Vladimir Mayakovsky is known not only for his brilliant poetic talent, but also for his powerful charisma, which at one time broke many women's hearts. A lot of love affairs and hobbies both left a mark in the poet's poems, and gave life to real people. Mayakovsky’s children is one of the main questions for researchers of the poet’s biography. Who are they, the heirs of the great genius-futurist? How many children does Mayakovsky have? How did their fate turn out?
The personal life of the poet
Vladimir Mayakovsky was a very charming, intelligent and prominent man. Almost no woman could resist his piercing, beating gaze right in the heart. The poet was always surrounded by a crowd of fans, and he himself easily rushed into the ocean of love and passion. It is known that his special, warm feeling and affection were associated with Lily Brik, but this did not limit him in his passion for other women. So, love affairs with Elizabeth Lavinsky and Elizabeth Siebert (Ellie Jones) became largely fateful for the poet, forever occupying a niche of his memory and heritage.
Heritage issue
Mayakovsky’s children, their fate - this question arose especially sharply after the death of the poet. Of course, poems, memoirs of contemporaries, diaries, letters, documentaries are very valuable for the history of Russian literature, but the issue of posterity and heritage is much more significant.
A living continuation of the memory and story of the brilliant futurist, whom Mayakovsky's children are, is shrouded in secrets, doubts and inaccuracies. Lily Brik could not have children. However, researchers are 99% sure that the poet has at least two heirs. And they came from two different women, on different continents. This is the son of Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky and daughter Patricia Thompson.
For a long time, information about them was not disclosed, and only close people knew the details of their birth stories. Now Mayakovsky’s children (their photos and documents are stored in museum archives) is an approved fact.
Son
While working in the “Windows of Growth” (1920), Vladimir Mayakovsky met the artist Lilia (Elizabeth) Lavinsky. And although at that time she was a married young lady, this did not stop her from being carried away by the stately and charismatic poet. The fruit of this relationship was their son, who received the double name Gleb-Nikita. He was born on August 21, 1921 and in the documents was recorded under the name of Anton Lavinsky, the official husband of his mother. The boy Gleb-Nikita himself always knew who his biological father was. Moreover, despite the lack of paternal attention (the children of Vladimir Mayakovsky did not occupy, he was even afraid of them), he deeply loved the poet and from the early years he read his poems.
A life
The life of Nikita Gleb was not an easy one. With live parents, a boy under three years old grew up in an orphanage. According to those social views, this was the most suitable place for raising children and accustoming them to the team. Gleb-Nikita has few memories of his father. Much later, he will tell his youngest daughter Elizabeth about one special meeting of them, when Mayakovsky took him on his shoulders, went out onto the balcony and read his verses to him.
Mayakovsky’s son had a fine artistic taste and absolute ear for music. At the age of 20, Gleb-Nikita was drafted to the front. He went through the entire Great Patriotic War as an ordinary soldier. Then he married for the first time.
After the victory of 1945, Mayakovsky's son entered the Surikov Institute and became a famous sculptor-muralist. His most significant and outstanding work is a monument to Ivan Susanin in Kostroma (1967).
Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky died on June 14, 1986.
Resemblance to father
In 1965, the workshop of the sculptor Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky was visited by the literary critic E. Guskov. He was struck by the outward resemblance of the man to Vladimir Mayakovsky, his deep, low voice, his manner of reading poetry as the poet himself did.
The son for the step-father of Anton Lavinsky has always been a living reminder of the passion and betrayal of his wife. Perhaps that is why the relationship between stepfather and stepson was pretty cold. But friendship with Mayakovsky was, on the contrary, surprisingly warm and strong. The family archive has preserved many photographs testifying to this.
American daughter
In the mid-1920s, a radical change occurred in the relations between Mayakovsky and Lily Brik, and the political situation in Russia itself was then difficult for the revolutionary poet. This was the reason for his trip to the United States, where he actively toured, visited a friend of David Burliuk. There he met the Russian immigrant Ally Jones (real name - Elizabeth Siebert). She was a reliable companion, a charming companion and translator for him in a foreign country.
This novel has become very significant for the poet. He even seriously wanted to get married, create a calm family haven. However, the old love (Lilia Brik) did not let him go, all the impulses quickly cooled off. And on June 15, 1926, Ellie Jones gave birth to a daughter from the poet - Patricia Thompson.
