A few years ago appeared in RuNet scans of the erotic alphabet, the authorship of which was attributed to the Soviet sculptor Sergei Merkurov. We checked whether this attribution is fair.
The first publications of this alphabet, in the letters of which erotic scenes are written, appeared about ten years ago. They were mainly distributed to forums and on social networks - relevant posts can now be found in Facebook, "VKontakte", LiveJournal, on Pikabu and other resources. The author of the drawings, created in 1931, was indicated Sergey Merkurov - famous Soviet sculptor, author of numerous statues of Lenin and Stalin, death masks of most prominent figures of his time (from Mayakovsky to Frunze). However, more serious sites have doubts whether Merkurov can be called the author of this series of drawings. For example, the portal “Kultura.rf” turned on this information in the collection “Not just monuments: gossip about ten Russian sculptors”, and in discussion articles about Merkurov in Wikipedia directly called it a fake, indicating that the article had to be cleaned up several times.
We turned to the main expert on the work of Sergei Merkurov for clarification. Anton Merkurov, the sculptor’s great-grandson, custodian and researcher of his heritage, told Verified: “The original alphabet, which, judging by the reproductions on the Internet, is sheets with watercolor drawings, I personally have never held in my hands. However, among the published scans there is a sheet with an autograph and a date - since I worked a lot with my great-grandfather’s archives, I see that this is extremely similar to his handwriting.”
However, the main fact indicating that the alphabet belongs to the sculptor’s hand is, according to Anton Merkurov, something completely different: “The fact is that the folder with these sheets was really kept in our family for a very long time, in the family apartment, after the death of the author (he died in 1952). It was seen by my parents, grandparents, and family friends who remember it well. But in my memory, for the last forty years, she was no longer there. During Soviet times, our hospitable apartment was constantly visited by many visitors, some of whom got there by accident. At some point, the folder with frivolous drawings disappeared, probably someone took it. Apparently, then it passed from hand to hand, I think the current owner considers himself a completely “bona fide purchaser.” This fact was confirmed by journalist Alexey Fedorov - according to him, he saw a folder with the alphabet in the Merkurovs’ apartment in the 1970s. “It was kind of a tourist attraction and was shown to a lot of family friends,” he says.
Regarding the appearance of the alphabet on the Internet, Anton Merkurov said the following: “At the beginning of 2012, someone posted scans of these sheets on the Internet, indicating that “the album is kept in a private collection.” Perhaps this was done by the owner himself or simply by a fan of the genre who was given permission by the owner to scan and publish. I tried to contact these people, wrote to that site, but I was told that the owner would not talk to me. We don’t know where these drawings are now; maybe they changed collectors again. No one contacted Merkurov’s family regarding their authentication.” Another acquaintance of the Merkurov family, who also saw the folder in the Soviet years, told us that, in his opinion, one of the older generation could have sold the folder without informing other family members about it.
However, besides the obvious scans of yellowed sheets of paper, you can find other versions of the erotic alphabet on the Internet. This is subject or interior photography.
Anton Merkurov also spoke about this: “Photos on the Internet in which you can see sheets with these letters in mats or frames are already my project. Last year, I invited a professional designer, and based on scans of the alphabet from the Internet (which have a low resolution), we drew these letters in high quality. They now exist as collectible handmade silkscreen prints that can be purchased on the website azbuka.love. In October 2020, the first edition was presented at the exhibition "Soviet Erotic Alphabet of 1931" in the Cube art space in Moscow. We have also printed a series of postcards, which can also be purchased.”
So, after all, is the Soviet sculptor definitely the author of the erotic alphabet, or with some degree of doubt? What's the final verdict? The great-grandson answers like this: “Concerning the authorship of Sergei Merkurov, my opinion, based on the study of his creative manner and habits, is this: most likely, he was the direct executor of the drawings. Moreover, he signed his autograph. However, I think that in general this alphabet is the fruit of collective creativity. Merkurov probably came up with all this together with his friends during some fun evening.”
It seems to us that the idea, of course, could have been born spontaneously, however, as everyone who has dealt with the creation of graphics knows, it takes more than one day and a steady hand to carefully complete more than thirty watercolor sheets. Perhaps Merkurov and his friends could sketch sketches at a party, together figuring out how to fit erotic poses into the Cyrillic alphabet, but the implementation of the project required concentration and work alone (or with a coloring assistant). Autograph with a specific date “Drawn by S. D. Merkurov 17-X-931”, most likely refers to the moment of completion of the last sheet.
But Merkurov could present the completed project in the same big, cheerful company. Who could be part of this group of frivolous co-authors? Friends of the sculptor, the flower of the Soviet intellectual elite. The key to who exactly it was, it seems to us, can be given by the overprint on the cover, which reads: “Watercolor drawings by I. I. Ivanov (1886–1924)”. It’s quite strange to put a handwritten autograph with a real surname in one place, and stick a piece of paper on the cover, on which something completely different is reported using a typewriter. (We leave in reserve the version that the label was attached years later by other people, since the folder was kept in the family.). I.I. Ivanov is clearly a false name and cannot help. But the date 1886–1924 (although this may be a simple coincidence and an arbitrary set of numbers) is the exact time existence art circle "Shmarovinsky Wednesdays", which included a lot of artists, for example Dmitry Moor. There were probably people around Sergei Merkurov who attended these “environments”. Perhaps one of them (or even several) became involved in the creation of the funny alphabet, which, however, requires further research - for example, studying the diaries and letters of the “suspects” dating back to October 1931.
Most likely true
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