Sculpture the triumph of labor the world of the earth of the profession of men. Monumental sculpture of the USSR. Alley of love and motherhood
PARK MUSEON. PHOTO WALK
The Muzeon Art Park is one of the most interesting new Moscow parks. It is located in the center of the capital, on the Crimean embankment, next to the Gorky Park of Culture. They are separated from each other only by the Crimean Bridge and the Garden Ring. Actually, the word "separate" is rather arbitrary, since the embankment under the bridge does not allow drawing a border between them, moreover, it connects these parks into one adjacent space. Perhaps that is why the Moscow Mayor's Office decided in 2015 that Muzeon is an integral part of the Gorky Park. It's easy to get here - from the Park Kultury metro station along the Crimean bridge or from the Oktyabrskaya metro station. You can walk from Oktyabrskaya-Koltsevaya to Gorky Park in a matter of minutes, but you can use the services of such a free taxi.
Well, and you can go to Muzeon from the final stop of this kind of taxi through an underground passage. From the Oktyabrskaya-radialnaya metro station, you can go to Muzeon without crossing the Garden Ring (or Krymsky Val street, as this part of it is called)
There are other entrances to the park from the side of the surrounding lanes, but the central entrance from the Garden Ring is the most convenient for starting a tour and acquaintance with this open-air art museum. The Muzeon Park began to form in the 1990s, after the relatively recently (1983) construction of a branch in the area surrounding the building Tretyakov Gallery, the monumental sculptural monuments dismantled in Moscow during the memorable events of 1991 were brought down. I remember those years well, I was here and saw these masterpieces of sculptural creativity (I mean their artistic value) lying in disarray here and there right on the ground, sometimes piled on top of each other. It was an unpleasant sight. But not so much time passed, and by the mid-1990s the realization came that real art is immortal, and its monuments are our common cultural heritage. It was then that the opinion appeared, which was gradually brought to life, about the creation of a park-museum of sculptural architecture around the Tretyakov Gallery. Here, in addition to the previously dismantled urban sculptures, many other sculptural portraits, compositions and allegories appeared, which in the second half of the 20th century were created by talented masters as elements of landscape gardening culture, but for one reason or another (mainly of an ideological nature or from - for an incorrect professional assessment) they did not find their place on the streets and city boulevards, in Moscow, and not only in Moscow, gardens and parks. Not immediately formed modern look parka. But now it is a huge museum area with green spaces, alleys, lawns, manicured lawns, which, by the way, you can walk and even lie down in the shade of trees on a hot summer day. And everywhere there are sculptures, sculptures, sculptures - along alleys, on lawns, on specially designated areas. Sometimes they seem to hide under the trees, sometimes, on the contrary, from a distance they call you to them, standing out above the outside world with their monumental size and artistic uniqueness.There is also its own cinema, and an open stage on a large lawn, there is also a playground where you can quickly have a bite by choosing one of the many compactly located shopping pavilions offering a variety of snacks and drinks. The recently restored Krymskaya Embankment, which has become part of the Muzeon, with its pedestrian zone and bike paths, fountains, observation platforms, is also one of the favorite places for Muscovites for walks and outdoor activities. It is impossible not to mention the recently built pavilions of the vernissage, located here, on the embankment of the Moskva River. The compositional center of the park is a branch of the Tretyakov Gallery with its permanent and periodically replaced exhibitions of picturesque (and not only!) Works of art
Recently, we have seen this building more than once on TV screens in connection with the unprecedented interest in the recently held exhibitions of paintings by Serov and Aivazovsky, collected together from numerous Russian museums. There is no doubt that new exhibitions like these will not be long in coming. Having completed this short introduction, we can proceed to a walk through the Muzeon. Immediately after entering the park from the side of the Crimean shaft, the group composition "The Triumph of Labor" attracts attention and amazes with its monumentality (by MF Baburin, 1984, bronze). This is one of the last works of the famous monumental artist - he created several different compositions with the same name
Another monumental group, known to many of us, is installed not far from here near the building of the Tretyakov Gallery. This is a group sculpture "We Demand Peace!"
This work was conceived after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, which subsequently divided the peninsula into two states. After all, then the pain inflicted on people by the Second World War had not yet subsided, and the monument was supposed to symbolize a protest against new military conflicts. Six figures representing peoples of various nationalities and skin colors, rushing after the dove of peace and walking on the defeated fascist flag, were cast from bronze by electroplating. This sculptural group was installed next to the current VDNKh and Prospekt Mira. But in 1994-95, it, protected by a temporary shelter during the reconstruction of the square, was savagely destroyed, apparently with the aim of acquiring non-ferrous metal, which could be profitably handed over for scrap. Only three out of six figures survived (with damage) and were transferred to the Muzeon that was being created. In 2013, the restorers managed to restore the entire group using the preserved original plaster model, and now this composition is included in the "golden fund" of the local museum sculptures. The number of sculptures in the park is so great that, despite the vastness of its territory, some of the exhibits had to be compactly placed on a specially designated area, which is adjacent to the building of the Tretyakov Gallery. Here are collected up to a hundred works of authorship made of stone, plaster, wood and other materials.
Almost all of the works here are executed in the style of modernism, the thematic and artistic ideas of their authors are very diverse. Here are photos of some of the sculptures on display at this site. The first of them - the work of F. Rzayev, the title of which is "Moscow River" (1990, limestone)
Here are some more pictures of some of the exhibits here, on the first of them there is another work by F. Rzayev - "Dance"
Another work demonstrated among many others on this site is the sculpture by S. Shcherbakov "Games with the Bull" (1998, limestone)
The next panoramic shot of this site completes the initial part of our walk through the Muzeon
This photo shows that from here, as well as from many other parts of the park, a view of the upper part of the famous sculpture Z. Tsereteli "Peter I", installed on the Moskva River at its confluence with the bypass canal. Looking ahead, let's say that in full height this sculpture (its real name is "In commemoration of the 300th anniversary Russian fleet") opens from the embankment, where we will visit during our walk.
Other numerous exhibits of this sculpture museum, as we have already mentioned, can be seen along park alleys, on lawns and lawns. On one of the lawns, next to the site, where we have just visited, the sculpture "Man and Woman" attracts the attention of visitors (by I. Bondarenko, 2001, marble)
Not far from here, in one of the corners of the park, you can again get acquainted with the works of famous monumental artists already known to many of us - with sculptures that were removed from Moscow squares in the early 90s. Among them are the outstanding in their artistic performance figures of F. Dzerzhinsky (E. Vuchetich, 1958, bronze) and J. Sverdlov (R. Ambartsumyan, B. Thor, 1978, bronze). There is also a monument to I. Stalin carved out of pink granite - a reduced author's copy of a giant 26-meter sculpture that adorned the entrance to the Moscow Canal and was destroyed in 1961 (S. Merkurov, 1937). The new acquaintance with the huge, elegantly executed monument to M. Gorky is also impressive here.
Previously, this monument adorned the square near the Belorussky railway station - here the Gorky Street (now Tverskaya) formally ended, but for transport heading to the center of Moscow from the Leningradskoye Highway, it just began from this square. In connection with the reconstruction of the territory adjacent to the station in 2005, the sculpture was moved to Muzeon, but at the end of the work that had been dragging on for many years, the monument could be returned to its original place. (Note: this premonition that arose when I first visited the Muzeon did not deceive me - at the end of 2017, the monumental artwork returned to the renovated square of the Belorussky Station)... Now let's go back to the park alleys and get acquainted with some other interesting sculptures
On one of the lawns we saw a living sculpture
This is a group of guys sporty look under the guidance of a female instructor, she created gymnastic sculptural pictures, one of which was captured in a photograph. And again, on the alleys and lawns, there are sculptural portraits of scientists, writers, artists, public figures known to all of us. These portraits are usually executed in the style of classical realism in marble or granite. Here are some of them - busts of the writer N. Ostrovsky (marble), academician A. Fersman (granite), physicist A. Einstein (marble). The figure of A. Einstein and his colleague N. Bohr is captured on another sculptural composition made in the Art Nouveau style. Here are photos of these sculptures
Among the exhibits there are also modernist artistic creations, which are made of seemingly incompatible materials, such as, for example, large pieces or blocks of stone, combined with metal sculptural details. Here is one of these works - "Gathering stones" (O. Garkushenko, 1995, granite, metal)
From the alleys of the park you can admire the view not only of the famous sculpture of Z. Tsereteli, but also of the view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is located on the opposite bank of the Moskva River
At this point, we will end our walk along the alleys of Muzeon and head to another part of it - to the Crimean embankment, which, perhaps, is no less crowded than in the green part of the park. Especially free conditions are created here for cyclists, fans of roller skates, skateboards and other similar means of transportation, because for them, as already mentioned, special wide paths with one-way traffic in one direction or another are allocated for them. Like the pedestrian zone, these paths stretch along the entire Crimean embankment, and their continuation beyond the Crimean bridge is the embankment of the Gorky Park. Seats with wide and comfortable benches, as well as lawns with soft frameless beanbag chairs are no less convenient here. In addition, beautiful views of the monumental creation of Z. Tsereteli, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the water surface of the river with snow-white motor ships scurrying along it open up from here. Idyll, and only ...
On the other side of the embankment, on the back of the Tretyakov Gallery, there is a wide wooden stepped flooring in front of the "fountain paradise"
This is also one of the favorite places for visitors to the park. Here you can not only admire the fountains with streams falling and again rushing upwards, but also enjoy the coolness on a sultry day, or even run through a maze of crystal water jets that suddenly appear and suddenly disappear, scattering and becoming like a spray of champagne. At the Crimean Bridge, conditionally dividing the old territory of the Gorky Park and its new component part, it would seem that we could finish our walk along the Muzeon.
During this walk, we got acquainted with photographs of only a few dozen exhibits of the new art museum. But after all, ABOUT SEMISOTS (!!) sculptures are exhibited in Muzeon, and several hundred more are kept in the storerooms of the park-museum. So further acquaintance with them is inevitable. I think that the readers of this essay will have such a desire, especially since walks around the museum are perfectly combined with active recreation in one of the wonderful new Moscow parks. However, there is another wonderful corner here that we have not yet visited. I mean the opening day with hundreds (and maybe thousands) of paintings of various genres and art styles... Its new pavilions stretch along the embankment from the Crimean bridge into the depths of the park. All of them are united under a single roof made in the form of waves. I counted fifteen such waves. Under each wave there are eight small pavilions that are rented by authors or sellers of paintings. 
The Muzeon Park on Krymsky Val is undergoing a global reconstruction: the architectural design of the new look is already ready, it was developed by Evgeny Ass. The exposition of the museum will be thoroughly revised: some of the sculptures will be removed from the park altogether, the rest will be placed in a new way, and the landscape design of the park will also change significantly. This means that "Muzeon" in the form that has developed over the past 20 years will cease to exist. But for now, this is a place where exiled monuments to Soviet leaders coexist with lyrical muses, where dissident academician Andrei Sakharov looks dreamily into the sky, and Lenin's head lies in a string bag made of wire. The Village walked around Muzeon together with the guide Dmitry Evseev and learned how and when these different monuments came to the park and what will happen to them in the future.
Muzeon's plan
Dmitry Evseev
guide
has been working at Muzeon for 4 years
Leaders and sacrifices
"Muzeon" began in 1992 with monuments to the overthrown leaders: the founder of the NKVD Felix Dzerzhinsky, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin - they were brought from all over Moscow and folded here right on the grass, with chipped noses and legs painted with paint.
Felix Dzerzhinsky. Evgeny Vuchetich, 1958
The Iron Felix was one of the first to come to us. Look, it is smeared with paint - from the very times when the inhabitants of Moscow began to dismantle it with almost their bare hands. With any restoration of this monument, the question arises: is it worth getting rid of this evidence of the era, or is it necessary to cleanse Felix. I believe that paint cannot be washed off. By the way, he was lying here for a long time in the grass, among the mud and water. And when Dzerzhinsky was raised, tears seemed to flow from his eyes.
Maksim Gorky. Vera Mukhina, 1951
Here is such a "Bronze Guest" Maxim Gorky was in this row of tyrants. It arrived to us much later, of course, it was not dismantled by disgruntled citizens. It stood on the square in front of the Belorussky railway station, but in 2005 this incomprehensible reconstruction began there. Moreover, it was very carelessly dismantled and his legs were torn off. These are builders, they need everything faster in order to report to their superiors. The restoration was very difficult. By the way, this monument has many authors. Vera Mukhina was just finishing her work, she climbed up and down the woods, an elderly, already unhealthy woman. Initially, Gorky was supposed to stand in Gorky Park, Mukhina showed him to Voroshilov and Kaganovich, one liked it, the other did not. The monument was defended, but a different place was thought up for him. I hope that after the reconstruction of the square, he will return to the Belorussky railway station.
Stalin. Sergei Merkurov, 1939
The most interesting thing is that there are not so many of Stalin's monuments left, because they were basically not dismantled, but blown up. This sculpture came to us from Izmailovsky Park, which used to be named after Stalin. He stood on a pedestal about four meters, they pulled him straight with ropes - he fell, and his nose broke off. The sculptor Merkulov at one time set up the mass production of "Stalins" - he had a whole combine at his dacha. He had them of all sizes and all in the same position: the same open overcoat, the same hand over the side of the jacket, and a hand in the back with a scroll of some papers.
