{"id":9149,"date":"2023-07-18T13:06:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T11:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=9149"},"modified":"2023-07-18T13:07:05","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T11:07:05","slug":"victor-ryabinin-artist-four-years-out-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-artist-four-years-out-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Ryabinin Artist Four Years Out of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Victor Ryabinin left K\u00f6nigsberg in 2019 to go back there. There is so much presence in his absence that it is hard to say if he ever went at all.  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

18 July 2023 ~ Victor Ryabinin Artist Four Years Out of Time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image: Victor Ryabinin with Mick Hart, The London Pub, Kaliningrad, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our friend, artist, philosopher and local historian, VIctor Ryabinin, who lived out his entire life in K\u00f6nigsberg, died on 18 July 2019. He was, as I and others have written, a most unassuming, but in spite of and because of this, most remarkable man, both intellectually and on the level of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first year that I will be unable to make the annual homage to his grave, as I am in England at present doing all the things that we people have to do whilst we are alive and which, when we die, mean very little if nothing to anyone. \u201cIs it worth it?\u201d sang Elvis Costello<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is not the case with Victor: Victor left behind a concatenation of friends and colleagues who filled the hall at his funeral to pay their last respects to him, who have written heart-felt eulogies to him, enough to fill a book<\/a>, and who continue to speak of him with great\u00a0 affection and reverence. This is the yardstick of a worthwhile life: to have people remember you for the essence of the person you were and the light that you brought to their life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a small affair, my funeral: There was the vicar, who begrudgingly turned out on a wet afternoon when the pubs were open, Ginger the cat, who had nothing better to do, and two professionals from Rent A Mourner. No one could be asked to dig the grave, so they used a post-hole digger and buried me standing up. My brother, the one who is a carpenter, made the coffin from MDF, his stock-in-trade material and, in order to keep things cheap, cut corners literally so that my feet stuck out one end. Happily ~ purely for the sake of appearances, mind, nothing to do with respect ~ someone found an old pair of wellies, so that took care of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonard Cohen was played throughout, and a man, chosen because of his serious face and the fact he cost a fiver, read an excerpt from my favourite short story, Ligeia<\/em>, by Edgar Allan Poe, and then the graveside bystanders, muttering \u201cHe always was a miserable bugger.” ~ Ginger the cat said \u201cMeow!\u201d ~ off they went to the nearest pub at a gallop and by the time their first pint had been downed they had forgotten I ever existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin Artist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Something as ignominious as this could never happen to the likes of Victor Ryabinin, because he was a truly likeable man: admired, respected, loved, revered, warm of company and generous in spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Victor
Victor Ryabinin Plaque: Mick Hart and V Chilikin<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, we privately and officially celebrated Victor\u2019s life and commemorated his death with a plaque that we had commissioned, and which is now attached to the wall of our dacha. There was talk once, there always is a lot of talk full of good intentions immediately after someone dies, of erecting a plaque in Victor\u2019s honour on the wall of the building where his studio once was. It is a great pity that this idea has never been brought to fruition, as many people ~ poets, architects, historians, artists, museum curators and me ~ were privileged to sit with him there, surrounded by relics from K\u00f6nigsberg and the artworks created in his own hand, artworks which these relics, these haunting pieces of the past combined with his personal memories, had assigned him to compose and pass on for posterity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another building that deserves to be endowed with a plaque in memory of Victory Ryabinin is the Kaliningrad Art School, where Victor worked as an art teacher for many years. His former students speak warmly of him, both of the man and the teacher, and it is gratifying to discover that the inspiration that he instilled shines through their sketches and paintings, which are displayed at various times in solo exhibitions and with the works of other artists in Kaliningrad\u2019s art museums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I am far away and unable to make my annual trip to Victor\u2019s graveside. When he died, I vowed this would never happen, but show me the man who is master of his destiny and we\u2019ll sit together and talk of lies. Fortunately, our minds are capable of travelling far greater distances than any machine, and special people and unique places never stray far from our thoughts. They are a source of great comfort in its ever having been and a source of equal pain in its never to be again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the heart? Leonard Cohen asks. And well he might. Whatever it is, we have no choice but to live with it, if only, thankfully, for a little while longer ~ somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin<\/strong>
Arrived in K\u00f6nigsberg 17th<\/sup> December 1946
