From the autographed dedication signed by the Russian poet in 1987 at the studio of the maestro in Lido di Camaiore.
Eugenio Pardini has an exceptional master: nature. His professors are the mountains and the sea which have surrounded him since birth.
Nature is a grand artist. Frost on the windows, the imaginative blend of colors in a sunset (which differ every time), the clouds whose shapes mutate to match our elusive thoughts: these are mother nature’s masterpieces. However, many mediocre painters have used abstract art as a means to disguise their lack of talent. Eugenio Pardini – a poet of his own dreams – has learnt the meaning of grace, and with it, power, from nature. His images reflect the ballet of life, which delights in its own plasticity. At times, Pardini’s dreams resemble his breathing, as though breathing, without the use of brush strokes, knew how to paint. In this day and age, much slovenly, careless painting appears, which highlight the ugliness of life, almost as though this were its sole aspect. Eugenio Pardini reminds us that life is a marvelous dancer who, even on wells of blood, can enthrall us with her splendid dance routines.
Eugenio Pardini’s painting is a fragile but resistant bridge between Botticelli’s contours and the dramatic experiences of the century which saw Hiroshima. A bridge above the abyss of the shattered form. His painting has absorbed – though not in an imitative manner – Etruscan designs, ancient frescos, Mexican murals as well as the subtleties of Japanese and Chinese silk prints.
In his 75 years, the master is a prime example of the fact that age is non-existent if your whole life is dedicated to infinite self-perfection.
YEVGENY ALEKSANDROVICH YEVTUSHENKO
(Zima, 18 July 1933) is a Russian poet and novelist.
Following Stalin’s death, and the period of the “thaw”, this poet’s notoriety began to especially take root amongst youths. He would give readings at student nights, and in 1955 he was much celebrated amongst students of Moscow after having dedicated verses to them, read from the heights of the university staircase.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) in March 1956 marked a new direction in Yevtushenko’s career. Following an official condemnation for “cult of personality”, he published a series of poems opposing Stalin and the bureaucrats who still secretly regretted the loss of the dictator. (The poems “Zima Station”, “The Heirs of Stalin”, “Fears”, “Conversation with an American Writer” and many others).
His zealous temperament and his genuine hatred towards anything and anyone who oppresses man’s freedom drove the poet far beyond any permitted boundaries. In the spring of 1957, due to the fact that he defended Dudincev’s novel “Ne khlebom edinym” (Man cannot live by bread alone) containing harsh criticism of the Stalin bureaucracy, Yevtushenko was expelled from the Komsomol, under the official pretext of having missed a payment of his contributions, and from the Institute of Literature. However,, his friendship with influential members of the party and in the Writers’ Union soon allowed him to rejoin the Komsomol and the Institute. In fact, he was elected secretary of the latter in the local section of the Communist Youth movement.
1957 marked the beginning of Yevtushenko’s golden period. During this time in which his writings took on a very poetic bent, he was supported by his “political allies” and the female poet Bella Achmadulina, who would go on to become his wife. He met Boris Pasternak in the same year, who expressed his admiration for the young poet. He returned the compliment on the occasion of the great writer’s death, by writing the “The Fence”. Alongside his civil commitments, Yevtushenko wrote words dedicated to women he had loved, starting from Achmadulina, who he would later divorce, to his mother, friends (“Moey Sobak”, “Marietta”, etc.).
Yevtushenko more recently published works in prose, such as: “Jagodneye mesta” (1981), “Ardabiola”, “Ne umiraj prezde smerti” (Don’t Die Before You’re Dead). In 1980 a book of his photographs was published in England: indeed, he has exhibited his work as a photographer in numerous cities, both in Russia and abroad.
In the role of film director, he made “Detskij sad” (Kindergarten, 1984) for which he also wrote the screenplay. He also wrote the screenplay for “Ja, Kuba” (I am Cuba), “Pochorony Stalina” (Stalin’s Funeral).
In his home country, he was decorated with the “Znak Poceta” award, and in 1991 the National American Jewish Committee awarded him a medal for his activities in defending civil rights. From 1993, he has taught Russian literature at Tulsa University (Oklahoma), from which he received an honorary degree.
The poet was acknowledged at the XVII edition of the Librex Montale prize, which was assigned on 5 June 2006.
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