"Victims of Stalinist repressions", Evgeny Chubarov, 1990s
The section is called "Leaders and Sacrifices", but sacrifices began to appear here later. This work was given to us by Chubarov in the late 90s. Barbed wire, muzzle, lattice, and behind it the heads, concrete with formwork. Well this is such a symbol of locks, canals, construction sites of the Soviet government, where convicts were used.
pedestal, 2007
Academician Sakharov appeared here much later, in 2007. He sits directly opposite his leader, whose victim he fell during his lifetime. For a monument, the most important thing is always to choose a place. The sculpture of Potocki depicts Sakharov - a scientist and human rights activist and human. Here he sits, chained to the ground, and looks up. Very delicate work.
Lyric part
Next to the exposition of leaders and heroes there is a part that can be called lyrical. Collected here are very different works; those who do not like to look at the leaders come here, to the sculptures that fit more into the surroundings of the park by the water.
"Biblical motives", Oleg Garkushenko, 1990s
These are very peculiar works: “Return prodigal son"," Descended into Hell "," The Blind "," Another Creation of the World. " Everything is important for the sculptor: every year he comes to remove the rust, to see that the location of the monuments does not change.
"Shoes", Dmitry Tugarinov, 1995
These are "Shoes", which are very much loved by all our visitors. They are constantly trying to shove coins into their shoes, although I have not heard that there was any sign.
Sotnikov, Salavat Shcherbakov, 1990s
This is a portrait of Alexei Grigorievich Sotnikov. It is a pity that no one remembers and knows him now. He worked at the Dulevo factory and was a remarkable porcelain sculptor. He has a lot of clothes on, if you look closely - not one shirt. He worked at the stove, was afraid of drafts, so he put on vests, underwear, shirts.
Pushkin courtyard
The history of the creation of the courtyard is as follows: every year in "Muzeon" sculptors' symposia were held, their participants were sculpted from white limestone, so white sculptures are scattered throughout the park. Most often, symposia were united by some topic. Actually, the Pushkin Yard collected sculptures made in 1999, when the 200th anniversary of the poet's birth was celebrated. Although there is also a bronze monument in the subject.
"The Time of Alexander Sergeevich", Vladimir Buinachev, 1999
The beauty of this monument is that it is 1 meter 66 centimeters high - like Pushkin himself. That is, you can approach him and find out how much higher or lower you are than Alexander Sergeevich.
"Forty thousand miles", Alexander Smirnov-Panfilov, 1999
Unusual work. A wagon with Pushkin and a milestone nearby.
"The Winged Angel of Inspiration", Igor Korneev, 1999
Exhibition of Vladimir Buinachev
The exhibition of this artist occupies several alleys, there is a huge number of his sculptures. How they got here and why, it's pointless to ask, says Dmitry Evseev, all these twenty years the park's management and sculptors have been one “friendly community”: “What we liked - they took, what we didn't like - they took just in case”. Now the museum is trying to return some works, but not everyone agrees to take them back.
"Lenin in a string bag", Vladimir Buinachev, 1990s
Buynachev allows himself bold things. For example, this Lenin in a string bag made of wire. It probably symbolizes the baggage of history. You can't throw it away, so we carry it with us. Although what to do with it is not clear (I'm not talking about sculpture now).
Untitled, Vladimir Buinachev, 1990s
I don't know what these sculptures mean. Don't ask.
Alley of love and motherhood
Here are collected sculptures that are related to the theme of love. The exhibition is relatively new, all the workers of the park were in some kind of high spirits when it was assembled, says Evseev. But for some reason it is not popular and visitors rarely drop in here. Although recently a stage was installed here, and the sculptures now stand right between the benches. It is worth visiting for at least one sculpture.
Don Quixote, Nikolay Silis, 1990
A sculptor during socialism dared to say that form, not content, should come first. See what an amazing plastic Don Quixote solution he has. But here he somehow has no spectators. Well, if he was on the main alley, you see, it would be very advantageous. I hope that the new leaders of Muzeon will resolve this issue.
Vera Trakhtenberg
Main curator of "Muzeon"
In the very near future, we will remove all symposium sculptures made of white limestone from the park - they will all be collected on one site. The historical exhibition "Leaders and Sacrifices" will not change, at least in the near future. Dzerzhinsky will be in its place as a reference point for the museum. Large-scale landscaping will be carried out, and there will be much fewer monuments in the park. That is, there will be no more meadows cluttered with 15–20 sculptures, but there will be one point for each territory. We will also organize one large site where monuments from all over the park will be collected, and we will give some of them to the owners. A lot, of course, depends on the landscape solutions developed by Eugene Ass. We will build on them and think over the exposition.
It was a time of significant achievements, general upsurge, inspired creative enthusiasm. After the grief, severe trials and destruction that the war brought, people especially acutely felt the need for beauty, creative activity, to decorate their life, to build and reconstruct cities. Numerous residential areas were expanding throughout the country, new public buildings were erected, and monumental and decorative plastics actively and rightfully became a part of their design.
The talented sculptor, in his prime, had the good fortune to make a noticeable contribution to the creation of the modern look of the capital. Even before the war, Baburin made several reliefs for the grandiose architectural complex of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. In the 40s and 50s, he continued to work in the field of the synthesis of art and architecture. Today we meet with the monumental Baburin plastic art in the sights of the capital, dear to our hearts.
The sculptor's works for solemn architectural ensembles and individual structures have become indisputable artistic classics. High-rise buildings on Lenin Hills, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, Vosstaniya Square, Sovetskaya and Peking hotels, buildings of Moscow road and food institutes, Kurskaya-Koltsevaya metro station include sculptures, reliefs, and Baburin's decorative design. These works speak eloquently about an active social position, a harmonious and consistent urban planning thinking, a wonderful decorative gift of the artist. Together with other talented colleagues - sculptors and architects, he created a special romantic and upbeat atmosphere of the city, personifying the triumph of the socialist era.
In his works for Moscow, as well as in subsequent large works - monuments for Ufa and Kostroma, the master's passion for the large-scale tasks of the time made it clear in full force, a craving for civic themes was manifested, the understanding of the artist's place in socialist construction, acquired for life back in years of study and formation.
Mikhail Baburin was born and raised in a working class family in a city named after Lenin. An attitude filled with pride towards a person-creator was comprehended as the most important and necessary even in early youth. The choice of the profession of an artist was largely due to the mother's hobby, who talentedly used a needle and scissors to make amazingly beautiful figurines from cardboard and fabric. As a fifteen-year-old boy, Baburin entered the Petrograd Art and Industry College, then became a student of the sculpture department of the Leningrad Vhutein.
Vsevolod Vsevolodovich Lishev and Alexander Terentyevich Matveev taught at the Higher Artistic and Technical Institute, outstanding sculptors who actively participated in Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda. They instilled in their student a respectful attitude to the classical heritage from antique plastic arts to Russian monumental sculpture of the 19th century. Teachers passed on to Mikhail Baburin not only mastery of the laws of the architectonics of form, a clear realistic method of sculpting, but they strengthened in him the idea of the lofty social mission of monumental art. It is no coincidence that the sculptor chose the image of Lenin (the project of a monument for Vitebsk) as the topic of his diploma and more than once successfully returned in his work to this responsible and especially expensive topic.
Already the first serious works of the artist - "The Poisoner", "Motherhood", "The Miner Reading Pravda" - reveal a commitment to themes that glorify a contemporary, a person with a new psychology - a hard worker, a spiritually developed personality, a strong and whole character. The shifts that took place in the country's economy, in the minds of the people, riveted the attention of the sculptor. He was inspired by the image of a man capable of grandiose deeds, creating a happy future. And he did not just make a portrait of a contemporary, but embodied the typical character of a worker, a poetic generalization of the hero of his time. Man and work, the beauty of dreams and the pathos of real achievements are inseparable in the work of the master.
Baburin's daughter, Nadezhda Mikhailovna, recalls several curious difficulties she faced after her father's death, cataloging his works. Many of them bore the same proud and excited title: "The Triumph of Labor." I had to invent something for the author so as not to confuse the work. The triumph of labor is the key definition of all his work dedicated to the working class, collective farmers, glorious sons and daughters of the Motherland.
Baburin solved the cherished theme in monumental and easel works, in statues and multi-figure compositions, using the "high style of storytelling." His "workers" and "kolkhoz women" are imbued with genuine grandeur, romantic inspiration, they are heroes of an epic time unprecedented in history. But the means by which the sculptor achieved the necessary solemn state were the clear world of man. Nevertheless, he did not compromise his individuality, did not copy antique samples, but gave a modern interpretation of the image. He rethought the ancient culture, drew inspiration from it and with his art proved that today's heroes are worthy of the same sublime harmonious forms of embodiment as the ancient gods. Of the Russian sculptors, Baburin seemed the most interesting Ivan Martos and Mikhail Kozlovsky. The first conquered with the impeccable layout of the relief friezes, the second - with the skill of conveying the finest plastic features of the figure.
In the reliefs of the monument in honor of the 400th anniversary of the voluntary annexation of Bashkiria to Russia, the manner of performance, the methods of composition in the combination of groups and the interpretation of individual characters resemble the stately structure of multi-figured Hellenistic friezes. And the elaboration of the details of the clothes is just as amazing and filigree. Play of folds, light flow of draperies, joyful melody of rhythms emphasize the feeling of completeness and happiness of modern reality.
And many other works of the master - "Sons of Russia", "Song", "On the Russian Land", "Glory to the Soviet Constitution" - are characterized by an elastic clear rhythm, musical flow of figures, the ability to freely compose large sculptural masses. The main idea of these compositions is the victory of man in his struggle for happiness, progress, greatness and power of the Motherland.
Singing the work of his contemporaries, Mikhail Fedorovich went in search and solutions to the topic not from some abstract concept. He knew from his own experience what work is, the unrelenting tension of creativity. I did each new thing for a long time, considering possible options, checking with the richest natural material. In the sculptor's workshop there were always a lot of preliminary sketches, sketch drawings, all kinds of evidence of painstaking typified and compositional searches.
M. Baburin, G. Levitskaya, Yu. Gavrilov, E. Kutyrev. "Monument
in honor of the 400th anniversary of the voluntary accession of Bashkiria to Russia ”.
Fragment. Bronze, granite. 1965.
In working on a work intended for architecture, Mikhail Fedorovich appreciated and respected collective work. He performed important creative tasks together with such famous sculptors as Nikolai Vasilyevich Tomsky, Andrey Petrovich Faydysh, Pavel Ivanovich Bondarenko, Vladimir Efimovich Tsigal. Recent times Galina Petrovna Levitskaya was often co-author of Baburin. He was constantly surrounded by students. And the point was not only that for many years he taught at the Institute named after V.I.Surikov. Students are always drawn to a true master.
Appreciating the artist's civic and creative experience, recognizing his significant contribution to the art of sculpture, to the creation of an aesthetically complete, attractive appearance of a modern city, the Motherland noted his outstanding services. As part of a group of sculptors, Mikhail Fedorovich Baburin was awarded the USSR State Prize. To his name with respect were added the high titles of a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts, People's Artist of the USSR, professor.
The master's works live on the streets and squares of cities, delight the people for whom he worked and who inspired him to work. And we do not hesitate to attribute the results of this work to the golden fund of the Soviet artistic classics.
One of the most popular monuments to working professions is the Plumbing Monument. Their number in different cities of the world is huge. Moreover, the most popular is the monument to the plumber emerging from the hatch. And, in my opinion, it was most vividly able to display the type of this profession in the monument to the plumber Semyonich from Omsk.
You can find several more very similar to this monument in different cities of Russia - we will show one of them from Yekaterinburg. On the hatch there is an inscription: Uralenergoserviskomplekt 1995. It was at the expense of this organization that the monument was made. Plumbers in Omsk and Yekaterinburg differ only by squinting their eyes.
The Plumber (Observer) from the Old Town area in Bratislava is very popular with tourists and city residents.
Dreamy plumber from Cherkassy.
It is difficult to say what this Georgian is doing in the hatch, especially in Stockholm, Sweden. But nonetheless…
This guy from Baranovichi obviously spent a lot of time underground, because when he got out he was very surprised by what he saw. However, it may also be that he just breathed in harmful fumes ...
Finally, a monument to the "whole" plumber from Perm.
The sculpture of a locksmith Uncle Yasha and his student from Krasnoyarsk was recognized in 2005 as the most amusing monument in Russia. The sculptural group depicts an elderly locksmith looking out of the hatch and a young guy standing next to him. The monument was erected near the building of the Krasnoyarsk "Vodokanal". The sculptural uncle Yasha has a real prototype - Yakov Zubkov, who came to Vodokanal in 1945 and worked there for almost 30 years.
2. Monuments to wipers.
2. No fewer monuments than plumbers have been established for another popular profession - janitors. Janitor from Salavat.
An unusual sculpture of a janitor from Yekaterinburg is made.
The colorful figure of the janitor, as they say, is from the village of Uvat.
Numerous sculptures of wipers installed in many cities of the world do not differ in particular originality and are very similar. Their main difference is in the form of clothing. Let's take a janitor from San Jose, Costa Rica as an example.
3. Monuments to builders.
Kiev, metro station Minsk. The official version says that the Stolitsa corporation has erected a monument to the Builder in front of its office. This monument, of course, is not original, and the attitude towards the builder can be traced only in connection with the plumb line in the figure's hand, which she (the figure) is trying to use in a very strange pose.
Monument to the Builders of New York.
4. Monument to the fishermen.
"Fishermen" - an original sculpture, installed in 1991 on the shore of the Petrozavodsk Bay of Onega Lake, Petrozavodsk. The author of the composition is the sculptor Raphael Consuegra from the sister city of Duluth, Minnesota, USA. Rafael Consuegra was directly involved in the erection and welding of structures, which were carried out at the Petrozavodskmash Production Association. According to his idea, the sculpture represents two fishermen - Russian and American, who throw the net, which should symbolize joint creative work.