Returned to K\u00f6nigsberg 18th<\/sup> July 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin K\u00f6nigsberg Artist-Historian:<\/a> <\/strong>A biographical essay by author Boris Nisnevich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ryabinin K\u00f6nigsberg Kaliningrad:<\/strong><\/a> Mick Hart recalls how fortunate he was to have met and to have known Victor Ryabinin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Through Victor, I learnt many things that I had seen throughout my life in K\u00f6nigsberg but had never really thought about.<\/em>“<\/strong><\/a> ~ Stanislav Konovalov, student and personal friend of Victor Ryabinin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2023 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Ryabinin left K\u00f6nigsberg in 2019 to go back there. There is so much presence in his absence that it is hard to say if he ever went at all.   18 July 2023 ~ Victor Ryabinin Artist Four Years Out of Time Featured image: Victor Ryabinin with Mick Hart, The London Pub, Kaliningrad, 2015 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[280,281,1296,1291,283,276,277,278,66],"class_list":["post-9149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-konigsberg","tag-boris-nisnevich","tag-mick-hart-with-victor-ryabinin","tag-stanislav-konovalov-mick-hart","tag-stanislav-konovalov-kaliningrad","tag-victor-ryabinin-art-studio","tag-victor-ryabinin-artist-historian","tag-victor-ryabinin-konigsberg","tag-victor-ryabinin-konigsberg-kaliningrad","tag-victor-rybinin-artist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Victor-Ryabinin-at-London-Pub-rz.jpg?fit=1490%2C1118&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5262,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-art-exhibition-kaliningrad-opens-december-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":0},"title":"Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"21 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An Artist who Can Hear Angels Speak Published: 21 December 2021 ~ Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021 An art exhibition devoted to the works of our late friend Victor Ryabinin opens at The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts on 23 December 2021. The exhibition will\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Victor-Ryabinin-Art-Exhibition-2021-2022.jpg?fit=608%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Victor-Ryabinin-Art-Exhibition-2021-2022.jpg?fit=608%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Victor-Ryabinin-Art-Exhibition-2021-2022.jpg?fit=608%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4203,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-at-one-with-konigsberg\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":1},"title":"Victor Ryabinin at one with K\u00f6nigsberg","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"18 \u0438\u044e\u043b\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Ryabinin, artist, K\u00f6nigsberg17 December 1946 ~ 18 July 2019 Victor Ryabinin, a word with him after his death:Thoughts on the second anniversary of Victor's deathIt is two years now, by our understanding of time, since Victor stepped out of time, but hardly a day goes by when we do\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Why Victor Ryabinin will never leave K\u00f6nigsberg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Surreal-face-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2752,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/a-book-about-victor-ryabinin\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":2},"title":"A book about Victor Ryabinin","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"17 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 75th anniversary of Victor Ryabinin's birth Published: 17 December 2020 ~ A book about Victor Ryabinin To coincide with what would have been Victor Ryabinin\u2019s 75th birthday, a book has been published which celebrates and commemorates his life and work. Conceived, supervised and edited by Kaliningrad artist Marina\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2635,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/stas-kaliningrad-konigsberg-guide-has-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":3},"title":"Stas Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg Guide has Died","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"2 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The loss of an indispensable friend Published: 2 December 2020 It is with great sadness that I report that our dear friend Stas (Stanislav Konovalov) passed away recently from post-operative complications whilst undergoing hospital treatment. My wife, Olga, and I met Stas in January 2019. We were introduced to him\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2019\/2020"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2019\/2020","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2019-2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stas Kaliningrad K\u00f6nigsberg Guide","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Stas-I-on-balcony.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Stas-I-on-balcony.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Stas-I-on-balcony.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Stas-I-on-balcony.jpg?fit=720%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6987,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/remembering-victor-ryabinin-artist-konigsberg\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":4},"title":"Remembering Victor Ryabinin, Artist, K\u00f6nigsberg","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"18 \u0438\u044e\u043b\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On the third anniversary of Victor Ryabinin's death Published: 18 July 2022 ~ Remembering Victor Ryabinin, Artist, K\u00f6nigsberg Photograph: Victor Ryabinin seated on the right at the far end of the table On 30th June this year, the thought occurred to me that three years ago to this date in\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Remembering Victor Ryabinin, artist, K\u00f6nigsberg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Mick-Hart-with-Victor-Ryabinin-Kaliningrad.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Mick-Hart-with-Victor-Ryabinin-Kaliningrad.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Mick-Hart-with-Victor-Ryabinin-Kaliningrad.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Mick-Hart-with-Victor-Ryabinin-Kaliningrad.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":988,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/victor-ryabinin-artist-historian\/","url_meta":{"origin":9149,"position":5},"title":"Victor Ryabinin Artist Historian","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"18 \u0430\u043f\u0440\u0435\u043b\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Ryabinin the Spirit of K\u00f6nigsberg by Mick Hart Published: 18 April 2020 I first met Victor Ryabinin in the spring of 2001. A friend of my wife\u2019s, knowing how much my wife liked art and how fascinated I was with anything to do with the past, suggested that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "K\u00d6NIGSBERG"","block_context":{"text":"K\u00d6NIGSBERG","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/konigsberg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Victor Ryabinin K\u00f6nigsberg Kaliningrad","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSCN5874-Copy-2-scaled.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSCN5874-Copy-2-scaled.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSCN5874-Copy-2-scaled.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DSCN5874-Copy-2-scaled.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}