On the 21st of November in Moscow, an exhibition took place in the Tretyakov Gallery:
The heroes of our future firm also attended the exhibition: Tenno Sooster, Victoria Mochalova and others. The Estonian Ambassador made a welcoming speech.
The exhibition featured four self-portraits of Ülo Sooster and three Sooster paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery.
The two ladies in the photo are the two main art historians for Sooster. One of them from Estonia - Eha Komissarov, another from Russia - Anna Romanova (in the photo together).
On the background of the portraits of Ülo, the director of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Zelfira Tregulova, gives an interview about Sooster.
Filming in the house of the former insurance company "Russia", where Kabakov's and Sooster's workshops were opposite each other.
Miraculously we accessed under the roof, where Sooster's workshop was. The red-painted door is the entrance to his workshop. Tenno's interview (on white) - this is the passage to former Kabakov's workshop.
Victoria Mochalova - philologist, former wife of Ilya Kabakov, mother of Anton Nosik (this is his black and white portrait in the interior). The shooting took place in her apartment, which is, in fact, a workshop built by Ilya Kabakov for himself. But he did not work in it, as in 1988 he emigrated to America. And the house was completed in 1989…
Brusilovsky:
I was quiet when Sooster started telling his parables. “I once had a dream, that I should draw forty thousand junipers. So, now I'm going to draw. Such a thing! ”His language was very rich and imaginative, the Estonian accent somehow decorated and made very significant what he said. In the camp “he was lucky” - he sat with scientists, philosophers and priests. Many were educated at the glorious European universities - Paris, Göttingen… This university "camp" gave Sooster an amazing outlook, not squeezed by the blinkers of official views. The point was not only in quantity but in the quality of his knowledge.
It was a pleasure when I listened to him. We all adored him. His influence, the charm of his personality were so powerful that often, in his absence, they tried to imitate him. His amazing facial expression - one eyebrow frowned, the other flew high over the glasses, tightly closed mouth in a strangely lipless smile. Even his accent.
Tenno in Mytishchi, at home with his cousin Ilya Serha. (They have the same grandmother and grandfather from Lidia's side). This apartment was often visited by Ülo and he gave relatives his artwork as a gift. Serha had the largest collection in Moscow, hanging at home. Before leaving, Tenno and Lidia gave this family everything they could not take to Israel.
(Tenno and Ilya Serkh, theatre director. Tenno shows the dolls sewed by Lidia Sooster. Portrait of his father-in-law, Tenno's grandfather. Artwork. Portrait of Andrei Solovei, with whom Ülo sat in the camp. Diploma)
Footsteps of Ülo. Famous Krasin street (where Tuesdays were held). There is no entrance to the basement (where the apartment was). It is immured. All rebuilt. Tenno at the entrance to the courtyard on Krasin.
The second photo - Tenno on Lavochkin Street, Ülo's last apartment. Here he came from the workshop on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the family. And from the metro station "River Station" in any condition, he ran about a mile and a half before this house with a heavy briefcase, asserting that he was working out. In this apartment, Ülo has built bookshelves and shelves for dishes. From here, Tenno and his mother left to Israel.