28 September 2009
U.S. and Russian Poets of Freedom Hailed in Moscow and Washington
Pushkin, Whitman statues culminate decade-long cultural initiative
Washington — Capping a decade of effort to erect bronze likenesses of the best-known Russian and American national poets in each other’s capitals, plans are now under way for the mid-October dedication of a statue of 19th-century American poet Walt Whitman at the Moscow State University campus.
The cultural initiative, organized by the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation (ARCCF), follows the installation in 2000 of a bronze sculpture of Russia’s national poet Alexander Pushkin on the George Washington University campus in Washington.
“This will be a permanent poetic presence that unites the two capitals,” said ARCCF’s executive director, Alexander Potemkin. “The two legendary poets in bronze will serve in perpetuity as a bridge between our two cultures.”
Both statues were created and donated by Russian sculptor Alexander Bourganov. Each is more than 3 meters tall and depicts the poet before a pedestal column topped by the winged horse Pegasus, a symbol of poetry and creative inspiration.
The dedication will be followed by a Washington gala October 20 to honor Whitman’s 190th birth anniversary, the 210th birth anniversary of poet Pushkin, and the two poets’ commitment to freedom and human dignity. The event, hosted by Russian Federation ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, will feature poetic readings by the prominent Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who will be recognized at the event as a “living testament to U.S.-Russia concord.”
Yevtushenko, who has spent much of the last 12 years lecturing to U.S. students and is currently a professor of literature at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, has been described by the New York Times as “a Russian poet steeped in America … part Walt Whitman and part Bob Dylan.”
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) is widely regarded as Russia’s greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. A poet, novelist and playwright, Pushkin also became identified with currents of social reform, resulting in a period of internal exile imposed by the tsarist regime.
Epitomizing Russian arts and letters, Pushkin’s life and work stressed values of freedom, dignity and human compassion.
After completing the Pushkin project, ARCCF envisioned a reciprocal statue of a noted American poet in Moscow. On the advice of Librarian of Congress James Billington, Walt Whitman — whose work is well-appreciated in Russia — was chosen for the honor.
Whitman (1819–1892) bridged the eras of 19th-century romantic poetry and 20th-century modern poetry. Called “the father of free verse,” he served as a military nurse in the Civil War. His poems, compiled in the volume Leaves of Grass, include tributes to the slain U.S. president Abraham Lincoln.
As an essayist and journalist, Whitman opposed the spread of slavery and favored temperance. He served as a clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Eulogized as a “poet of democracy,” American literary critic Harold Bloom wrote, “If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother.”
Together with partners in Russia, the ARCCF set to raising funds for the bronze casting of the Whitman statue from U.S. companies doing business in Russia and from Russian firms. U.S. patrons of the Whitman project include Caterpillar Inc., PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola Company.
The ARCCF was founded in 1992 to increase trust and understanding between Americans and Russians through arts and culture.
A driving force behind the project is ARCCF Chairman James W. Symington. A former member of Congress and former U.S. diplomat, Symington served as director of the Library of Congress Russian Leadership Program, and is a long-time student of Russian culture. Symington is also a published poet and is known in Washington circles as an enthusiastic singer of Russian songs.
Adorning the Moscow Whitman statue will be an engraving on its pedestal, quoting Whitman’s own introduction to the first Russian-language translation of Leaves of Grass: “You Russians and we Americans! Our countries so distant, so unlike at first — such a difference in social and political conditions … and yet in certain features, and vastest ones, so resembling each other.”
