Joseph Brodsky. A Place as Good as Any
.9/11/2024-1/12/2025
Exhibition
The exhibition Joseph Brodsky. A Place as Good as Any concerned with the poet’s departure from the Soviet Union and his life in Europe and the US.
Age: 18+
600 ₽ - Full ticket
300 ₽ - Benefit ticket
From September 11, 2024, to January 12, 2025, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center will host the exhibition Joseph Brodsky. A Place as Good as Any concerned with the poet’s departure from the Soviet Union and his life in Europe and the US. The new show is arguably the first detailed account of Brodsky the émigré’s travels in real life between 1972 and 1996 as well as his wanderings in poetic spheres. Brodsky’s biography is narrated through the items related to his life, on loan from the Room and a Half Museum, Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House, National Library of Russia, and private collections. Brodsky’s imaginary routes often took him through the realms of fine art encompassing paintings by Claude Lorrain and Georges Braque, etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, and more. The exhibition includes works of art on loan from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, State Hermitage, Tsarskoye Selo Collection State Museum, and private collections. The project is backed by its general partner Sber.
The exhibition is made up of six sections covering the countries Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) traveled to and lived in following his departure from the USSR, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, and Italy. Opening the show is a space, whose design mirrors the interiors of what Brodsky described as “a room and a half” – the room in a multifamily apartment on Pestel Street in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where Brodsky lived with his parents. Today, we know what their abode and the poet’s desk looked like courtesy of Mikhail Milchik who photographed the place on the day Brodsky moved out. Brodsky would compare all the other places he lived at throughout his life with his first and true home in Leningrad, subconsciously recreating the cramped conditions of his “room and a half” around any desk he would work at. The exhibition offers a copy of this “module of existence” – a study that has recognizable features regardless of where in the world it is located.
The second room of the show titled “Airport” concerns a single day in the life of Brodsky – June 4, 1972. That was the day when Brodsky left Leningrad for good. Prior to his departure, he had eight poems published in his homeland, plus dozens of translations and children’s verses. The exhibition features never-before-seen documents such as Brodsky’s visa clearing him to go to Israel and his plane ticket to Vienna. In his 1986 essay A Place as Good as Any, which gave its name to the current exhibition, Brodsky wrote: “The best way to keep your subconscious from getting overburdened is to take pictures: your camera is, as it were, your lightning rod.” Some 25 of Brodsky’s friends came to bid him farewell; all of them are seen in the photographs taken during that last meeting in Leningrad.
The third section of the show titled “Britain” deals with the first foreign country that played a key role in Brodsky’s life and literary career as he switched to English to pen his essays. Brodsky began translating English-language poets such as John Donne (1572–1631), Robert Frost (1874–1963), and W. H. Auden (1907–1973) while still living in the USSR. Rare editions of their books are displayed next to photographs taken by Brodsky during his yearly trips to the UK.
The section titled “America” covers Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York City, and South Hadley, Massachusetts – the cities where Brodsky was employed over the years. He came to Ann Arbor to take up a teaching position at the University of Michigan, where he was made a poet-in-residence. Many of Brodsky’s collections of poems and essays and, later, collected works were published in the US. The leitmotif of the American section of the show has to do with Brodsky learning and mastering a new language, a process symbolized here by a typewriter with a Latin-alphabet keyboard. The section also features Brodsky’s first American publications and an album of photographs that his parents put together using pictures he sent them.
The Swedish section of the show celebrates Brodsky’s ultimate success as it includes pictures taken during the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in 1987, a booklet with the translation of speeches, and Brodsky’s admission ticket. Since Sweden, a country that Brodsky visited each year from the late 1980s onward, and his native Leningrad are only separated by the Baltic Sea, many of the texts he wrote between 1989 and 1994 are imbued with the feeling of nostalgia. Brodsky’s poems were first translated into Swedish by Bengt Jangfeldt (b. 1948), a Swedish specialist in Slavic languages. The exhibition features books with his handwritten corrections and photos from his personal archive depicting Brodsky with his friends and wife Maria Sozzani (b. 1969) against the backdrop of Northern landscapes.
The final room of the exhibitions glorifies Venice, a city Brodsky had dreamt of long before his departure from the Soviet Union. This section features a clip from Luchino Visconti’s 1971 historical drama Death in Venice and paintings by Francesco Guardi. Brodsky spoke about his love for Venice in an interview: “It has a lot in common with my hometown, Petersburg. <…> If there is reincarnation, I would like to live my next life in Venice – to be a cat there, anything, even a rat, but, by all means, in Venice.” Italy became the poet’s last home: in 1997, he was laid to rest at Venice’s famous San Michele Cemetery.
