With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
George Grebenstchikoff
Fiction
1882 – 1964
Grebenstschikoff was responsible for several buildings in the Russian Village section of Southbury in addition to his cottages. The old printing presses, lithographic plates, and Cyrillic type still survive for the Alatas Print Shop, a publishing house he established to foster the dissemination of Russian culture. It published a Russian language paper and the work of several Russian authors, in addition to his own books. In keeping with his practical school of life philosophy, Grebenstchikoff and his wife Tatiana, an actress from Russia, became accomplished carpenters, actively participating in the construction of most of the early houses.
- Biography/Description of Work
George Grebenstchikoff was born in 1882 in what is present-day Kazakhstan. George’s mother, Elena Petrovna Grebenstchikoff, encouraged him to learn to read and write at an early age, an uncommon skill in a typical family of miners. He began writing poetry at the age of nine, but his father, Dmitri Lukich Grebenstchikoff, had taken George with him into the lumber industry, thus curtailing any further elementary education. At the age of 12, George left his hometown for the nearby city of Semipalatinsk to earn a living through a variety of jobs: making postmarks, washing dishes, being an apprentice to a pharmacist, and assisting in a hospital. At 14, George became a scribe for the city magistrate and was able to pursue his scholarly interests. He first began publishing his literary work in 1905, writing reviews, reports, and short stories for the local newspapers. In 1909, George published his first play. In the spring of 1909, George toured Moscow and St. Petersburg for the first time. He also visited Leo Tolstoy at the novelist’s estate in Yasnaya Polyana. Upon his return home, George surveyed Altai and read lectures with an ethnographic team. George continued his literary professional in Barnaul, where he became editor and journalist for the paper Altai Life. In 1912, he met Maxim Gorky and received influential praise for his writing, establishing himself firmer as an author.
In 1916, George volunteered as a medical orderly in the Imperial Russian Army for the eastern front in World War I, and worked as a military correspondent for a journal in Moscow. While at the front, George met his future companion, Tatiana Stadnik, in 1917. The Russian Civil War forced George and Tatiana to immigrate to France. George published Churaevs in the spring of 1921, and pursued a prolific literary career in France until meeting Nicholas Roerich in Paris in 1923. Roerich became influential in the Grebenstchikoffs’ decision to leave for America. Before leaving for America, George and Roerich formed a publishing company, Alatas. In 1924, the Grebenstchikoffs arrived in New York and a year later they founded Churaevka, a Russian literary and artistic community in Southbury, Connecticut. The land was purchased from Ilya Tolstoy, the son of author Leo Tolstoy. The village enjoyed visits from numerous Russian poets, musicians, and scientists such as inventor Igor Sikorsky, singer Fyodor Chaliapine, and sculptor Sergey Konenkov. Meanwhile, George finally became the sole owner of Alatas publishing house. In 1927, the printing equipment of Alatas moved from Roerich’s museum in New York to Churaevka, where Russian exhibitions, festivals, and lessons for children occurred regularly.
In 1940, the Grebenstchikoffs moved to Lakeland, Florida and shortly began teaching at Southern Florida University. George taught courses in creative writing and Russian literature, while Tatiana specialized in printing and managed the school’s printing press. They continued to summer in Churaevka, and managed Alatas, while teaching in Florida.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Grebenstchikoff, http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/research/vitrage/all/go/ihrc809.html, http://findingaids.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=beinecke:greb&query=&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&big=&adv=&filter=&hitPageStart=&sortFields=&view=all, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=82794566, http://www.ctmuseumquest.com/?page_id=13749 George Grebenstchikoff Article - New York Times - 1926-7-4, George Grebenstchikoff Article - The Hartford Courant - 1935-10-25, George Grebenstchikoff Article - The Hartford Courant - 1935-11-26, George Grebenstchikoff Article - The Hartford Courant - 1940-5-28, George Grebenstchikoff Article - The Hartford Courant - 1950-8-26, George Grebenstchikoff Article - The Hartford Courant - 1977-7-31, George Grebenstchikoff Obituary - New York Times - 1964-1-17, George Grebenstchikoff Russian Village NR Article - New York Times - 1988-7-24 Cunningham, Jan; Russian
- Associated Resource(s)