and convey, if possible, that emotionality, trepidation, and trust; Olga Sergeevna’s own style and manner of communication; that special atmosphere that you find yourself in in her house (I don’t even dare to call it an apartment). How I love her house! Can't put it into words! For me, this is a dream come true of style and taste, this is a love for details and a million exquisite, noble little things, thanks to which a house becomes a HOME and is filled with warmth and its own special spirit! These are paintings on the walls (after all, a real painter lives in the house!), antique figurines, flowers, a pattern on porcelain cups, a heavy wooden table with carvings... This is the indispensable hospitality of a hospitable hostess, who, in addition to all her other talents, also cooks beautifully and for nothing will not let you go without feeding you with all your heart with all sorts of delicacies! (During the summer doll exhibition in the St. Petersburg Manege on St. Isaac's Square, not far from where Olga Sergeevna lives, she came to our stand every day and fed us, exhausted from the exhibition's hardships, sandwiches with homemade cutlets!) Olga Sergeevna is an amazing person, very sincere , pleasant to talk to, subtle, smart, intelligent - in the very real sense of this distorted and well-worn word! I love her very dearly and with all my heart I wish her and her husband good health - one for two, because they cannot imagine life without each other!