Sber Labs created an AR route for the exhibition, adding a new dimension to the narrative through stories from the poet’s life and stories about the items on display.
The exhibition is accompanied by a public educational and inclusive program; visitors are invited to join highlights and themed tours of the show.
We would like to thank Boris Sokol, a member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center and a patron of the arts, whose support made this exhibition possible.
Сurated by: Yulia Senina and Maria Gadas
Image: Mikhail Milchik. J. Brodsky at the Shosseinaya airfield. Leningrad. June 4th, 1972. Personal collection of M. Milchik
The exhibition is made up of six sections covering the countries Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) traveled to and lived in following his departure from the USSR, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, and Italy. Opening the show is a space, whose design mirrors the interiors of what Brodsky described as “a room and a half” – the room in a multifamily apartment on Pestel Street in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where Brodsky lived with his parents. Today, we know what their abode and the poet’s desk looked like courtesy of Mikhail Milchik who photographed the place on the day Brodsky moved out. Brodsky would compare all the other places he lived at throughout his life with his first and true home in Leningrad, subconsciously recreating the cramped conditions of his “room and a half” around any desk he would work at. The exhibition offers a copy of this “module of existence” – a study that has recognizable features regardless of where in the world it is located.
The second room of the show titled “Airport” concerns a single day in the life of Brodsky – June 4, 1972. That was the day when Brodsky left Leningrad for good. Prior to his departure, he had eight poems published in his homeland, plus dozens of translations and children’s verses. The exhibition features never-before-seen documents such as Brodsky’s visa clearing him to go to Israel and his plane ticket to Vienna. In his 1986 essay A Place as Good as Any, which gave its name to the current exhibition, Brodsky wrote: “The best way to keep your subconscious from getting overburdened is to take pictures: your camera is, as it were, your lightning rod.” Some 25 of Brodsky’s friends came to bid him farewell; all of them are seen in the photographs taken during that last meeting in Leningrad.
The third section of the show titled “Britain” deals with the first foreign country that played a key role in Brodsky’s life and literary career as he switched to English to pen his essays. Brodsky began translating English-language poets such as John Donne (1572–1631), Robert Frost (1874–1963), and W. H. Auden (1907–1973) while still living in the USSR. Rare editions of their books are displayed next to photographs taken by Brodsky during his yearly trips to the UK.
The section titled “America” covers Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York City, and South Hadley, Massachusetts – the cities where Brodsky was employed over the years. He came to Ann Arbor to take up a teaching position at the University of Michigan, where he was made a poet-in-residence. Many of Brodsky’s collections of poems and essays and, later, collected works were published in the US. The leitmotif of the American section of the show has to do with Brodsky learning and mastering a new language, a process symbolized here by a typewriter with a Latin-alphabet keyboard. The section also features Brodsky’s first American publications and an album of photographs that his parents put together using pictures he sent them.
The Swedish section of the show celebrates Brodsky’s ultimate success as it includes pictures taken during the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in 1987, a booklet with the translation of speeches, and Brodsky’s admission ticket. Since Sweden, a country that Brodsky visited each year from the late 1980s onward, and his native Leningrad are only separated by the Baltic Sea, many of the texts he wrote between 1989 and 1994 are imbued with the feeling of nostalgia. Brodsky’s poems were first translated into Swedish by Bengt Jangfeldt (b. 1948), a Swedish specialist in Slavic languages. The exhibition features books with his handwritten corrections and photos from his personal archive depicting Brodsky with his friends and wife Maria Sozzani (b. 1969) against the backdrop of Northern landscapes.
The final room of the exhibitions glorifies Venice, a city Brodsky had dreamt of long before his departure from the Soviet Union. This section features a clip from Luchino Visconti’s 1971 historical drama Death in Venice and paintings by Francesco Guardi. Brodsky spoke about his love for Venice in an interview: “It has a lot in common with my hometown, Petersburg. <…> If there is reincarnation, I would like to live my next life in Venice – to be a cat there, anything, even a rat, but, by all means, in Venice.” Italy became the poet’s last home: in 1997, he was laid to rest at Venice’s famous San Michele Cemetery.
Sber Labs created an AR route for the exhibition, adding a new dimension to the narrative through stories from the poet’s life and stories about the items on display.
The exhibition is accompanied by a public educational and inclusive program; visitors are invited to join highlights and themed tours of the show.
We would like to thank Boris Sokol, a member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center and a patron of the arts, whose support made this exhibition possible.
Сurated by: Yulia Senina and Maria Gadas
Image: Mikhail Milchik. J. Brodsky at the Shosseinaya airfield. Leningrad. June 4th, 1972. Personal collection of M. Milchik
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