5. Monuments to loaders.
The fifth place was taken by the movers. Porter from Neidelberg, Germany.
Movers at the port of Singapore.
6. Monuments to postmen.
In the fall of 2006 in Nizhny Novgorod, near the House of Communications, a monument to the postman appeared. It was installed in the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod, next to the main post office, where the predecessor of the state post office, Yamskaya Dvor, was once located. More than 200 years have passed since the approval of the post office in Nizhny Novgorod and the order to appoint a postmaster.
G. Elabuga. The opening of the monument took place on August 24, 2007 in honor of the celebrations dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Yelabuga. The sculpture also has its own prototype - a woman postman who worked at the Yelabuga post office in the post-war years.
7. Monument to the shoemaker.
Seventh place - a shoemaker from Bavaria.
8. Monument to the motorist.
Motorist from Yekaterinburg
9. Monument to the city officer.
The monument to the city policeman (or in the modern interpretation - to the policeman) was erected in St. Petersburg in 1998 at the initiative of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate as an example of an ideal guardian of order of the past. The monument still has the status of "temporary placement" - the final place of its installation has not been approved. The sculptor is A.S. Charkin. The address is at the corner of Shvedsky Lane and Malaya Konyushennaya Street.
10. Monuments to the traffic cop.
On September 10, 2004, a monument to a traffic cop appeared in Belgorod. The monument was made by local sculptor Anatoly Shishkov. The prototype of the monument was Pavel Kirillovich Grechikhin - a guard in Belgorod, who never took bribes and fined everyone mercilessly - he did not look at ranks or titles. And he became famous for having written out a fine for his own wife! Belgorod residents say that Grechikhin punished not only his wife, but also his son, neighbors, and friends. And once even his immediate superior got it from him! He also had fines imposed on the chief of the regional traffic police, the secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a visiting general from Moscow. Anatoly Shishkov created a monument from photography and memory. Pavel Grechikhin's motto is carved on the pedestal: "Good glory is more important than wealth."
In Komsomolsk, Poltava region, a monument was erected to the inspector of the State Automobile Inspectorate, much more than the first similar to the real one. The sculpture with the image of the traffic police inspector has colorful (magnificent) forms, on the cap is written "DAI" (State traffic police - Ukrainian), on the chest the order "Give - take". "Initially, the cap had the word" GIVE ", but I had to change it to" DAI "- said the sculptor.
Bonus. Monument to a prostitute.
As a bonus, we present a monument to the oldest working profession, certainly not of a creative nature - a monument to the world's prostitutes, installed in Amsterdam on Red Lanterns Street.
R. Abolina
It is difficult to overestimate the role played by Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda for the development of Soviet sculpture. The well-known decree of the Council of People's Commissars of April 12, 1918, which called for "mobilizing artistic forces and organizing a wide competition for the development of projects for monuments that should commemorate the great days of the Russian Socialist Revolution," set an unusually large and responsible task for the sculpture, emphasized the usefulness and necessity of the sculptor's work in a new society.
As already noted, almost all of the cadres available at that time took part in the implementation of Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda. He not only revived the artistic life of Moscow and Petrograd, but also became a powerful stimulus for the development of sculpture in the periphery, in various cities of Russia and in the national republics. The concreteness of the outlined program, its close connection with life and focus on the future helped most sculptors to successfully complete the creative evolution that was inevitable at a qualitatively new stage in the development of art.
In the Soviet years, sculptors continue to work, who began their career long before the revolution. Such masters as A.S. Golubkina, S.T.Konenkov, A.T. Matveev, V.N.Domogatsky, N.A. the truth about man, were living bearers of the traditions of humanism and high plastic culture, characteristic of the democratic wing of Russian sculptors. But what the revolutionary reality now carried with it could not be expressed only on the basis of previous ideas. Of course, the great achievements of Russian sculpture of the 20th century, for example, in the field of easel portraits, were directly developed, but on the whole the traditions on which Soviet sculpture relied were much broader. She turned to all the best in Russian and European plastic arts. This largely helped the sculptors to develop a new realistic language capable of expressing the great ideas that came to art along with the socialist revolution.
The novelty of the tasks, the great civic responsibility that fell on art, gave rise to a dispute about the ways of developing plastic, about artistic form incarnations new topic... All kinds of anti-realist currents from cubism and constructivism to stylization in the spirit of modernity and primitiveness, which had arisen even before October, appeared in the first years of the revolution. The "left" sculptors tried to pass off their formalistic experiments and far-fetched schemes as bold innovative searches. They distorted the very idea put forward by the monumental propaganda plan. The Soviet people rejected the claims of the formalists. Those of them who sincerely wanted to serve the people with their creativity and strove for new things not because of fashionable hobbies, began to understand the depth of the gap between their artistic concepts and the demands of life.
The common great goal set by the revolution for the artists gradually rallied the Soviet sculptors, contributed to the development of a new worldview in them. Already in 1917, a creative union of sculptors and artists was created, its first chairman was S. T. Konenkov. In 1926, the Society of Russian Sculptors was organized, and somewhat earlier - the sculptural section of the Academy of Arts. These associations included almost all the available forces of sculptors, which were constantly replenished with graduates of art universities.
Sculpture begins to develop intensively in the union republics, even where it did not exist before the revolution (as, for example, in Azerbaijan, in Central Asia). A number of major masters are boldly tackling vital urgent tasks. In the very process of mastering the material of life, penetrating and the essence of new phenomena, their creative method, stylistic features, and techniques of professional skill are renewed.
N. Andreev made a significant contribution to Soviet sculpture in the early stages of its development. Already the monuments created by him in the first years of the revolution and associated with the implementation of the plan of monumental propaganda, speak of innovative searches and the fruitful use of heritage. The sculptor turns to the traditions of ancient art, creating the Statue of Liberty for an obelisk in honor of the first Soviet Constitution (1918 - 1919) ( The obelisk, designed by the architect D.P. Osinov, was installed in front of the building of the Moscow Council (not preserved).). But the image, filled with new life content, was a vivid personification of the ideas of the revolution. The monumental statues of Herzen and Ogarev near the building of Moscow State University (concrete, 1920 - 1922), although somewhat simplified in form, attract with an interesting solution to the problems of synthesis of sculpture and architecture. In a consistently realistic manner, simply, with restraint, but with a sense of the inner significance of the image, Andreev performed the monument to A.N. Ostrovsky, erected at the Maly Theater in Moscow (1929).
A large series of portraits of V.I.Lenin became the work of Andreev's whole life, which the sculptor was lucky to start in 1920, working directly from life. He owns numerous graphic portraits of the leader from fluent sketch sketches to complete, psychologically expressive drawings. In small sculptural compositions performed in the first period (until 1924) and depicting Lenin at work - listening, thinking, - there is a lot of lively observation, subtly and accurately captured ("Lenin - writing", plaster, 1920; Tretyakov Gallery, etc. .).
From the first direct impressions Andreev proceeds to an analytical study of the model, understands for himself the patterns and features of the structure of the head and face, the proportions of Lenin's figure. The remarkable result of this in-depth work is a series of portraits. The master freely conveys the richest facial expressions of Lenin's face, many shades of his expression - either the keen attentiveness of his gaze, then a good-natured and wise smile, then irreconcilability and wariness. The next step is to find the situation in which Lenin's character is most fully revealed. The sculptor turns to semi-figured compositions; the image emphasizes the activity of the state (Lenin on the Tribune, plaster cast, 1929; Tretyakov Gallery).
The synthesis of many years of work was created in 1931 - 1932. composition "Lenin the Leader" (marble; Tretyakov Gallery). Straightened to his full height, Lenin rises above the podium. He kind of speaks to a wide audience. The turn of the head and the movement of the extended right shoulder create a subtle but internally strong dynamic. The face is seen slightly from the foreshortening, from bottom to top; clearly, even sharply sculpted, it is given in heroic tension. A feeling of calm irresistible force and activity is created. Ilyich with the people, seeing their historical destinies, paving the way to a brighter future - such is the inner pathos of this work, which makes the composition monumental.
Andreev's "Leniniana", the generalizations of which were based on live observation and accurate knowledge of nature, was a precious material for all artists who subsequently worked on the image of Lenin. For Andreev himself, the ego was a complex creative process, during which the realist artist's method developed and enriched, overcoming the narrowness and intimate understanding of not only the plot, but also the plastic language itself.
Images of V.I.Lenin have a special place in Soviet sculpture. Along with N. Andreev, many sculptors have been working on the embodiment of this inexhaustible image since the 1920s. and up to the present day, finding more and more new solutions in various genres and types of sculpture. Of interest are the monuments to Lenin, erected on the site of revolutionary events - V.V. Kozlov at Smolny (1927), S. A. Evseev and V. A. Shchuko at the Finland Station (1925). Both the one and the other monument, different in composition and manner of execution, depict Lenin, addressing the masses with an open inviting gesture.
The image of K. Marx also received a bold decision in Soviet sculpture. In the first years after the revolution (1920 - 1925) an interesting project of the monument to K. Marx was created by S. S. Aleshin, G. M. Gyurdzhyan and S. V. Koltsov. In this carefully designed project, the figure of the leader of the world proletariat was presented surrounded by representatives of the working classes, personifying the triumph of the ideas of communism in Soviet society. The group, compact, clear in silhouette, was well read from different sides, actively organizing space around itself. Alyoshin is the author of interesting portraits, in which the detail of the performance does not interfere with the identification of the main thing in the character (portrait of M.V. Frunze, 1927).
Deep interest in a person, the desire to comprehensively reveal him spiritual world, the attitude towards reality was determined in the 20s. fruitful development of the sculptural portrait. In some cases, sculptors directly developed the best that the pre-revolutionary portrait carried with it - its special psychological depth, spirituality, a sense of a person's connection with the world around him.
At this time, A. S. Golubkina continues to work. Staying true to her creative principles, she created a number of interesting portraits, including her last masterpiece - the portrait of L. N. Tolstoy (bronze, 1927; Tretyakov Gallery).
Portraits of V.N.Domogatsky (1876 - 1939), created in the mid-1920s, speak of a deep and objective comprehension of a person's character, of finding an accurate and clear plastic form for its expression. In The Portrait of a Son (Mrazur, 1926; Tretyakov Gallery), along with subtle modeling, which creates a haze, as it were, easily enveloping the marble, contours, precisely found boundaries of forms, play an important role, which gives the work a special plastic completeness.
The portrait, not only requiring the achievement of similarity with the original, but also forcing the artist to focus his attention on human psychology, played in the performance of many sculptors very important role in the process of mastering the principles of realism. The evolution of B.D.Korolev (1884 - 1963), who performed in his time a pointless, cubo-futuristic monument to Bakunin (1918), is indicative in this respect. After a series of formalistic experiments, he arrived in the mid-1920s. to create portraits, accurate and sharp in characteristics.
Among them " Portrait of a man”(1923), a portrait of NN Nikol'skiy (1925), in which one can see a complete rejection of soulless constructivism and the acquisition of a full-blooded realistic language. The portraits of the revolutionaries Bauman (bronze, 1930; Tretyakov Gallery) and Zhelyabov (tree, 1927; RM), revealing in an organic unity the personal and social in a person's character, are permeated with a sense of inner significance, and are monumental in form. Korolev also owns one of the best for the 20s. portraits of V.I. Lenin (1926).
The paths of development of the Soviet sculptural portrait are diverse. Typical for the 1920s. and accurately documentary images. IA Mendelevich (1887 - 1950), the author of the portrait of EB Vakhtangov (1924), worked in this regard; N. V. Krandievskaya (1891 - 1963), who owns the portrait of S. M. Budyonny (1930); G.V. Neroda (b. 1895), who created the portrait of Ya.M. Sverdlov (gypsum, 1932; Tretyakov Gallery).
Of great interest are the collective images created at this time, in essence portraits-types, in which are sensitively captured and clearly expressed social qualities- character traits that form among the representatives of the working class. A series of sculptures by Ivan Dmitrievich Shadr (1887 - 1941), executed in 1922, was perfectly found by type - "Worker" (plaster cast), "Peasant" (plaster cast), "Red Army man" (bronze), "Sower" (bronze) ( all - in the State Tretyakov Gallery) ( These images were commissioned by Goznak to be reproduced on Soviet banknotes.). Each of them conveys a sense of inner dignity and strengths awakened in people who have become masters of their country. A native of peasants himself, Shadr correctly captured these traits in the character of his contemporaries. A fundamentally new thing was that the image of a working person was so soulfully embodied in sculpture.
Shadr's multifaceted work went far beyond the portrait genre. The passionate determination of the proletariat in its just struggle is clearly expressed by it in the composition "Cobblestone - the weapon of the proletariat" (bronze, 1927; Tretyakov Gallery) - original in its plastic motive. Bending down swiftly, the young worker snatches out a cobblestone from the pavement - the first weapon that comes to hand. Having overcome the inert weight of the stone, throwing it at the hated enemy, he will straighten up to his full height. The specificity of the image (based on the events of 1905) is combined with the symbolism of the content, revealing a turning point in the fate of an entire class.
The desire for broad generalization, the romantic elevation of the image leads Shadr to monumental sculpture, to the use of synthetic means of expression. The connection with the surrounding space and the identification of the most characteristic features of the image, thanks to this, distinguish the monument to Lenin, erected by Shadr in 1927 in Georgia at the Zemo-Avchal hydroelectric power station dam - one of the first in the Soviet Union. With a volitional gesture of his hand, Lenin points to the waters of two mountain rivers overflowing at the foot of the dam. The precisely found silhouette and the position of the sculpture in space, where the greatness of the figure is emphasized by the line of mountains that seem to have parted in this place, make the plastic image dominant in nature, express the idea of conquering it by man - the builder of a new society.
