We have recently visited in her studio Anna Birshtein – the artist, the member of Russian Union of Artists, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Arts, a participant of Russian and foreign exhibitions. And also she is the Trustee of Diema’s Dream Fund.
“All our Trustees are the people that honestly believe in the work that we do and support it for many years. Anna is one of these people that silently make their contribution, allow something kind to happen” – noticed Elena while we were walking towards Anna’s studio – “for me Anna is associated with creation in it’s pure form -in everything. It is something to do with the colors in her artworks and with everything seen in the paintings – all this is kind and creative.
According to Elena during the pandemic and crisis the paintings of Anna Birshtein should be literally prescribed as a medicine and these artworks should be placed in hospitals instead of TV sets – that is how energetic joyful and optimistic they are!
In a few minutes we got to Anna’s studio at Verhknyaya Maslovka and dank autumn was literally displaced by the rampage of the painted flowers! Lush and bright bouquets on the paintings filled all the walls, were leaned up against radiators and the stool on the floor and lined up on the shelves of 4 meters height. WE could feel the cozy smell of oil paint and drying oil.
I wondered aloud how many pictures there are. “Yes, there is a lot of pictures here – I have been painting them since I was a child, it is very difficult to count them – I have never counted” – replied Anna.
It turned out that in her studio Anna unites with her parents. As she put it through these pictures her father is present here – the impressionist and the student of Grabar’ – Max Birshtein, and also her mother – a well known soviet poster artist, the author of an artistic exhortation “Don’t talk” – Nina Vatolina.
“I was brought up in a family of artists in Moscow. My parents were working all the time and went out in the evenings very often so a nanny was with me. After the war my mother completely stopped drawing posters, – recounts Anna. – Being the most famous poster artist of the time, she started drawing postcards, paintings, my and Masha’s portraits and also wrote her first books – “Tretyakov gallery walk” and “Walk around Moscow”, that were a success.
Her dad – a travelling artist – apart from remarkable pictures left us his travelogues with sketches from Asia, Georgia, Africa. Anna’s family published them in separate books on the century of the birth of Max Birshtein.
Since her childhood Anna only saw herself as an artist.
My parents would consider normal if I would have chosen other profession. But since my childhood I only saw myself as a painter – tells Anna – My first pictures were flowers. I like painting in oils most of all, but I also have aquarelles, pastels, that I usually use to draw sketches in my journeys.
Anna Birshtein’s paintings can be found in largest museums all around the world and in private collections. There is one of her paintings of a series “Moscow landscapes” In Tretyakov gallery collection. A beautiful building at Prechistinka is depicted there. There are some Anna’s paintings in Moscow Modern Art Museum, in Art and History museums of Arkhangelsk, Tula, Serpukhov, Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Among the foreign collections Anna’s paintings can be found for example in a National museum of Washington. A lot of Anna’s masterpieces adorn private collections abroad.
I don’t paint my pictures for very long. I can draw portraits longer, and the flowers – about 2 days. Though I can add something to them after a while. There is a lot of summer paintings drown at the dacha in Tarusa. In summer I use very bright colors, and in the autumn I muffle the tones and return to white palette. And, for example, all my youthful works were in a gray scale.
I should say that Anna is an outstanding master, but at the same time she is not a public person at all – one of those who have been making their inestimable contribution to helping our foundation for many years. For several years in a row, she donated her works to participate in charity auctions of the Diema’s Dream Foundation, organized with the assistance of one of the most famous auction houses. Meanwhile, Anna is very sensitive to the part of her life and work that is associated with charity. On the wall in the studio, among newspaper clippings, old photographs of herself, her family and parents, as well as postcards, there are thank you notes to Anna from our Foundation and the certificates for the paintings that have raised millions of rubles for the Foundation. Another part of them is kept in a country house in Tarusa.
One of the certificates shows that the painting – a landscape which is a view from the window of her workshop – won $15,000, the money was sent to help the beneficiaries of the Diema’s Dream Foundation. “I have never won such a large sum,” Anna recalls. “But it was such a beautiful view from my former studio on Novokuznetskaya, where I spent 33 years, that while looking at the picture people did not believe that it really was like that there.”
Anna has been participating in various charity events with her paintings since the 1990s. Moreover, several times she participated with his father, Max Birshtein. Together they donated pictures for “Operation “Smile”, where they raised funds for the operations of facial surgeons.
Many famous artists took part in the fundraising,” Anna recalls. – We gave very good pictures there. I had this picture – a view from my studio: a red church, winter. This picture then became famous and won a lot of money, it had the highest price.”
Three times in recent years, Anna donated her paintings to help raising funds for the renovation of the clinic in Tarusa, where she spends the summer months, so that people there could also receive qualitative medical care in decent conditions.
“For the first time I took part in a charity event in favor of the Diema’s Dream Fund 10 years ago,” Anna recalls. – Foreign ladies invited me to participate. This was the first time, and the event took place in England. Everything went great! “
According to Anna, at such an event, an artist feels joy and elation, because he can help children, have an impact on their recovery, and commit to aiding the child. However, few people know about this activity, because this issue usually is not raised in the conversations.
“I would rather mention it in my autobiography in the catalog, but I won’t talk about this. It is very personal, something that is deep in my heart. I could give paintings to hang them in the lobbies of orphanages and hospitals and I want to do that. For example, at the time when Beslan happened, there were such centers where help for the victims of that terrorist attack was brought – things, clothes, sweets and other. I took about 6 large paintings there – to be hung in the hospital. I had such an impulse. Everyone was affected by this trouble – and I wanted to somehow support people in their grief.”
I think that if people like my pictures for being optimistic and cheerful, they can be sent to an orphanage and hung in the corridor or in the hall. But the heads of orphanages and hospitals refused me many times: they said they would collect dust or might be stolen. And yet in my paintings hang two hospitals. Even if they were stolen, it would mean that I have gained fame!”
In turn, Anna conveyed a thanks to everyone who helps the Foundation and wished that the noble cause that we are doing together would always be done with inspiration!