Label Text: Vassiliev arranged his old family photos around the central image featuring Lidia from Chekhov's story. One of the photos shows Vassiliev's step-grandfather Andrei Buznikov, who was a country doctor, like Chekhov. He worked for the zemstvo--the local government assembly--providing medical care to the poor. Vassiliev's grandmother Anna Mikhailovna, who appears in the photo with the three women, taught peasant children in a country school and, in this way, relates to Lidia who is also a teacher. Hence, Vassiliev's ancestors belonged to the same group of Russian intelligentsia as Chekhov's characters--a segment of society that would not endure the Soviet system.
Handwritten captions, clockwise from upper left:
o School for peasants o "I value the most imperfect library or pharmacy more than all the landscapes in the world." [Lidia's words from Chekhov's story] o Anna Mikhailovna and her colleagues o Doctor of the zemstvo, Andrei Nikolaevich Buznikov o In a hospital o A. N. and his wife A. M. [Vassiliev's step-grandfather and grandmother] o Going to see the patient o From the family album of a zemstvo doctor
BJ, 2013
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