The thirties - a new fruitful stage in the work of the sculptor. While maintaining the romantic elevation of the image, he sets himself other tasks, achieves the expression of the versatility of feelings in a calm, restrained movement, in energetic and at the same time smooth sculpting. This decision is typical, for example, for the project of a monument to Gorky for Moscow (bronze, 1939; Tretyakov Gallery), everything seems extremely simple and natural. The motive of movement is precisely expressed, conveying inner emotion, elation of feelings. The image of A.S. Pushkin in the project of a monument to the poet for Leningrad (1940) is permeated with great spirituality. The Girl with the Torch, created for the Soviet pavilion at the 1939 World Exhibition in New York (bronze, 1937; Tretyakov Gallery), is expressive in its plastic rhythm.
Shadr also made an important contribution to the field of memorial sculpture. His lyrical tombstone to E.P. Nemirovich-Danchenko (marble, 1939; original in the State Tretyakov Gallery) and the romantically excited images in the tombstone project for V.M. Fritsche and V.V. areas of sculpture. A bright, life-affirming beginning clearly sounds in them.
The desire for broad generalization in the depiction of reality manifested itself in works of very different genre, created already in the 1920s. The sculptural group "October" (plaster cast, RM), executed for the anniversary of Soviet power (1927) by the sculptor Alexander Terentyevich Matveev (1878 - 1960), is plasticly beautiful. Having started his career long before the revolution, A. T. Matveev came to Soviet sculpture as an experienced, established master. A poetically sublime representation of the nude is at the heart of most of his works. The heroic nudity of the figures, the majestic rhythm of the pyrimidally constructed composition of the "October" group make one recall the works of classicism. However, the images of Matveyev's group are not ideally abstract. They contain a synthesis of living observations, a special feeling of modernity. Full of individual originality and movement of each figure. The worker stands calmly, confidently; stately solemnity in the pose of a seated peasant; The Red Army soldier, swiftly squatting on one knee, is full of tension, as if ready to repulse.
The dynamics of the revolutionary era were reflected in the strictly balanced and at the same time permeated with internal tension forms of "October". In the future, the poetic idea of a person in the work of Matveyev acquires an ever more calm, joyful character. Cast from bronze in 1937, the "Woman's Figure" (RM), as it were, concentrated in itself the best qualities of Matveyev's plastics. The statue is distinguished by an amazing clarity of forms, soft generalized surface modeling, behind which you can feel a deep knowledge of nature. The motive of raised hands framing the head gives it a special grandeur; it seems to be something akin to monumental images that can be associated with architecture by their rhythm. No wonder the sculptor gave it a second name - "Caryatid". Matveev also worked a lot in the portrait genre. Among his best works is the "Self-portrait" 1939 (bronze; Leningrad, State Russian Museum).
The turn of the 20s - 30s was a turning point in the development of Soviet plastic art. At this time, the need to solve new problems, to master new material of reality, which is in continuous rapid development, is especially acutely felt. The historical resolution of the party in 1932 "On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations" in the field of sculpture was already based on real achievements, on the evolution that it made in the first fifteen years of its existence.
An ever wider public pathos fills sculpture, permeating its monumental and easel forms.
In 1933, L. V. Sherwood (1871 - 1954) created the "Sentinel" statue (gypsum; Tretyakov Gallery). The sculptor chose a simple, frequently encountered motive, but due to the vital typicality of the image, the significance of the work that the Soviet soldier serves, guarding the peaceful labor of his country, the statue acquires features of epic grandeur and monumentality.
New trends are evident in the portrait. An interesting undertaking was the creation of a portrait gallery of the foremost workers of production in Moscow (1931 - 1932), called the "Shock Workers Alley". More and more often, a portrait statue of a contemporary who became famous for his work, his feat, becomes monumental, preserving the naturalness and simplicity of expression.
The scale of socialist construction, which caused the reconstruction of old and the creation of new cities, creates the preconditions for development in the 30s. monumental and decorative sculpture, different types architectural and sculptural synthesis. One of the most important problems was the creation of a monumental monument for the urban ensemble. Numerous competitions for monuments to outstanding revolutionaries, scientists and cultural figures held at that time gave interesting results.
A significant contribution to solving the problem of a monument for the city ensemble was made by Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer (b. 1891), who graduated from the Academy of Arts on the eve of the revolution. The sculptor took part in the implementation of Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda. Created by him in the 20s. the monuments in Leningrad - to V. Volodarsky (1925) and "To the Victims of January 9, 1905" (1931), which embodied new themes with great professional skill, played an important role in establishing realistic principles in Soviet monumental art. The further evolution of Manizer's work is the expansion of the thematic range and the search for greater emotional expressiveness. The monument to Chapaev for Kuibyshev (1932) was interestingly solved by Manizer. Rejecting the traditional equestrian monument, the sculptor created a multi-figured composition. The hero appears here in close connection with the masses. The whole group, bristling with bayonets, is given in strong dynamics.
In the competition for a monument to T.G. Shevchenko for Kharkov (1935), Manizer created a work that reveals the image of a cultural figure of the past in a new way. The great Ukrainian democrat is presented in it as a thinker and fighter who sees all the bitterness of the life of an oppressed people. Having placed the figure of the writer on a high triangular pedestal, the sculptor placed sixteen smaller figures around it, depicting the struggling people of Ukraine. Placed as if in a spiral, on the increasing ledges of the pedestal, they are not connected by plot, but each of them personifies a certain moment of the struggle - from silent protest to active revolutionary action and the triumph of the victory of the working people in our country. In the composition, the figure of a young farm laborer is especially expressive, placed on the facade of the monument, whose image is associated with the heroine of Shevchenko's poem "Katerina".
The pinnacle of Manizer's work in the pre-war period was the monument to V.I.Lenin for Ulyanovsk (1940). The sketch, close in composition to the monument, was created by him back in 1928. However, it took years for it to receive its convincing monumental embodiment. The monument in Ulyanovsk was erected on Venets, a high-located square of the city, from which wide Volga distances open. The figure stands on a high, well-proportioned pedestal (architect V.A.Witman). A strong turn of the head, looking into the distance, emphasize the connection between the monument and the surrounding space. This is felt in the very modeling of the figure, in the interpretation of folds of clothing, wide and smooth and at the same time deeply embossed, which makes the sculpture receptive to lighting, the change of which causes deep sliding shadows on its surface. It seems that the free wind that constantly reigns here blows over the statue, stirring the folds of the coat thrown over Lenin's shoulders. In the interpretation of the monument, there is no unnecessary pettiness, fragmentation, the master perfectly used the noble language of bronze.
The spirituality and humanity of the image gave the majestic monument a special character. The notes of revolutionary romanticism sound strong, and at the same time everything here is very concrete, as if imbued with a sense of historical authenticity. It is important to note that Lenin is depicted here as a revolutionary thinker and leader who not only foresaw the bright future of the people, but also actively paved the way to it.
The specificity of the figurative characteristics in the monuments of Manizer is partly due to the fact that he works a lot and successfully in the field of portraiture. Among his early works of this genre, one can name a portrait of E.E. Essen (1922), from later - a portrait of the Hero of the Soviet Union I.M. Mazuruk (1945).
The sculptor responded vividly to the events of the Great Patriotic War, having created already in the first years completed works, clear in form, glorifying the defenders of the Motherland. His statue, depicting the young heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (bronze, 1942; State Tretyakov Gallery), has been chiseled in the smallest detail. Accurate portraiture and classical canon in proportions are combined in the slender figure of a girl who is striving for a feat and casting a last glance at her native Moscow. The work on the creation of the monuments remains the main one for Manizer and in his subsequent work. The most interesting can be considered a monument to Lieutenant General F.M. Kharitonov for Rybinsk (1949) and a monument in honor of the liberation of Indonesia from colonialism (1964, executed jointly with O.M. Manizer).
Returning to the sculpture of the 30s, it should be noted that it is characterized by the search for a generalized monumental image, the composition of which is often associated with forms of architecture. A significant master working in this direction was Sergei Dmitrievich Merkurov (1881 - 1952), who in Soviet times overcame the schematism of modernity inherent in his early work.
He closely studied the art of eras with a developed architectural and sculptural synthesis, in particular the art of Ancient Egypt and Assyria, was in love with solid, "eternal" materials, primarily granite. In his creative practice, Mer-kurov largely proceeded from the expressiveness that a monolithic block of stone gives, and sought to combine this with the portraiture of the image. A sense of large form, an ensemble understanding of a monument sometimes makes its sculpture, as it were, a part of architecture.
His monument to K.A.Timiryazev is interesting for Moscow (1923), which combines the somewhat graphic expressiveness of the silhouette with liveliness1 portrait characteristics... For many years, Merkurov worked on the gigantic high relief "The Execution of 26 Baku Commissars", which was realized in granite already in the post-war period. In the process of work, the central image of this composition - the figure of Stepan Shaumyan - became an independent work. A granite monument to the fiery Bolshevik was erected in Yerevan (1930). A fragment of this monument can be considered a portrait of Stepan Shaumyan made of black granite (1929; Tretyakov Gallery). The sculptor created the ideal image of a revolutionary fighter who fearlessly looks into the eyes of death itself. The strong turn of the head, the tense muscles of the neck emphasize the dynamics of the composition. At the same time, the scale (about 2.5 natures), as well as the processing, which combines large surfaces of polished and rough, barely processed granite, emphasize the power of the volumes, their inviolability.
For many years Merkurov worked on the embodiment of the image of V.I. Lenin. Not all of the sculptor's works seem convincing; in some there are traits of external pathos, the monotony of gesture and movement. But there are some really exciting ones among them. The multi-figured group "Death of the Leader" (1927 - 1950), depicting a mourning procession of people carrying Lenin's body on their shoulders, is perceived as a solemn requiem. In the 30s. Lenin's theme finds an interesting resolution in two works by Merkurov - in the figure of Lenin for the conference room of the Supreme Soviet in the Kremlin (marble, 1939) and in the monument to Lenin for Yerevan (1940). If in the first work the task was to create a statue for a strict interior, then the Yerevan monument fit well into the ensemble of the central city square - its pedestal is merged with stone stands decorated with national ornaments (architects N. Paremuzova and L. Vartanov). Less successful was the monument to Lenin, created by Merkurov for the Moscow Canal (1937). Made of large granite blocks, simplified in form, the colossal monument is imbued with cold grandeur.
The means of expressing that joyful aspiration and solemn confidence that the Soviet people felt in the era of building a socialist society were not in the grandeur and overwhelming scale, not in the schematism and ponderousness of the forms. The synthesis found real forms in those works for which the traits of a real Soviet man were taken as the basis of the generalizing image, raised to an unprecedented height by the greatness of the ideas and deeds of the era.
The best work of architectural and sculptural synthesis of the 30s. was the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris (1937), built by the architect B. M. Iofan and crowned with a sculpture by Vera Ignatievna Mukhina (1889 - 1953). Iofan designed the building, slender and dynamic in composition, in which the volumes, rapidly growing, passed into the vertical pylon of the facade, which is the pedestal for the sculpture. As conceived by the architect, it was a two-figure composition depicting a young man and a girl holding the emblem of the Soviet state - the hammer and sickle - over their heads. V. I. Mukhina, who won the competition for this sculptural group, picked up and developed the architect's idea, breathed life into schematically outlined forms.
Achieving a vivid imaginative solution, she changed the compositional structure of the group given in the project: instead of the motive of ascending diagonally, the motive of a strong horizontal movement forward and vertical take-off appeared in a gesture of hands. The group acquired a different character - it became not only solemn, but also joyfully aspiring, exultant. It was an important starting point that determined the depth of the idea underlying the work. Carried out in the material and installed at the top of the pavilion, the twenty-three-meter group made a very strong impression. Two gigantic figures striving forward seem to cut space in their unrestrained movement. The headwind blows over the powerful torsos, slides over the arms laid back, streams in the heavy folds of clothing, throwing back the whipped up scarf.
Merging from the side of the facade into a single group directed forward and upward, the figures from the profile points of view are perceived in their different expressiveness. Here the connection between the composition and the growing dynamics in the volumes of the pavilion stands out most clearly. The young man's hand is imperiously withdrawn - he seems to assert what he has conquered, passed. The girl's gesture is more feminine, rounded, merging with the flight of the scarf, it expresses the same theme more smoothly, melodiously. The group seems even more dynamic when viewed from the back. The whirling scarf, the girl's hair thrown back, the swirling edges of the clothes create the impression that air is drawn in between the volumes by a funnel, making noise in the stream of flying folds.
Forged from sheets of steel, a colossal, but light, delicate silhouette, the group perfectly connected with the pavilion, built of light Gazgan marble with steel rods running along the facade. The sculptural group "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman", innovative in its essence, became a symbol, the personification of the Soviet country.
The entire previous experience of the monumental sculptor helped to create such a work by Mukhina, who boldly posed and solved more and more new problems in his work. Already performed by her in 1922 - 1923. the project of the monument to Ya. M. Sverdlov ("Flame of the Revolution") (gypsum; located in Moscow, in the Museum of the Revolution of the USSR) was distinguished by the strength of forms, the rapid dynamics of volumes, as it were, floating in the air. However, he bore the stamp of Cubism, the impact of which Mukhina experienced in the pre-revolutionary years. The gradual liberation from its influence and the acquisition of a full-blooded realistic form characterize Mukhina's work in the 1920s. Her "Peasant Woman" (bronze, 1927; Tretyakov Gallery) is distinguished by the inviolability of a powerful figure and architectonic composition. But it is still abstract in its figurative solution.