At birth, the girl received the name Helen-Patricia Jones. The surname came from the husband of the immigrant mother, George Jones. This was necessary so that the child could be considered legitimate and remain in the United States. In addition, the secret of birth saved the girl. Potential Mayakovsky's children then could fall under the persecution of the NKVD and Lilia Brik herself.
Fate
About who is the real father, Helen Patricia learned at nine years old. But this information remained a family secret for a long time and was inaccessible to the public. The girl inherited the creative talent of her father. At the age of 15, she entered the College of Art, after which she got a job as an editor in the Macmillan magazine. There she made reviews of movies and music, edited westerns, science fiction, and detective stories. In addition to activities in publishing houses, Helen-Patricia worked as a teacher, wrote books.
In 1954, Mayakovsky's daughter married American Wayne Thompson, changed her surname and left the second part from a double name - Patricia. After 20 years, the couple divorced.
Patricia Thompson (or Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya) died on April 1, 2016.
Meeting father
When Patricia was three years old, she met her father for the first and only time. Mayakovsky was very pleased with the news of his daughter’s birth, but he could not get a visa to the United States. But permission to travel to France managed to get. It was there, in Nice, that Ally Jones had a rest with her daughter. Patricia called him Volodya, and he constantly repeated “daughter” and “little Ellie”. Not yet realizing who was in front of her, the girl still retained warm and tender memories of this meeting.
Grandchildren
Mayakovsky’s children, their fate is a separate chapter in the history of the brilliant poet. Now, unfortunately, they are no longer alive. But the line of memory continues the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
It is known for sure that Mayakovsky’s son - Gleb-Nikita - was married three times. From these marriages he had four children (two sons and two daughters). The first-born son was named in honor of the poet's father Vladimir, and the youngest daughter - in honor of his mother - Elizabeth. Mayakovsky’s children followed in the footsteps of their ancestors and became honored artists (sculptors, artists, educators). Information about their fate is presented rather poorly and fragmentarily. It is only known that the poet’s senior grandson and namesake (Vladimir) died in 1996, and the granddaughter holds a children's art workshop. Five grandchildren of Gleb-Nikita (Ilya, Elizabeth, Mikhail, Alexander and Anastasia) continue Mayakovsky’s clan. Ilya Lavinsky works as an architect, Elizaveta works as a theater and film artist.
About Patricia Thompson, information for Russian society until the 1990s was closed. However, with the proof of kinship with a famous poet, a reasonable question arose of procreation. Does Mayakovsky's daughter have children? As it turned out, Patricia Thompson has a son Roger, he works as a lawyer, married, but has no children.
Interesting Facts
- Mayakovsky's son received a double name due to parental disagreements in choosing a name for the boy. The first part - Gleb - he received from his stepfather, the second part - Nikita - from his mother. Mayakovsky himself did not take part in raising his son, although he was a frequent guest of the family in the first few years.
- In 2013, the film “Third Extra” was released on Channel One, dedicated to the poet’s 120th birthday. The documentary was based on the story of the fatal love of Mayakovsky and Lilia Brik, the possible reasons for the suicide of the poet, an eternal theme was also touched on - the children of Mayakovsky (briefly). It was this film that first openly and conclusively declared the heirs of the poet.
- The futurist poet has always been in the center of female attention. Despite the all-consuming love for Lila Brik, he is credited with many novels. And what happened after, in most cases, the story is simply silent. However, Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky once mentioned that Mayakovsky has another son who lives in Mexico. But this information has not received its documentary or any other confirmation.
- Patricia Thompson has written 15 books in her life. She dedicated several of them to her father. So, the book "Mayakovsky in Manhattan, a love story" tells about her parents and their short, but gentle relationship. Also, Patricia began the autobiographical book "Daughter", but did not have time to finish it.
- Already at an advanced age, Patricia got acquainted with the archives of her father (library of St. Petersburg). On one of the pages she recognized her children's drawings (flowers and leaves), which she left during their first and only meeting.
- At the request of Ellie Jones herself, the daughter cremated her mother's body after her death and buried in the grave of Vladimir Mayakovsky at the Novodevichy cemetery.
- Granddaughter of the poet - Elizabeth Lavinskaya - writes the book "Son of Mayakovsky." This book is a memory of her father, the son of a famous poet, his difficult relationship with his stepfather and selfless love for his father, with whom he never managed to get to know consciously. After all, Gleb-Nikita was only eight years old when Mayakovsky died.
- Pregnant from Mayakovsky was his last love - Veronika Polonskaya. But she was married and did not want to break off marital relations so sharply for the sake of the smoothie poet. Therefore, Polonskaya had an abortion.
