Konstantin Melnikov
by Bruce Chatwin
Bruce Chatwin - Konstantin Melnikov
BBC Radio 3: Twenty Minutes
Broadcast: Thursday 11th December 2008 @ 7:55 p.m.
Iain Glen reads travel writer and novelist Bruce Chatwin's account of his trip to Moscow in 1973 to track down survivers from the October
Revolution's Leftist Art Movement. He visits the reclusive architect Konstantin Melnikov at his famous house, one of the finest spaces of
Russian Constructivism: the unusual cylindrical house built by Konstantin for himself and his family in Moscow in 1927.
Chatwin, who sadly died at the age of 39 in 1989, was an extraordinary fellow. He joined Sotheby's as a porter, and within a few years
was their 'expert' on impressionist paintings. He became best known as a travel writer though his travels usually had an end in mind. A
fine details man, he brought a similar acuity to his writing as he did to his examination of objects d'art. His biographer said of him that he
told ' ...not a half truth, but a truth and a half.'
Read by Iain Glen
Produced by Duncan Mitchell
Re-broadcast on Friday 6th November 2009 @ 7:45 p.m.
20 min.
Jim