The typical features of the Soviet man of his time are fully revealed by the sculptor in the portrait of S. Zamkov (marble, 1934; Tretyakov Gallery), which is also distinguished by the power of plastic volumes. But here everything has become human, spiritualized. An amazingly clear face, mighty arms crossed on his chest - in the portrait, as it were, a rational will is concentrated, the bright feelings of the builder of a new life. Free theme happy person gets its expression in the further work of Mukhina. In the decorative group Bread (gypsum, 1939; Tretyakov Gallery), the sculptor allegorically expressed the idea of the wealth and fertility of the earth, the joyful feeling of the fullness of life.
Mukhina is also interested in the problem of a portrait monument, in the solution of which she also seeks to generalize. Monument to A.M. Gorky for his hometown was conceived as a composition, plot and spatially related to the surrounding nature. The tall, straight figure of the writer with his hands clasped behind his back was supposed to stand over the cliff at the arrow, at the confluence of the Oka with the Volga. Thirsty for a storm, young Gorky, as it were, resists the elements. Compositions at the foot of the monument, depicting the heroes of early Gorky's works - Danko with a burning heart and Mother with a banner - enhanced its romantic sound ( The monument to A.M. Gorky was erected in 1951 not the way Mukhina had intended it, but on one of the ventral squares of the city, without additional compositions.).
In the first years of the war, Mukhina creates wonderful portraits. She sculpts especially carefully and reliably portraits of Colonels B.A. Simplicity, humanity and at the same time great inner significance, almost solemnity distinguish them. Generalized are the forms of Bariy Yusupov's slightly swollen, broad-cheeked face, everything in it is simple, somehow "peaceful", but it is distorted by deep scars, a black bandage covers the eye socket. The second eye gazes sharply, intently. In this look, the steadfastness, steadfastness of a person who is ready to stand up for a just cause to the last breath. Mukhina achieves an enormous power of typification in his work Partizanka (gypsum, 1942; Tretyakov Gallery), which has become a symbol of revenge against the invaders of the Motherland.
Mukhina's portraits of people of peaceful labor also acquire heroic features at this time. In the portrait of Academician A. N. Krylov (tree, 1945; Tretyakov Gallery), in his bright appearance, full of individual originality, Mukhina revealed the best traits of the character of a Russian person. The shoulders and head of the scientist, erect and motionless, grow from the powerful influx of the rhizome of the tree. But the strands of hair are resolutely pulled back, framing the steep skull. Enormous tension in the drawn-together eyebrows, and the penetrating gaze of the half-closed eyes overhanging the eyelids. Will, energy, curiosity concentrated in this face. The most important thing in Mukhina's work was that she was able to notice in the character of her contemporaries all the best and new, born of Soviet reality, to find a wonderful ideal in life and, embodying it, to call into the future.
The problem of synthesis with architecture remained the most important throughout the development of sculpture in the pre-war years.
In 1939, the Soviet Pavilion was created at the World Exhibition in New York, where the experience of creating the Paris Pavilion was largely used. Basically, the decoration of BGXB in 1939 was successful. Georgy Ivanovich Motovilov (1884 - 1963) beautifully decorated the main entrance of the exhibition, decorating the originally designed arches with reliefs superimposed on their plane. In the compositions "Industry" and "Agriculture" (1939), images of people, plants, animals, machine parts merged into a beautiful, decorative pattern, without losing their figurative essence.
A significant place belonged to sculpture in the design of the pavilions themselves. From its very first steps, Soviet sculpture developed as a multinational art. In many pavilions of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, national originality was expressed not only in architectural forms and ornamentation, but also in plastic images. On the many-sided successes of Soviet sculpture at the end of the 30s. evidenced by the fact that at this time in the Union republics, more and more monuments are erected according to the projects of local masters. Quite often they solve complex problems of synthesis, characteristic of the monumental art of that time. Thus, the monument to S. M. Kirov in Baku was created in 1939 according to the project of the Azerbaijani sculptor V. P. Sabsay (b. 1883). This monument is closely related to the natural originality of the capital of Azerbaijan. The figure of Kirov, facing from the heights of the hill of the highland park to the sea bay, is visible from almost all points of the city. At the same time, the monument is designed for close examination: the portrait features of Kirov are convincingly conveyed, the reliefs on the pedestal tell about his activities in the city of oil workers.
Retaining the civic pathos, the inner energy of the image inherent in sculpture of the 1920s, new works embodying the image of a contemporary of the 1930s, carry more concreteness and unique personality, they feel the desire to reveal the character of a person in all its versatility. Such, for example, is the statue of Sergo Ordzhonikidze (gypsum, 1937; Tretyakov Gallery), executed by the sculptors V.I. Ingal (b. 1901) and V. Ya. Bogolyubov (1895 - 1954). It captures the special warmth with which the temperamental character of the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, the organizer of many labor victories in those years, is described.
The psychological portrait also developed interestingly at this time. Substantial works are created by Grigory Ivanovich Kepinov (b. 1886). His dignified Georgian Komsomolets (bronze, 1935; Tretyakov Gallery) and the unusually charming lyrical Portrait of T. G. Kepinova (marble, 1935; Tretyakov Gallery) speak of a sublimely poetic understanding of the human image.
Sara Dmitrievna Lebedeva (b. 1892) worked very fruitfully in the field of portraiture. Her path in art, which began in the first years of the October Revolution, was very purposeful. Recognizing the work on the portrait only from life, studying it analytically, the sculptor finds an individual plastic solution for each model. Lebedeva's compositions are usually very simple and ineffective at first glance. However, looking closely at the image, we kind of get to know the person together with the sculptor, deeply comprehend his character. Sometimes Lebedeva shows a person from an unusual side, which at first amazes, but through the artist's keen and penetrating vision, this feature becomes the main one for us, as it reveals in a person the essential, hidden under the layers of the familiar and everyday.
The undoubted achievement of Lebedeva in the 20s. there was a portrait of F.E.Dzerzhinsky (bronze, 1925; Moscow, Museum of the Revolution of the USSR). The volume of the head was found surprisingly precisely, in the fit of which one can already feel strength and inflexibility, a rare inner endurance. But in the expression of the face - wide in the cheekbones, with delicate regular features - there is something else - as if an internal, inextinguishable fire of feelings, restrained in external manifestation. The characteristic is built on the contrast of these two principles. Lebedeva took a new approach to creating a portrait public figure, not only highlighting the bright features lying on the surface, but also revealing deeply and subtly individual character.
Lebedeva's portraits, created in the late 1920s and early 1930s, are distinguished by an ever more accurate finding of a characteristic form, an ever increasing organicity and vitality of plastic solutions (portrait of Vanya Bruni, 1934; portrait of P.P. Postyshev, 1935; portrait of V.P. Chkalov, plaster cast, 1937; Tretyakov Gallery).
A series of portraits performed by Lebedeva in the second half of the 30s is one of the best creations of the sculptor. Human characters are passing before us, so different from each other. The majestic head of the sculptor V.I.Mukhina (plaster cast, 1939; Tretyakov Gallery), the energetic face of actress Olga L. Knipper-Chekhova (plaster cast, 1940; Tretyakov Gallery), the inspired image of director and actor S.M. Mikhoels (plaster cast, 1939; Tretyakov Gallery) ). For each portrait, the sculptor finds his own plastic form. And nevertheless, the portraits have features that make them akin. This is a deep inner dignity, a kind active view of the world, towards the transformation of which all the thoughts, feelings and creative powers of these people are directed. In each personality, as in a crystal of a unique structure, the light of the new socialist era is reflected and poured. The line of the acute psychological portrait remains the main one for Lebedeva in her future work (portrait of A.T. Tvardovsky, plaster cast, 1943, State Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of A.V. Shchusev, 1946, etc.). Lebedeva's work on nudity is interesting, as well as her decorative plastic.
The achievements of Soviet sculpture in the field of historical portraiture are also great. A particularly valuable contribution to this genre was made by the founder of Georgian sculpture, Ya. I. Nikoladze. Stubbornly and persistently he mastered the skill of sculpture in the pre-revolutionary years, having gone through a serious art school. But from the very first steps of independent activity, it becomes clear that the images of his native Georgia are especially close to him, for the expression of which he strives to master the heights of professional skill. With enthusiasm, Nikoladze sculpts portraits of prominent figures of Georgian culture. Created in 1914-1915. portrait of Akaki Tsereteli and in 1910 - 1911. Egnate Ninoshvili were erected during the years of Soviet power as monuments in the capital of the republic. The monument to A. Tsereteli, opened in 1922 in front of the building of the Tbilisi Opera House, turned out to be especially consonant with the revolutionary reality. Inspiration, inner fire, expressed in this portrait bust, which is born from a block of stone, as if personified the eternal desire of the people for freedom. A number of subtle psychological portraits, in which romantic features often appear, were created by Nikoladze in the 1920s. (portrait of P. Melikishvili, 1922; portrait of V. Meskhishvili, 1926; both - Tbilisi, Museum of Art of the Georgian SSR).
The sculptor is successfully working on the image of V. I. Lenin. The historically accurate, full of inner charm, the image of the young Lenin of the era of the creation of Iskra, he embodied in a portrait of 1947 (bronze, State Tretyakov Gallery). A deep penetration into the spiritual life of a person makes the portraits of remarkable people of the distant past, recreated by Nikoladze, especially convincing and exciting. So, under the sculptor's chisel, the beautiful face of Shota Rustaveli came to life, embodied by him both in round sculpture and in relief (bronze, 1937; Tbilisi, Museum of Arts of the Georgian SSR). A true masterpiece of the sculptor was the portrait of the poet and thinker of the 12th century. Chakhrukhadze, finely executed in marble (1948; Tbilisi, Museum of Arts of the Georgian SSR) (gypsum, 1944). The poet is concentrated, immersed in deep thoughtfulness.
But his face, as if shrouded in a light haze, is full of tense, lively thought.
Nikoladze did a lot as a teacher who brought up a whole galaxy of young sculptors in Georgia.
Another Georgian sculptor, P.P. Kandelaki (b. 1889), who graduated in 1926 from the Academy of Arts in Leningrad, also worked hard in this field. A portrait painter for the most part, he represents a slightly different line in the development of Georgian sculpture. Most of the portraits he performed are full of heroic pathos, they often show the features of monumentality (portrait of L. Gudiashvili, stone, 1935; portrait of A. Khorava, bronze, 1948; both - Tbilisi, Museum of Art of the Georgian SSR).
The thirties were characterized by the flourishing of all genres of sculpture. At this time, wonderful animal painters continue to work - Vasily Alekseevich Vatagin (b. 1883) and Ivan Semenovich Efimov (1878 - 1959), very different in their interpretation of nature. Vatagin's talent as a sculptor and graphic artist is combined with scientific erudition. One can feel in his works love relationship to nature, knowledge of the character and habits of the beast, understanding of his emotions. Usually the sculptor embodies the image of the animal in the material that best expresses the essence of his nature. He carves his Playing Bears (1930) in wood, emphasizing their ponderous grace and softness; the white-breasted Penguin Swallowing a Fish (1939) was executed in bone. The appeal of Vatagin in the 30s is characteristic. to monumental and decorative works, of which the most significant was the design of the entrance to the Moscow Zoo ("Lev", 1936). A series of remarkable animalistic compositions was created by Vatagin after the war ("Walruses", 1957).
I.S.Efimov was especially keenly aware of the decorativeness of the form. Knowing well the nature, in its plastic embodiment, he often proceeded from the decorative properties of the material. In the works of the sculptor, you can also find the influence folk art... His forged from copper "Rooster" (1932; Tretyakov Gallery), "Ostrich" (1933), "Giraffe" (1938) speak of great artistic invention, inexhaustible imagination of the artist. Efimov contributed his share to the development of monumental synthesis. His fountain "South" at the Khimki river station (1939), successfully combining a composition of glass and metal with streams of water, is a fine example of decorative sculpture.
It is significant that in other types of decorative plastics - porcelain and majolica - in the 30s. there is a significant desire to create large works, to combine them with architectural forms. So, Isidor Grigorievich Freekh-Khar (b. 1893), who created in the 20s. many easel genre works in ceramics, makes a number of interesting works for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, distinguished by its solemnity and festive brilliance ("Stakhanovka Cotton Fields"; "Shepherd", 1937).
In general, the pre-war period was an important and fruitful stage in the development of Soviet plastic art. Despite the difficulties associated with the influence of the personality cult on art, it was a time of great searches, formulation of grandiose problems. The success of wartime plastic surgery and the first post-war years was largely determined by the principles that developed in the 30s.
The war in many ways changed the theme of Soviet sculpture. Sculpture in these years becomes more mobile, responds more quickly to the demands of the day, directly fixing events, preserving in a cursory sketch an exciting feeling of their historical authenticity. At the same time, the sculptors managed to find a plastic language capable of expressing the special pathos of the tense days of the war.
In these formidable years, many sculptors are especially acutely aware of their responsibility to the future and persistently strive to capture the greatness of the feat, the strength of patriotic feelings, the very appearance of people who create victory. A new sense of monumentality is born, which sometimes appears in a small outline due to the historical importance of the captured event, the significance of the character of a person who was revealed in the wave of national patriotism.
