Wallet
Whose portrait deserves money
Who- or what- will be presented on banknotes. It's decided by the Central bank
The exterior of Russian money mostly depends on the mood, taste, art predilections of the man. But Tachir Seyfulin himself, a painter of the department of information protection of the Association Goznak, when they start speaking about "the author of money", declares categorically:" Come on, a banknote can"t have an author. This is work of the huge team". In some way he is right: according to Russian legislation money is not an object of copy-right. But still…
Where they teach to paint money
— Has a man, painting money, become a real painter? After all his works are on banknotes but not in museums and galleries…
— Money is an element of mass art. No doubts, the specific technique, a banknote painter works in, makes him unusual, but it"s impossible to call this painter as unsuccessful.
Legendary painters of Goznak were invited by the prominent, venerable "usual" painters to their workshops. But to be a painter of Goznak is a separate special profession and individual way in creativity.
— Are there any wishes and strength left to create anything else after painting money?
— It depends on the personality of a painter. Earlier painters of Moscow printing factory of Goznak had "creative day", when we went to the country to draw landscapes, drafts, and then we reported by exhibiting our pictures. Who wants to be in creative form is sure to keep painting.
— Where and how is it possible to learn to paint money?
— I had classes at the printing factory of Goznak, at the workshop of artists. Now, after some time has passed, I consider it to have been the best one in the Association Goznak. Students-painters had a classic course there- painting, drawing, basis of monetary-order production, paper production, printing. Artists, having learned in the workshop, could work in all directions of the business.
The competition while entering this workshop in my time was three people per a vacancy, the studying process lasted for three years. We were taught by masters, who had graduated from the college of Goznak, existing that time and preparing printers, painters-engravers, painters-drawers and other specialists. Our masters were working and teaching us simultaneously. Due to the results of the semesters there were exams, like in any other institute, and that student, who failed his reports, was dismissed.
Just on the third year of studying the students were brought in manufacturing at Goznak. Because of existing banknote system of 1961 that time, so students were not painting money. They were making close production-security papers, lottery tickets.
— In what technique is a draft of a banknote made?
— Earlier it was watercolor painting and gouache. Now it is computer drawing. A painter draws with a special pencil on a special plane table and gets an electronic representation.
Now the part of the work is sure to be done with computer. But, nevertheless, a painter is a painter, but computer is only his instrument.
— What paints were used for drafts creating? The famous Leningrad watercolour?
— No, always, even at the period of stagnation, very expensive Dutch watercolour and gouache were bought for currency.
— What banknote, issued by mass printing, became your debut?
— I don"t remember what year it was. (Tachir Seyfulin is leafing through a reference edition of Goznak, looking for the banknote of his own work- the author"s remark). I don"t remember because there is no special, quivering attitude towards money- we work absolutely equal over a draft for a calendar and a draft for a banknote. We were taught in this way.
In general, my work with banknotes began during " the passing period", when the money of the pattern of 1961 was changing. That time the Central bank chose new symbols. It was a three-coloured Russian flag on the background of Senate tower. The ideology of the new country was in the rudimentary state, so, while choosing an emblem, a lot of variants was looked through and stopped at the neutral Senate tower.
My first banknote was created for one of the countries of the South-East Asia. The project was certain to be made by all leading artists. As a rule, an order for another country consists of a series- several banknotes the same time, and every draft is worked out by not one person. When the drafts are ratified by a representative of a customer, then additional officials are entered- painters-engravers, specialists of Orlov printing, intaglio printing, colouring, technology and others.
For me the pattern is still the masterpieces of graphic and engraving art, accepted by Russian and foreign specialists. They are bank notes of 1910 and 1912.
The decision is made by the Central bank
— How much do productive requirements limit the freedom of creativity of the painters, making banknotes?
— A painter has to take into accounts certain quantity of inks, kinds of printing, which will be used. At Goznak there are all kinds of printing: orlov, offset, intaglio, gravure, flat and so on. There are limits in composition also: as a rule, a portrait is painted from the left or the right side for the curve not to spoil the picture (though the paper, being used for money production, can bear certain number of folding: the ink is placed due to the special technology and not effaced as quick as usually).
One of the most important features of a banknote is its protection from counterfeits. So the factors of protection must be taken into accounts initially by a painter while creating a draft for the watermark to be seen, for the protective thread to look in harmony and so on.
Another limit of creative freedom is, of course, a short space of time. The nature of the work doesn"t allow to wait for inspiration always.
In the West famous painters spend about three years for creating money sometimes. Surely, this time period consists of an idea appearing, preparation of materials and making different variants. However according to such great money as, for example, Belgian francs, we can see that they are made not hastily. As a rule, we don"t have this opportunity- to work over the draft for 3 years. For making both face and back sides of a banknote we were given 45 days. But for selecting material it"s necessary to spend time in the library, to make drafts, and sometimes to go for taking pictures, having got a camera. By the way, taking pictures is not a simple deal always. When we went to Yaroslavl to take pictures of the monument to Yaroslav the Wise, presented on the modern 1000-ruble banknote, the monument appeared to be necessary to photograph not from below, but after lifting on a certain altitude. Ideally we needed to get a crane, to choose proper altitude, foreshortening. Creative seeking is always limited by deadlines.
