Wilhelm Paul Christian Nikolai von Helmersen (russian: Василий Васильевич Гельмерсен, tr. ; August 23, 1873 – December 9, 1937) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

artist and book illustrator. He is known mostly for his illustrations to ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by Ale ...

''.

Biography

Wilhelm von Helmersen was born in 1873 into the Baltic German noble Helmersen family, and was the grand nephew of the genealogist

Gregor von Helmersen Gregor von Helmersen or Grigory Petrovich Helmersen (russian: Григорий Петрович Гельмерсен, – ) was a Baltic German geologist. Biography Helmersen was born in Duckershof, Livonia (now in Estonia) and went to boar ...

. In 1899 he graduated from the

Saint Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

and began his career in the

Ministry of the Imperial Court The Ministry of the Imperial Court (russian: Министерство императорского двора) was established in Russia in 1826, and embraced in one institution all the former separate branches of the Court administration. The Min ...

. By 1908, he had risen to a Court Councilor and received the rank of Chamber Junker. However, in 1914, he quit the Ministry to work as an assistant director in the Palace Library of

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

. Since 1900, Helmersen was known for his silhouette artworks. He created illustrations to ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' (russian: «Мёртвые души», ''Mjórtvyje dúshi'') is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adv ...

A Hero of Our Time ''A Hero of Our Time'' ( rus, Герой нашего времени, links=1, r=Gerój nášego vrémeni, p=ɡʲɪˈroj ˈnaʂɨvə ˈvrʲemʲɪnʲɪ) is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839, published in 1840, and revised in 1841. It ...

The Shot The Shot was a basketball play that occurred during a 1989 playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It took place on May 7, 1989 at Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, ...

''. His works were included in the exhibitions at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

. After the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, Helmersen worked in the

State Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...

and in the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. In 1930, he was arrested as a result of a ''purge'' in the state institutions and sent to one of the Gulag prison camps. In 1937, he was executed like many other victims of the Great Purge.

''Eugene Onegin''

Helmersen's most famous work was a series of 100 illustrations to ''Eugene Onegin''. One of them was published in Vengerov's six-volume edition of Pushkin's works. In 1910s Nikolay Lerner intended to publish an edition of ''Eugene Onegin'' illustrated by Helmersen, but this was not realized (most likely because of the

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

and the Revolution). In the Soviet period, another edition of ''Onegin'' with Helmersen's illustrations was prepared in the State Literary Museum to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pushkin's death, but it was also canceled. The illustrations, however, were displayed in the

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum ( Russian: Государственный исторический музей, ''Gosudarstvenny istoricheskiy muzyey'') of Russia is a museum of Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of ...

during the Pushkin Anniversary Exhibition in 1937.«Russian Silhouette» (in Russian)
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Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmersen, Vasily Illustrators from the Russian Empire Silhouettists Artists from Saint Petersburg Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire 1873 births 1937 deaths Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet illustrators

Biography

''Eugene Onegin''

Gallery

See also

References