The most widespread genre is the portrait. Some portraits are created on the front line in between battles, it would seem, in the most inappropriate setting. Quickly executed, often unfinished, they remained precious artistic documents of the era. So the young sculptor I.G. Pershudchev (b. 1915), a graduate of the studio of military artists. M.B. Grekova, sculpts on the South-Western Front a series of busts depicting soldiers, commanders, scouts, nurses Soviet army- simple courageous people. The sculptor also captured the legendary participants in the storming of the Reichstag - sergeants M.A.Egorov and M.Kantaria, captain K.Ya. Samsonov and major A.V. Frunze). In their images, he conveyed a reliable feeling of a sharply captured moment. The sketchy, somewhat fractional form of these portraits (later fixed in bronze) was born of the most tense atmosphere of those heroic days.
Sculptors of all nationalities participated in the creation of the portrait gallery of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Among them is the Armenian sculptor Ara Migranovich Sarksyan (b. 1902), who also created interesting works in the pre-war period. He studied in Vienna, and in 1925 he moved to Soviet Armenia. In the 20s. Sarksyan persistently searches for his original language in plastic, he studies ancient Armenian stone carving, as well as the ancient art of Egypt and India. Some of his works of this time, despite the elements of stylization, have features of genuine monumentality (a monument to Suren Spandaryan in Yerevan, 1927; a monument to the heroes of the May uprising in Leninakan, 1931). In the 30s. The sculptor works a lot in the field of the portrait genre, achieving in the best images the strength of the emotional expression of character (portrait of N. Tigranyan, 1940; portrait of the artist A. Kharazyan, 1939; both - a tree; Yerevan, Art Gallery of Armenia). These features appear in a new capacity in the portraits of the war years. With restrained emotion, he sculpts the bust of Captain A. Mirzoyan (1942). The warrior's face appears to be scorched by fire; it expresses not only will and irreconcilability, but also a great bright thought, an understanding of the great goal of the struggle. Particular tension appears in the "peaceful" portraits of Sarksyan of this time ("O. Zardaryan", 1943; "A. Stepanyan", 1944). In subsequent years, Sarksyan continued to work on a portrait (Suren Spandaryan, bronze, 1947, Tretyakov Gallery, etc.) and on monuments (a monument to V.I. Lenin in Kamo, Armenian SSR, 1959).
The sculptors of Belarus did a lot during the war. A.O.Bembel (b. 1905), delighted with the feat of Captain Nikolai Gastello, who threw his burning plane at the enemy, creates a vivid and memorable composition (bronze, 1943; Minsk, Art Museum of the BSSR), in which we see the face of a warrior full of formidable determination , his hand in a leather glove, as if giving a signal for action. On a calmer, epic level, heroism is expressed in the portrait of Major General L. M. Dovator (plaster cast, 1942; Tretyakov Gallery), executed by A. V. Grube (b. 1894). A mighty turn of the shoulders, emphasized by the sweep of a furry cloak, a keen gaze, as if focused on a combat object, speak of the courage and courage of the commander of the cavalry regiments.
The series of portraits created by Zair Isaakovich Azgur (b. 1908), who was already a talented portrait painter before the war, is widely known. His qualities as an artist, who knows how to convey individuality in a very vital way, are now revealed with even greater acuteness and purposefulness. In a series of portraits of war heroes, participants in the partisan movement, the faces of people are flesh from the flesh of the people. The sculptor, as it were, shows the variety of characters, their potential life opportunities, which are now manifested in one definite channel, are subordinated to one all-consuming idea. Brave prowess, breadth of nature, good nature are felt in the portrait of the partisan M.F. This man grew up not for war, but for peaceful creative labor; and how stern and worried his face has now become, how much concentration, strength, courage in his clear open features.
Already in the first years of the war, the task of erecting busts of twice and three times Heroes of the Soviet Union in the homeland of those awarded was arose, and most of the sculptors took part in its solution.
Wartime genre works are also filled with a special heroic content. The moral strength of the Soviet man, his courage is reflected in them, often created under the direct impression of the events of those years.
Among them stands out the sculpture of Ekaterina Feodorovna Belasheva-Alekseeva (b. 1906) "Unconquered" (plaster cast, 1943; Tretyakov Gallery). Quivering, lively sculpting emphasizes the fragility of the figure dressed in shabby clothes, the tenderness of a slightly plump, still childish face. The black and white nuances of a somewhat sketchy form give rise to a feeling of the environment, as it were, of the harsh wind of war that blows over the girl. Her figure is not only helpless, but also resilience and determination. These feelings are reinforced by an involuntary gesture that acquires an almost solemnity due to its inner fullness.
The composition of the oldest Russian sculptor V. V. Lishev (1877 - 1960) "Mother" (gypsum, 1945) evoked a deep echo in the hearts of the Soviet people. Elderly woman, bending over the body of the murdered son, touches his head, as if not believing what had happened. How much spiritual fortitude and greatness there is in this simple Russian woman who shared the fate of many mothers. Cast in bronze and then carved into marble, this group has remained as one of the most exciting pieces of the Great Patriotic War era.
And in the difficult years of the war, the Soviet country did not forget about peaceful construction. In 1944, the third stage of the Moscow metro was launched. A new version of the figure "Zoya" adorned the Izmailovskaya metro station, in the underground halls of which other works by Manizer were also found. The sculptural group "People's Avengers" was placed on the end wall of the hall, which further revealed the theme of the partisan movement, to which the decoration of the entire station was dedicated. The underground halls of the Electrozavodskaya station were decorated with reliefs glorifying the work of Soviet people during the war. They belong to the chisel of the sculptor G. I. Motovilov. Convincingly resolved figuratively, figures rhythmic in their movements are successfully combined with the subject background. Due to the clarity and architectonic structure of the composition on the pillars, separated by large intervals, they are read as a single frieze.
Monumental monuments were also erected at this time. If the monument to Shota Rustaveli in Tbilisi by the sculptor K.M. Merabishvili (1942) was the implementation of the pre-war plan, then the monument to the Hero of the Great Patriotic War, General I.V. Panfilov for the city of Frunze (1942), executed by A.A.Manuilov (b. 1894) and O. M. Manuylova (b. 1893), was an entirely wartime work, which opened a series of monuments, made already in the post-war period.
During the war years, the talent of the young sculptor S.M. Orlov (b. 1911), who later created a monument to Yuri Dolgoruky for Moscow, was clearly manifested. Orlov's works in porcelain are inexhaustible in richness of fantasy, often full of juicy humor, and distinctive in form. Genre themes, the transmission of subtly noted lines of military life in small figurines ("Friends on duty", 1943) coexist with complex fantastic compositions on themes of Russians folk tales, in which the sculptor sometimes reaches a great depth of disclosure of the folk character (triptych "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish", porcelain, 1944; Tretyakov Gallery). Under the direct impression of the events of the war, Orlov created the dramatic in content sculpture "Mother" (1943).
The victory of the Soviet people, who defended their country in the Great Patriotic War and liberated the peoples of Europe from the fascist yoke, finds its natural expression in the monumental sculptures of the post-war years. Awareness of the scale of the historical battle, the role that the Soviet Union played in the fight against the dark forces of fascism, illuminated the events of the recent past with a special light, filled the plastic works reflecting them with deep pathos.
The last battles had not yet died down, when monuments to the significant events of the war, to the heroic soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of the Motherland, began to be erected on the liberated territory of the country and beyond. ?) that was the modest architectural design of mass graves, and obelisks to the Unknown Soldier, and even a weapon put on a pedestal, tested in battles and now becoming sacred. A large role could have been played here by sculpture, and Soviet sculptors in short time created significant works, referring to various genres and forms of sculpture.
The glorification of the military feat of the Soviet people is dedicated to the work of Evgeny Viktorovich Vuchetich (b. 1908), a graduate of the studio of military artists named after V.I. M. B. Grekova. Back in the war, he began to sculpt a series of portraits of outstanding military leaders, among which the portrait of General of the Army I. D. Chernyakhovsky (bronze, 1945; Tretyakov Gallery) stands out. The inspiration, the fighting impulse were reflected in the features of his face: the muscles around the sharp-sighted, slightly narrowed eyes, half-open mouth were tense. He seems to cover large spaces with his gaze and utters the words of a decisive command. The solemn decoration of the bronze bust - a lush drapery framing a tunic decorated with military orders - creates a transition to the marble foot.
Vuchetich is the author of a number of monuments perpetuating the heroic deeds of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The sculptor often depicts a person in tragic life situations, in the utmost stress of his spiritual and physical strength. But at the same time, life-affirming notes always sound strongly in the works created by Vuchetich. In conveying the event at the climax of its development, the sculptor naturally attaches great importance to a tense, dramatic gesture. He pays special attention to the expression of the face, not being afraid to express the most acute conditions, up to the transmission of rage, pain, and screaming. Many of these qualities were manifested in the monument to Lieutenant General M.G. Efremov in Vyazma (1946). Straightening up to his full height, with an energetic gesture Efremov shows the way to his fighters. A soldier supporting him, a fiercely firing machine gunner and a grenade launcher deploying in a sharp throw immediately introduce the viewer into the atmosphere of a fierce battle in the enemy ring. Particularly expressive is the figure of the wounded officer, who sank down at the feet of Efremov; it seems, with an incredible effort of will, he is ready to fire his last shot at the enemy. The monument reveals the unyielding resilience of Soviet soldiers, it shows that moment of struggle, when they stood to death and overcame the seemingly insurmountable.
Vuchetich faced enormous tasks when creating a monument to the soldiers of the Soviet Army who fell in battles against fascism on German territory. It was built together with the architect Ya. B. Belopolsky and the artist AA Gor-penko in Treptower Park in Berlin (1949). The breadth of the concept entailed a comprehensive solution - the inclusion of architectural and planning tools, the use of the expressiveness of the park ensemble. Sculpture plays an important role. The figure of the grieving Mother-Motherland is placed at the entrance, at the intersection of the side and central avenues. From it, a wide alley-ramp, passing through granite pylons - banners with figures of kneeling warriors, leads to the mass graves. Sarcophagi with reliefs depicting episodes of the Great Patriotic War frame the cemetery. Along the central axis, the ensemble is completed by the Monument to the Soldier-Liberator, towering on the ledges of the white-stone mausoleum. The sculptor found an image of a large typical generalization, which revealed the meaning of the liberation struggle of the Soviet Army, which accomplished its humane feat in the name of the future of mankind. It has been convincingly resolved in general and in detail. A bright open face, a stately figure, strong hands, one of which grips a sword, and the other holds a child. Elements of allegory, allegory with a kind of emphasized reliability of the fact are closely intertwined here. It is no coincidence that this image has earned national recognition and received a second life in the works of poster, poetry and cinema. The symbolism that manifested itself in the Berlin monument was developed in the subsequent works of Vuchetich.
The memorial ensemble commemorating the defeat of the Nazi troops on the Volga, carried out by the sculptor at the present time, includes many components. Numerous sculptures - a monument to the Hero-Warrior, the grieving Mother-Motherland, one-figure and two-figure compositions, both in symbolic and episodic-narrative form, embody the unparalleled feat of the people. Here, a kind of symphonic sound of the monument is used, in which one heroic part is replaced by another, merging into a polyphonic ensemble.
Characteristically, Vuchetich, a singer of military glory, also creates an interesting work dedicated to the struggle for peace - "Beat Swords into Plowshares" (bronze, 1957), which was later installed in New York, in the area surrounding the UN building. The plastic motif of the composition conveys the purposeful will of the creator people in the struggle against the threat of a new war.
The sculptural portrait, which attracted Vuchetich from the first steps of independent work, occupies an important place in his subsequent work. Now This is not only a heroic portrait. The sculptor depicts peaceful workers, fighters for peace, writers, artists, artists, Soviet and foreign. Not all of these portraits are equal, but in their extensive cycle you can see how keenly the sculptor is able to convey the uniquely individual, achieving in the best works the power of typification (portrait of the Hero of Socialist Labor N. Niyazov, bronze, 1948, State Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of combine operator A. Isakov , 1950; portrait of the writer M.A. Sholokhov, marble, 1958, etc.).
In the post-war years, the talent of Nikolai Vasilyevich Tomsky (b. 1900) was revealed by its strong sides. Even in the monument to S.M. Kirov in Leningrad (1935 - 1938), the sculptor discovered a keen sense of modernity, the ability to find a high ideal in life and to embody it in the specific features of a Soviet person. An inspired, strong-willed face, an elastic broad gesture - Kirov seems to be walking towards a bright future, dragging the masses along with him. Greatness and pathos are combined here with simplicity and naturalness.
These features appeared in a new quality in the portraits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. With great vitality, the sculptor somehow especially carefully and lovingly conveys the features of warriors. One of the best portraits of this cycle is the bust of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major A.S. Smirnov (1948; Tretyakov Gallery). The head and shoulders are carved subtly, almost filigree, the clear volumes of which contrast with the barely chipped marble of the base. Confident and straight head position, its clear, "medal" silhouette immediately declare the inner composure, the unyielding will of a person. The harshness of the features of the courageous, stern, battle-hardened face is softened by the subtlety of the black and white modeling. The carefully worked-out plastic of the portrait, as it were, absorbs all the richness of the living form, and from this an even more concrete, convincing expression receives the general that the sculptor sees in the faces of the heroes. The properties of the material - black basalt - are well used in the portrait of the pilot M.G. Gareev (1947; Tretyakov Gallery).
In the mid 50s. Tomsky comes out with a new series of portraits, in which he, without abandoning work on the image of a Soviet person, turns to the image of leading figures, fighters for peace in foreign countries. His characteristics become thinner, he pays more attention to psychological expressiveness. The plastic form of portraits becomes internally tense, capable of expressing the rich shades of a person's spiritual life (portrait of T. Zalkaln, bronze, 1956; portrait of Joseph Gelton, bronze, 1954).
