On November 18, on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal, Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue, 93, in the Kolomna district chosen by artists, a small cozy museum of St. Petersburg angels opened.

In the Museum: Roman and St. Petersburg Angel

The work of Maria Kasyanenko “Cat. Coffee. Mandelstam ". The work was returned by the collector, having learned that Maria is no longer there and a museum will be created

The work of Roman Shustrov - "Lace Angel"

The museum is a memorial apartment where two wonderful puppeteer painters Roman Shustrov and his wife Maria Kasyanenko lived and worked, who recently left us: Roman a year ago, Maria a little over six months.

A novel in a workshop

Maria and the doll

The novel is known as the author of puppet sculpture. Many people in Russia and abroad are very fond of his angels, who stand in the Izmailovsky Garden near the Youth Theater on the Fontanka, in the Lyubashinsky Garden, on the embankments of the Karpovka River.

The last angel, Sad, was installed in honor of the dead doctors after Roman's death. The shape was taken from the "Angel with the Gramophone" figurine. The Sad Angel was refined by Maria Kasyanenko. She can rightfully be considered the co-author of this monument. The sad angel fell in love with people, he is always in flowers, scarves are tied around his neck and, of course, they are photographed with him.

How unfair death takes talented people in the prime of their creative powers, ideas, incredible plans, pulls people out of the circle of loved ones and relatives in spirit, just as it seemed obvious and very correct the idea of creating a museum of their memory.

The idea belongs to art critic Olga Shustrova, Maria's mother, who, by the will of fate, is Roman's mother-in-law. During this difficult time, Olga also lost her husband, Alexander Shustrov, a mime artist.

Legislative Assembly Deputy Boris Vishnevsky opens the Museum of St. Petersburg Angels

The first visitors to the museum

A visitor to the museum photographs the work of Roman "St. Petersburg Snow"

In an empty apartment on Rimsky-Korsakov, where the renovation had not yet been completed after the artists moved from the “fairytale house” on Angliysky Prospect, where Roman and Maria lived and worked for 10 years, friends cleared the space filled with materials for future work, hung shelves, carried out missing light. From galleries of the city, from several collectors, doll sculptures have returned. And life began.

Olga Shustrova

Olga Shustrova shows Roman's book "I am a puppeteer"

Roman and Maria

“A museum is not only a frozen memory, it is a living thing. Literary evenings are already taking place here. Soon, master classes in applied arts will begin, as it was during the life of Roman and Maria, ”says Elena Dobryakova, one of the founders of the museum, its public director.

“We are waiting for ideas from artists who are ready to take part in the life of our museum. And there are already proposals! "

The opening of the museum showed how many people are interested in the works of Roman and Maria. As you would like to, at least in the initial stage, master the puppetry.

In the museum

Roman - St. Petersburg Angel

Sad angel

Lubashik

The organisers of the museum have a dream - to install in the city a beautiful sculpture by Roman Shustrov "Lady with a Dog".

The image of an elderly woman carrying a volume of poetry in her purse is inspired by various characters the artist met on his way, perhaps there is a bridge to the opera singer Lubov Delmas, Alexander Blok's lover, who lived to the age of 84... The novel honoured the elderly, considered them the soul of old St. Petersburg. Who preserves and transmits culture to new generations. Understanding this allowed him to create such warm and heartfelt works.

Lady with a dog

A visit to the private museum is possible by appointment in the Facebook group "Museum of PETERSBURG ANGELS" and on Instagram.

On the title photo - Characters of Roman Shustrov and Maria Kasyanenko, on the right is the Angel with the gramophone, from which the Sad Angel was made... Photo by Vladimir Zheltov

Material prepared Elena Dmitrenko