During my work at Moscow printing factory I saw students-painters resign, not having endured mainly just hard deadlines and responsibility for keeping secrecy. After all, very limited number of people knows about a new banknote being in the process of production first days.
— Who determines the subject matter of presentations for a new monetary series- a painter or the Central bank as a customer?
— The bank determines the subject matter in general, we produce usually some variants of drafts. Among them the bank makes a choice and ratifies the pattern.
So, for example, while creating the banknote of 1000-ruble par we submitted drafts with representations of the cities Suzdal, Smolensk, Vladimir. Yaroslavl has been chosen.
The Central bank got series with representations of prominent Russian figures of last centuries, but to say if the project will be made into reality is impossible.
— What series of banknote representations are the most popular all over the world? What of them do you think to be the most perspective from point of view of technological effectiveness and graphic rank?
— No doubts, these are portrait series, classic engraving. The technology of money production changes but, nevertheless, the portrait representation still allows to increase a little the protection level of banknotes. And this banknote with a portrait looks more esthetic to my mind. Though the world practice knows many graphic ranks of another style- representations of fauna, fishes, architectural monuments.
Euro banknotes are criticized by many specialists, but I think that representations of bridges, which connect people, living on different banks, on the currency, which connects people, living in different countries, is a brilliant idea from art point of view.
— What for you, as a professional, is the most interesting banknote?
— The pattern of modern computer technology is sure to be Swiss francs. There is a three-dimensional representation, one representation laying on another one and creating a powerful system of protection. The banknotes are of vertical position, the series consists of several portraits of the figures of national culture last centuries. We also offered the Central bank a variant of banknotes with vertical position, but the idea was not approved.
However, we can"t say that we use "still" series of money nowadays- the work over modification of banknotes and introducing new elements of protection is carried out constantly.
— Our money has no succession of banknotes- almost every series differed from the previous one greatly since 1917…
— Of course, it is bad. First of all for mass culture. The reason of this fluctuation is the fact that our money had ideological symbols, necessary to be changed with the replacement of state system. For the situation not to be repeated in future, there is one way- to place politically neutral graphic rank on money.
While discussing the issue of a new series such neutral names were called as Lomonosov as a symbol of Russian science, Pushkin as a symbol of Russian literature, Glinka and Chaikovskiy as main Russian composers. Approximately the same list of the most prominent figures of XX century is formed during the society survey. For all listed names we can add others, politically neutral but the same time of the world fame: Tsiolkovskiy, Gagarin…But the choice of the names is the prerogative of the Central bank.
— Whom would you yourself like to represent on money?
— For the list, everybody knows, I would like to make portraits of Ivan Bunin, Michail Bulgakov, Sergey Rachmaninov, Dmitry Lihachev, Valentin Serov and many others.
Painters have their own "wall of weeping"
— Have you ever met the reaction of the population to what is presented on the banknotes?
— One of the most known cases was inspired by an active pensioner, who had addressed the press. He looked around attentively, perhaps with the help of a magnifying glass, a100-ruble banknote, where the quadriga from the pediment of the Bolshoi theatre is represented. And saw that the male dignity of Apollo, managing the horses, wasn"t covered with a fig leaf as usual. Newspapers republished the story one by one not less than ten times. Because the painter-engraver of the banknote was my wife, I know for sure why it has happened.
As photographs for the work the pictures of TASS were submitted. The pictures were taken before the restoration of the monument, after the greatest hurricanes, when the fig leaf of the sculpture was blown away… But as for a painter-engraver, he is to reflect all details of the representation, offered to him, exactly. As a result, the present 100-ruble banknotes called to be the sexiest banknote in the world.
— Does it happen that creating a banknote brings some additional nuance to the social and cultural life?
— I think, yes…After issuing 1000-ruble banknote with the representation of the monument to Yaroslav the Wise and other architectural ensemble of Yaroslavl we came to the city and found that there was an additional excursion route along the places, painted on the banknote.
— Not all your drafts are accepted by a customer. Isn"t it offensive that the work is lost that nobody can see it?
— I don"t feel any offense or grief. But, nevertheless, I call the wall, where my not ratified drafts are stuck, as "the wall of weeping". A painter of Goznak can feel real creative satisfaction, of course, just when the work is used for printing.
The matter is that an unratified draft may be not worse that a ratified one. There are many criterions, by which submitted variants of any work (not only banknotes) are ratified: these are ideological motivations and an accordance to technological aspects…Art significance itself may occupy not the first place in this list.
But nevertheless, despite the flattering proposals, which I, like other painters, have received and am still receiving, despite "the wall of creeping", I stay a member of the team of Goznak, being faithful to the experience, got within these walls.
— Do you feel the style of a painter, just looking at the banknote, or banknote representations should be standardized?
— The style, especially good, is certain to feel. German marks were painted great, on the supreme level, but when I had seen Bulgarian money I understood they were of German origin.
— What, except money, does a painter of Goznak have to paint?
— I painted stamps and (before 1991) exclusive cards for the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union, which were printed at Goznak. And also coins, orders, protective production, illustrations for books. I have never been unemployment.
Yelena Kiseleva