A vivid sense of the individual, an understanding of the character of a modern person gave a special originality to the monumental works of Tomsk in the post-war years. Working on the monument to General of the Army I.D. In the final version of the monument, Chernyakhovsky is depicted as if in a battle situation, but his figure is devoid of external dynamics, an open invocative gesture. The general stands on the turret of the tank, the shape of which is given to the pedestal. His head is proudly thrown up, all of him is turned towards the battle, which he imperiously leads. Changing points of view during a circular tour of the monument gives rise to the development of the theme - from a severe tense state to inner illumination - confidence in an imminent victory. Reliefs are located on the pedestal (architect L. G. Golubovsky). The narrative developing in them - the joyful meeting of the Soviet soldiers by the Lithuanian people - further concretizes the content of the monument.
Speaking about the peculiarities of the development of plastics in the post-war years, it is necessary to point out the heterogeneity of the period. The best works of the first post-war years reflected the sincere pathos born of victory, which permeated the social and personal life of a person, his working life. But at this time, negative tendencies, associated in many respects with the personality cult, make themselves felt. Much effort has gone into creating statues that glorify Stalin. There appears an official ceremonial interpretation of the topic, external pomp, internal stiffness. Nevertheless, in the best works created at this time, the strengths of Soviet sculpture are preserved and developed - its folk basis, internal energy and activity of the image, high civic pathos, which we have already seen in a number of examples.
Artists follow very different paths in creating a monumental image. The sculptor Alexander Pavlovich Kibalnikov (b. 1915) seeks to solve it in an in-depth psychological plan. Even before the war he graduated from the Saratov Art School and in the early 40s. performed with the first sculptural works. Kibalnikov is working persistently and with concentration on the embodiment of the image of the great Russian democrat N.G. Chernyshevsky. At first, this is a series of portraits, as if slightly differing from one another, but already in them one can feel the persistent search for a plastic expression of the shades of the inner state of the writer.
In 1948, the sculptor created a statue of Chernyshevsky, which expressed the great intensity of feelings, the will to fight of the remarkable revolutionary. This image formed the basis of the monument erected in Saratov in 1953. The figure, despite its some fragility, is well built in space. It reveals a wealth of plans - the head is tilted forward, the upper body is sharply turned with arms crossed on the chest, the left leg is extended. Ego's contrasting movement, betraying the inner tension, the strength of the feelings that gripped Chernyshevsky, is, as it were, in the known! balance, closed within its boundaries, which found its expression in a clear characteristic silhouette. The statue is well read from profile points of view, where there are either great meditation, immersion in one's thoughts, or unshakable strength, readiness for action.
Very interesting aspects come to light in the perception of the monument to V.V. Mayakovsky for Moscow (1958). Strength, youth, revolutionary energy, that inimitable that is associated with Mayakovsky's poetry, is expressed in the most energetic formulation of the figure, in the decisive accents of the plastic interpretation of the face. And in this case, the creation of the monumental statue was preceded by an expressive easel portrait of Mayakovsky (bronze, 1954), revealing the image in many ways. In the post-war period, we can talk about the true flowering of sculpture in some union republics. Experienced craftsmen who formed before the war, as well as a whole generation of young sculptors who graduated from universities in the 40s and 50s, perform here. They also solve serious problems in the field of monumental art.
A great contribution to Soviet sculpture was made by the Lithuanian sculptor Juozas Mike-nas (1901 - 1964), who became actively involved in the artistic life of the country after the liberation of the Baltic States from the fascist invaders. Possessing a mature creative experience, he enthusiastically fights for the embodiment of the heroic theme in his art. The group "Pobeda" (1945 - 1946), performed by Mykenas, gained great fame and was included in the architectural and sculptural ensemble in Kaliningrad, dedicated to the heroic storming of the fortress by units of the Soviet Army. The work on this piece took place in an unusual setting. “The city is still burning, and in the burning city a Soviet person erects a monument to his contemporary, his comrade in arms, his brother,” the sculptor recalls. It is this exciting sensation that is conveyed by two figures of guardsmen with a banner and a machine gun, rushing forward in an unrestrained offensive impulse.
The excellent qualities of the monumental sculptor were also revealed in the subsequent works of Mikenas, where he solves a new problem for him - the creation of a portrait monument to the heroes of the war. In 1955, according to his project, a monument to the partisan Marita Melnikaite was erected in Zarasai. Full of enthusiasm, formidable and decisive at this hour, the young girl rushes into battle. Coarse plastics solved a slim body, a strong movement permeates her, finding completion in a broad energetic gesture. The monument fits well into the landscape; it is drawn against the background of the lake and distant copses.
Mikenas is a remarkable portrait painter, revealing the character of a person in all its depth, complexity and at the same time plastically whole and generalized. The strong, uncompromising character of a teenage girl is expressed by him in the head of the USSR ”(marble, 1955 - 1956; Vilnius, Art Museum) with wide, but gently modeled surfaces. The portrait of The Young Pianist (bronze, 1958 - 1959; Tretyakov Gallery) is permeated with subtle lyricism and romantic emotion. And here the personal qualities deeply revealed by the sculptor are intertwined with the traits of general significance, characteristic of a person of creative labor. The same type female beauty is caught in the generalized symbolic work of Mykenas "Peace" (gypsum, 1960), depicting a young mother with a child holding a dove in her open palm. Keeping the warmth and thrill of life, the group acquires a majestic plastic rhythm, which made it possible to associate it with the architecture of the pavilion of the Lithuanian SSR at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy.
Mikenas was a talented teacher who brought up a whole galaxy of young sculptors and instilled in them a taste and love for monumental art. Among them was Gediminas Iokubonis (b. 1927), who created an expressive monument to the victims of fascism in Pirchupis (1960, architect V. Gabryunas). It was installed in Lithuania, in a former partisan region, on the site of a village burned down by the Nazis during the war. In it one can see an innovative solution of a monumental ensemble that combines folk traditions with modern searches. The dominant role here is played by sculpture. The figure of the Lithuanian mother, placed on a low pedestal, not far from the highway, is generalized, succinctly solved. Outwardly static composition is full of tremendous inner expression. The woman froze in silent grief. A shawl thrown over the head, a long dress falling to the ground help to create a simple and expressive silhouette, emphasizing the solidity of the sculpture, composed of large stone blocks. Particularly memorable are her face, deeply sunken eyes, sadly drawn eyebrows, mournfully and sternly clenched mouth. The strength of the expressed feeling is also emphasized by a restrained gesture, as if repeated twice. A mournful and full of human dignity, the image becomes a symbol of perseverance, the greatness of the soul of the people, which cannot be broken by any adversity. The expressiveness of the sculpture is enhanced by the overall architectural solution of the monument, its organic connection with the surrounding nature. The contrast between the vertical of the monument and the flat terrain is somewhat softened by the low architectural wall located behind. The names of all the victims are written on the wall and a relief is cut in, very tactfully developing the theme of the monument.
Sometimes Soviet sculptors also use more traditional techniques, which affects the design of monuments to cultural figures. Here it is necessary to take into account the fact that many of them arose as the completion of competitions begun in the pre-war years. In the 30s. the Azerbaijani sculptor F. Abdurakhmanov (b. 1915) began work on the monument to Nizami, the implementation of which was interrupted by the war. In 1946, the monument was erected in Kirovabad, the poet's homeland. With some stylization of the forms of the figure draped in a wide cloak, he is attracted by the vital and psychological expressiveness of Nizami's portrait, the naturalness of the gesture. Abdurakhmanov's works in easel sculpture are also interesting (aChaban, bronze, 1950; Tretyakov Gallery).
In 1950 in Yerevan, at the foot of the Kanaker plateau, a monument was erected to the Armenian writer and educator of the 19th century. Khachatur Abovyan, designed by the sculptor S. L. Stepanyan (b. 1895). In the 30s. Stepanyan created a monument to the outstanding revolutionary Ghukas Ghukasyan. It is interesting to compare these two monuments. If in the pre-war work the sculptor largely proceeded from the expressiveness of the granite block, emphasizing the dynamics of the figure enclosed in it, now he is occupied with the psychological drawing of the image, the subtlety of the decoration of the statue, which is facilitated by the material he has chosen - bronze. Of the later monuments, solved in psychological terms, one can name the monument to A.S. Griboyedov in Tbilisi (1961) by the sculptor M.K. clutching a book.
In 1957, a monument to A.S. Pushkin was erected in Leningrad, which was created in the creative competition of major Soviet sculptors. The victory in the competitions was won by the young sculptor Mikhail Konstantinovich Anikushin (b. 1917), who for several years worked on the embodiment of the poet's image in easel and monumental sculpture. In the final version, according to which the monument for Leningrad was created, he managed to express the main features of Pushkin's genius. The state of creative inspiration, emotional impulse are conveyed in a natural gesture, the spirituality of the whole figure. In a combination of simplicity, naturalness with classical clarity and severity - the charm of the created image. Not all points of view on the monument make it possible to perceive this harmony, but from the main points it is read whole and strong. The undoubted advantage of the monument is its organic connection with environment- one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles of Leningrad.
Anikushin's portraits depicting his contemporaries are interesting. For all the easeliness of the form, one can feel the hand of a monumentalist in them ("Portrait of a Worker"; "Portrait of the Egyptian Elipus" 1957). The sculptor in the field of historical portrait acts as a subtle lyricist. In 1960, he created a heartfelt image of A.P. Chekhov, which can be regarded as a stage in the creation of a monument to the writer.
An example of the successful use of classical traditions was the architectural and sculptural ensemble created in Leningrad at the Piskarevskoye cemetery, dedicated to the heroic defenders of Leningrad. It was built in 1960 according to the designs of architects E.A. Levinson and A.V. Vasiliev and a group of Leningrad sculptors headed by V.V. Isaeva (b. 1898) ( The group included: R.K. Taurit, B. E. Kaplyansky, A. L. Malakhin, M. A. Vein-man, M. M. Kharlamov.). Everything is expressive in it - both the layout and strict architectural forms with poetic lines carved on their granite surface glorifying the feat of Leningraders - right down to the cast-iron fence of a simple and graceful form. But the idea of a monument in the figure of the Motherland is revealed with the greatest force, to which the central alley of the cemetery leads. In a slow, solemn movement, she, as it were, crowns her heroes with a garland of glory. In her appearance, you can recognize the features of a simple Russian woman of Leningrad, but they are transformed into a lofty ideal, into a symbolically generalized image. The sculptural monuments of the era of classicism, which Leningrad is so rich in, undoubtedly influenced its creation.
V.E. Tsigal (b. 1917) proved himself to be a sculptor who can combine the breadth of design, synthetic means of expression with the psychological subtlety, emotionality of the image. These features were already evident in the monument for Mauthausen in Austria (1957), which was executed by Tsigal in collaboration with the architect L.G. Golubovsky. The central group on the obelisk is symbolic. The tense plastic form, the rhythm of swirling folds and flames create an excited dynamic image. In the lateral reliefs, with their restrained slow motion, the narrative principle appears more.
An even greater power of feelings was concentrated in the monument to General D.M. Karbyshev, made by Tsigal a little later, in 1963, and also installed on the territory of the camp. Going from fact of life- the tragic circumstances of the death of a patriot tortured by the Nazis, the sculptor in a restrained and expressive form expressed the greatness of the spirit, the unparalleled courage of a Soviet person. The monument was carved from a single block of Ural marble. In the struggle between two principles - living, strong, strong-willed, expressed in the figure, and the inert heavy mass of stone that engulfed it - the inner meaning of the composition is revealed. The will and the inflexibility of a person who boldly gazes into the face of death, who affirms life by his feat, wins in it. An interesting search for new means of expressing the monumental image manifested itself in Tsigal's project of a monument to V.I. Lenin for Moscow (1959), which was to be erected on the Lenin Hills. The huge, laconically designed head arising from the architectural form conveys well the greatness of the leader-thinker.
The problem of constructing a monument to V.I.Lenin remains one of the most important in Soviet sculpture. In the era of the successful construction of communism, it acquires new aspects, requires an ever more profound, philosophical understanding of the image. It is solved by the entire multinational collective of Soviet sculptors. The Georgian sculptor VB Topuridze (b. 1907) worked a lot in this area.
Possessing a great decorative gift (Topuridze owns the statue "Call for Peace", which completes the pediment of the theater in Chiatura, 1948), in his "Leniniana" he strives first of all to express inner expression. Both humanity and greatness are in the portrait of Lenin, executed by him in 1953 (bronze). The sculptor made a very interesting presentation with a project of a monument for Moscow, where he freely fits into a complex architectural ensemble a figure of the leader, sculpted with great mood, as if blown by the October wind.
The search for a monumental image in connection with the historical and natural originality of the city appears as a direct continuation of the trends in sculpture of the pre-war period. The monument to Lenin, made for the hero-city by the sculptor P. I. Bondarenko (b. 1917) (1957, architect A. A. Zavarzin), fits well into the panorama of the Sevastopol Bay. Reproducing the compositional solution of the monument destroyed during the war, the authors enrich it with new features. In particular, the figures of a sailor, a Red Guard, a worker and a peasant, placed in the corners of a high granite pedestal, receive a more detailed psychological elaboration.
In 1961, a monument to Karl Marx was unveiled in Moscow, the construction of which was conceived by V.I.Lenin in the first years of Soviet power. The new monument was built according to the project of L.E. Kerbel (b. 1917) ( Architects R. A. Begunts, N. A. Kovalchuk, V. G. Makarevich, V. M. Margulis.). Marx is depicted here as a thinker, a fiery tribune, a fighter for the implementation of progressive human ideals. The monolithic figure merges with the granite block of the pedestal, emphasizing the power and dynamics of the image. Granite steles with laconic sayings, a specially designed granite platform connect the monument with the surrounding square.
