How Chekhov's face changed over the years

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
Sputnik
Writer and Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin noticed that Anton Chekhov's appearance was kind of volatile.

"Chekhov's face changed every year," wrote Russian writer Ivan Bunin once. And even traced in detail how exactly the face of his colleague changed:

"In 1879 at the end of gymnasium: hair in a straight row, long upper lip with a papilla.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
Sputnik

In 1884: muzzled, independent; photographed with his brother Nikolai, a real Mongol.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
Sputnik

About the same time, a portrait painted by his brother: bushy-haired Bashkir kid.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
State Literary Museum

In 1890: beauty, boldness of an intelligent and lively look, but mustache in an arrow.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
Sputnik

In 1892: a typical country doctor.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
Sputnik

In 1897: wearing a pince-nez. He stares coldly, point-blank.

How Chekhov's face changed over the years
P. Nesteruk / Sputnik

And then: what a thin face it became!"

Read other memories of contemporaries about Anton Chekhov in the new biography ‘Chekhov in Life’ by Igor Sukhikh (Kolibri Publishing House, 2024). And we've listed some of the brightest quotes in our article.

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