A number of competitions for monuments dedicated to outstanding events of our time have shown new interesting trends in the development of Soviet sculpture. The striving to interpret the event in a broad philosophical and symbolic plane is more and more persistently manifested in them. In this regard, change and compositional techniques, there is a tendency to give a complex architectural and sculptural solution, to comprehend in a new way the place of the plastic image in it. One of the interesting structures of this kind was the monument to commemorate the outstanding achievements of the Soviet people in the exploration of outer space (1964), on which the sculptor A.P. Faydysh-Krandievsky (b. 1920) and architects M.O.Barshch and A.P. Kolchin. The bold use of architectural forms does not displace or diminish the value of the plastic image in it. It is possible that the task of creating this monument was facilitated by the previous work of the same team - the implementation of the monument to K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga (1958). Its composition was based on a comparison of a concrete, psychologically developed portrait figure and an architectural part - a stainless steel obelisk resembling a rocket.
The monument dedicated to space exploration is an original obelisk 90 m high, consisting of metal rods. Swift, light, despite its grandiose size, it, like a lighthouse, already attracts attention from afar, becomes a landmark for a significant part of the city. But the power of its influence is not limited only to distant perception. Approaching the monument, the viewer can carefully see the granite statue of K.E. Tsiolkovsky placed at its foot and bronze reliefs placed on the granite abutments of the obelisk. The state of inner ascent, striving for bold accomplishments, which is expressed in the generalized figure of K.E. Tsiolkovsky, is also the leitmotif of relief images. They show a creator people who, through their labor, embody the centuries-old dream of mankind into reality.
The achievements of post-war Soviet sculpture in the field of easel and monumental portraits are significant. Masters of all generations and various national schools work in this genre.
This genre belongs to best achievements the oldest Russian sculptor Sergei Timofeevich Konenkov, who returned to his homeland in 1945. And in the years when he was abroad, his best works were those that portrayed figures of Russian culture. His portrait of F.M.Dostoevsky (plaster cast, 1933; Tretyakov Gallery) is deeply psychological. Hands closed, laid one on top of the other, as if symbolizing that tragic hopelessness in which the writer's creative genius struggled. The tension of thought, the struggle of the spirit in every line of his face, in contrast to the high, clear forehead with painfully drawn eyebrows. Despite the tragic tension, the image is not perceived as pessimistic, the main thing in it is the spiritual power of a person.
A varied portrait gallery was created by Konenkov in his homeland. It shows the flourishing of the sculptor's talent. These are the lyrically dreamy Martha (marble, 1950; State Russian Museum), and the perky and cheerful Kolkhoz Woman (tree, 1954; Sverdlovsk Art Gallery), and the sedate compatriot Konenkov “I. V. Zuev "(gypsum, 1949; Smolensky Art Gallery local history museum). Portraits of Mussorgsky (marble, 1953; Gorky Art Museum), Socrates (marble, 1953; Perm Art Gallery), Darwin (marble, 1954; Moscow State University them. M.V. Lomonosov) are attracted by the expression of a passionate, struggling spirit of man, by inner enlightenment. Each time the sculptor finds a composition, scale, features of decorative sound, forms corresponding to the character of the picture.
Many of Konenkov's best qualities as a portrait painter were concentrated in his self-portrait, created in 1954 (marble; Tretyakov Gallery). Particular inspiration illuminates the artist's face. Wise insight, admiration for the beauty of the surrounding world determine its state. The form of the portrait is somehow especially significant, stately, one might say, monumental. The shoulders are wide, the turn of the head is very peculiar - it seems that endless distances open before the artist, and this creates a feeling of a special scale of the portrait. “When in the quiet of my studio I was working on Self-Portrait,” says the artist, “treating this as deep thought, I thought not only about portrait resemblance, but above all I wanted to express my attitude to work and art, my striving for future". N.B. Niko-gosyan (b. 1911) creates portraits of interesting composition, revealing creative features in the image of a person (for example, a portrait of Avetik Isahakyan).
The most diverse forms of sculptural portraits are chosen by Soviet sculptors to embody the images that excite them. The portrait series of 3 - I. Azgur is still widely conceived, compositionally diverse, but now he depicts not only the people of Belarus. The sculptor originally embodied the image of the Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore (1957). Carving a portrait in granite, the sculptor gave its surface a great variety of textures - from black polished, volumes, to light, smoky and rough. The enlargement and decorativeness of forms, which are characteristic of most of Azgur's sculptures, appeared here as well, which made it possible to establish the bust as a monument at the Tagore house-museum in Calcutta.
The Ukrainian sculptor A.A.Kovalev (b. 1915) achieved significant success in the field of portraiture. In a precise, almost scrupulous manner, he painted a portrait of a noble collective farmer, Hero of Socialist Labor E. S. Khobta (marble, 1949; Tretyakov Gallery). The transfer of every wrinkle on her face did not prevent her from revealing in her appearance the main thing that is characteristic of a Soviet worker - energy, efficiency, and inner dignity. In a more generalized manner, Kovalev painted the portrait of Academician V.P. Filatov (marble, 1952). The sublime and the ordinary are organically combined in this image, revealing the essence of the selfless and noble work of a surgeon. Other Ukrainian sculptors are successfully working in the portrait genre. For example, OA Suprun (b. 1924) created an expressive portrait of "Partisans" (marble, 1951), in which the features of Soviet youth, who matured early during the war years, were concentrated, as it were.
In the field of portraiture, Latvian sculptors have achieved significant success. Acutely and deeply feeling the character, they express it in the best works in a generalized, internally saturated plastic form. The activity of the oldest Latvian sculptor Teodor Zalkaln (b. 1876) plays an important role here.
Taking part in his time in monumental propaganda, he actively works in the post-war period. At this time, the sculptor completes some of his works, on which he has been working for many years. Among them is a portrait statue of the composer and ethnographer Krisjan Baron (gypsum, 1956) - a monumental and generalized figure in composition, distinguished by the transfer of the finest psychological shades in the quivering sculpting of the face and hands. The portrait of a student Malda (bronze, 1956), performed by Zalkaln, is full of inner charm, which reveals an integral, direct, emotionally sensitive character. Zalkaln has brought up more than one generation of sculptors in the republic; The sculptor's own work also served as an inspiring example.
The ability to feel the plastic originality of nature and embody it in a harsh block of stone or other material, to find the main contours of the image and at the same time to include characteristic details in it, to use a bold decorative technique is distinguished best works young portrait painters of Latvia. Very interesting portrait images are created here by L. M. Davydova-Medene (b. 1921). Generalizations are based on a deep and insightful vision of the inner essence of the model. Emphasizing and sharpening in the most plastic form the main thing that shaped the character and traits of a person, she ultimately creates an integral monumental image "containing all the originality of the individually characteristic. Such is her portrait of Andrei Upit (1959), which makes one feel the depth and thoroughness of the writer's thinking, raising large strata of life in his work. A different compositional structure in the portrait of the sculptor Karl Zsmdega (granite; 1962 - 1965). A thin, soulful face is lifted up; the sculptor, as it were, listens to his inner voice, and at the same time he is very sensitive to his surroundings. Psychological, but more intimate in its nature, the portrait is developing in Estonia "Heartfelt images were created by I. Hirv (" Portrait of a Daughter ", 1948), F. Sannamees (portrait of the artist A. Suurorg, 1955).
The sculptors of Georgia pay great attention to the portrait. Along with representatives of the older generation (S. Ya. Kakabadze, KM Merabishvili) a whole galaxy of young sculptors work here. Performing a portrait of the poet of the 19th century. N. Baratashvili (1957), sculptor G.V. Kordzakhia (b. 1923) in a restrained-tense composition, energetic wood chips make you feel the hidden flame of feelings. The monumentality of the portrait of Vakhtang Gorgasal, executed by E.D. Amashukeli (b. 1928) in 1958, arises not so much from decorative qualities as from the inner meaningfulness, spiritual activity of the image. The integrity and strength of form are distinguished by the portraits of V. S. Oniani (b. 1932), embodied in red and gray tuff, slightly stylized, but well conveying the originality of the character of the people of high-mountainous Svaneti: "Portrait of a Girl" (1960), "Svan" (1961) ...
Armenian sculptors boldly and convincingly use a variety of means of plastic language. The character of modern man in all the richness of its manifestations is in the center of attention of these artists as well. Romantic line, the desire to create a generalized, often symbolic image manifested itself in the works of G.B. 1960). Admiration for the spiritual beauty of Soviet people is felt in the works of G. G. Chubaryan (b. 1923). The whole is open to the sun and wind, the metallurgist of the Alaverdi mine (portrait of Avganyan, 1954). In "Portrait of a Welder" (1961), the character is, as it were, revealed in the light of big thoughts about a person, about his place in life, about his difficult labor feat. The composition "Portrait of the Artist Paronyan" (1958) is boldly deployed in space, which gives rise to a feeling of rhythm in the movement of the figure, the uniqueness of a natural gesture.
Per last years some new tendencies were revealed in the sculptural portrait. Increasingly, sculptors began to turn in it to an expanded compositional solution, giving a half-length, sometimes generated image, using the expressiveness of a gesture. Interest in the group portrait, built on the spatial and rhythmic relationships of figures, has noticeably increased. In the portraits of the young sculptor Yu. V. Aleksandrov (b. 1930), one feels the desire to emphasize the connection of the person depicted with the environment, to reveal in this connection the essential aspects of his character (portrait of the geologist N. Doinikov, bronze, 1961). By comparing large volumes, revealing unusual plastic rhythms, he builds a group portrait of "Kamchatka fishermen" (forged copper, 1959) by D. M. Shakhovskoy (b. 1928).
Several lines of development can also be found in compositional easel sculpture. In it there is a creative implementation of the traditions that developed in easel sculpture in the 1920s and 1930s, those features that were most clearly manifested in the works of Shadr, Sherwood and other sculptors. In his triptych "Fathers and Sons" (1957), the Moldavian sculptor L. I. Dubinovsky (b. 1910) in the figures "Awakening", "Uprising", "Youth", while maintaining the concreteness of images, personifies the heroic stages of the struggle of the revolutionary people. Dubinovsky also owns portraits of expressive plasticity. The Eaglet (gypsum, 1957) by L. N. Golovnitsky (born 1931) acquires a symbolic sound, which at the same time captivates with the warmth and spontaneity of the image. Twisted with ropes, in an overcoat not in height, this little hero of the era civil war, it seems, will endure all the tests, like a real fighter of the revolution. The feat of the people in the Great Patriotic War is embodied in the composition of FD Fiveysky (b. 1931) "Stronger than Death" (gypsum, 1957). The frontal three-figure composition with expressive sculpting of half-naked figures, restrained but strong Expression of faces has become the personification of unbending will in struggle, hatred and contempt for the executioners.
Despite the fact that all these works are conceived as easel, they show the features of monumentality, due to the inner significance of the theme. This is what made it possible to install the statue "Eaglet" as a monument in one of the parks in Chelyabinsk.
Epic notes are often used in compositions on everyday themes. The rhythms of MF Baburin's composition (b. 1907) “Song. On the virgin lands ”(gypsum, 1957). It seems that the very soul of a Russian song is expressed in it. The group was built in such a way that it organically includes a part of the surrounding space: this creates a feeling of breadth and freedom of the native fields. L. L. Kremneva (b. 1926) managed to create the image of a toiler of our days in the statue "Builder" (1958). The figure is free and firmly set, the smooth rhythms of wide surfaces, a clear silhouette give it monumentality. For all the laconicism of the forms carved in granite, there is no schematism in it, the image of a female worker is full of femininity, the charm of youth.
A more genre solution in the statue of the Ukrainian sculptor V. M. Klokov (b. 1928) "Noon" (1960), made of wood, as if imbued with the warmth of the sun, fanned by the steppe wind. We see a lively, spontaneous character in the "Kolkhoz Groom" (bronze, 1957) by the Lithuanian sculptor J. Kedainis (b. 1915), whose works are also characterized by soulful, lyrical notes ("Song", 1965). Restrained, but with great inner warmth, the images of workers are embodied in granite by the Latvian sculptor V. Alberg (b. 1922). His composition "Working Hands" (1961) is surprisingly monolithic, full of special power.
The search for new solutions in genre sculpture by very young sculptors is very interesting. The features of decorativeness are combined in their works with features of the genre, the epic beginning - with the lyric. The composition of O. Komov (b. 1932) "Boy with a Dog" (1964) attracts primarily by the truth of the expressed feelings.
Collected, compact, it at the same time covers the maximum of space, as if carrying with it a particle of the surrounding nature. Yu. Chernov (b. 1935) also boldly builds his compositions in space. Particularly attracted by his work acumen, the rhythm of movements of builders, port workers ("In the Murmansk Port", 1961). Beautiful decorativeness is characteristic of some of the works of Yu. G. Neroda (born 1920). Both creative inspiration and precise calculation express the rhythm of the composition of his "Ceramists" (colored concrete, 1961).
Purely decorative sculpture is also developing. If the Leningrad sculptor Yu. G. Stamov (b. 1914) goes to her from easel forms ("Youth", 1957; "Morning", 1960), then the works in this area of the Baltic sculptors are distinguished by features of monumentality. R. Antinas and B. Vishnyauskas work interestingly in Lithuania. The oldest Estonian sculptor A. Starkopf (b. 1889) (Stone Flower, granite, 1958) created magnificent examples of landscape gardening sculptures; its reliefs are also interesting.
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