Hereditary potter S. Goncharov. Grog. 1981. Soviet sculptor Lyudmila Yelchaninova (born 1940, Moscow, USSR)

Soviet sculptor Lyudmila Yelchaninova was born and raised in Moscow. Since childhood, she loved to draw, mold toys, paint, dress up and decorate them. Lyudmila’s mother, seamstress, sew theater costumes, decorated Russian folk clothes with embroidery, and accustomed her daughter to needlework. Maybe these first lessons echoed over time in the work of the artist, in her love for color, adherence to all man-made, hand made good craftsmen. And now in her shop carefully preserved objects of folk life, ancient peasant clothes, arts and crafts. After graduation Yelchaninova moved to Smolensk. Teaching students sculpture and ceramics, she worked hard, took part in the exhibitions, raised a daughter. In 1973 she joined the USSR Union of Artists.
More »

Soviet sculptor Leonid Shervud (28 April 1871 – 23 August 1954)

Soviet sculptor Leonid Shervud (28 April 1871 – 23 August 1954) – Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1946), doctor of art sciences was one of the first sculptors who carried out Lenin’s plan for “monumental propaganda”, starting from 1918. Leonid Sherwood was born in Moscow on April 28, 1871. Original art education he received in the studio of his father Vladimir Osipovich Shervud, academician of painting, working in the field of architecture and sculpture. Constant communication with famous figures of Russian culture and art visiting their house had a great influence on the world of young L. Shervud. Abilities of the boy appeared in the years of work in his father’s workshop. Initially, helping his father, he began to copy under the guidance of his father monuments of ancient sculpture, and then to work independently.
More »

Collective farm woman. 1957. Bronze. Soviet sculptor Yekaterina Belashova-Alekseyeva

Soviet sculptor Yekaterina Belashova-Alekseyeva (1906, St. Petersburg – 1971, Moscow) – People’s Artist of the USSR (1963), Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1964), and Professor. Besides, she was a laureate of the USSR State Prize (1967), the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals. Member of Communist party of the Soviet Union (1945).
She studied at the Leningrad Industrial Art College, in the workshop of V.V.Lishev (1923-1924). Next, she studied at the Higher Art and Technical Institute ​​in Leningrad, workshops of R.R.Bakh, A.T. Matveyev and V.L. Simonov (1926-1930). In addition, in 1932 she graduated from the graduate school of the Institute of Proletarian Fine Arts. She taught at the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts in 1941-1952 and the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (1952-1963). Since 1933 she has lived and worked in Moscow.
More »

Soviet sculptor Albert Sergeyev (30 April 1926 – December 12, 2003). Evening in the village. Aluminum. 1985

Soviet sculptor Albert Sergeyev (30 April 1926 – December 12, 2003) – member of USSR Union of Artists, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1975), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1986), veteran of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Albert Sergeyev was born April 30, 1926 in the village of Levenko of Smolensk province. A few years later the family moved to Vyazma, where he spent his childhood. Since the age of eleven worked in the art studio, organized by a talented amateur painter Sergei Vladimirovich Zhuravlev, where he acquired initial skills of drawing, painting and composition. In 1944 he went to the front, fought in the Baltic artillery scout fighter regiment. AG Sergeev never parted with a pencil – at the request of his comrades drew their portraits for their letters to family.
More »

Soviet Russian sculptor Andrey Balashov. Portrait of Aguilyar (participant of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, the USSR). Gypsum. 1985

Soviet Russian sculptor Andrey Balashov – Member of the USSR Union of Artists (1984), Winner of the All-Union, All-Russian and international competitions on monumental art, Lenin Komsomol Prize winner (1988). Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia (1997). Andrey Vladimirovich Balashov was born June 13, 1957 in the village of Malakhovka of Moscow region. He was first introduced to the art of sculpture in the local House of Pioneers. Prior to that, he painted landscapes with a variety of characters, buildings, trees, and cats – favorite animals, something similar to humans. Thus formed his addiction, acute, sensitive attitude towards the world. His art teacher N. Karmanov sought to give the pupils an idea of ​​the different types of art and taught them to see the most meaningful, valuable in life. After art school Andrey studied at the Surikov Institute, in the workshop of a prominent Soviet sculptor MF Baburin.
More »

Monument to Sergei Yesenin in Ryazan. Bronze, granite, 1975. Soviet sculptor Aleksandr Kibalnikov (August 9, 1912 – September 5, 1987)

Soviet sculptor Aleksandr Kibalnikov (August 9, 1912 – September 5, 1987) – People’s Artist of the USSR (1963), Laureate of Lenin (1959) and two Stalin Prizes of the second degree (1949, 1951), Full member of the USSR Academy of Arts. Member of the CPSU since 1963.
Once, visiting a workshop of Kibalnikov foreign guests asked its owner the following question: “Tell me, maestro, if you have a studio to display work?” And then the sculptor advised them to visit the capital’s Mayakovsky Square, to go to the Tretyakov Gallery, visit Brest, Saratov, Ryazan and other cities, where his monuments are installed… In fact, his works together with the works of artists of different generations are like a huge, constantly open to all art gallery. Today we can not imagine Moscow without monuments of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Pavel Tretyakov, Saratov without monuments of Lenin, NG Chernyshevsky, Ryazan – without the monument of Yesenin SA, Brest – without the memorial “Brest fortress”.
More »

Soviet sculptor Omar Eldarov (born December 21, 1927). Portrait of a student. 1970, gypsum

In Baku, Nakhchivan, Kirovabad and other cities of Soviet Azerbaijan were dozens of monuments to poets, revolutionaries, scientists, generals. Azerbaijani sculptors decorated their cities with such taste and skill that they were invited to other republics of the USSR. Azerbaijan has formed a sculptural school, which developed under the influence of Russian sculpture, because most of the sculptors studied in Moscow or Leningrad. But the identity traits manifested themselves more and more insistently. This is evidenced, in particular, in the work of one of the representatives of the Azerbaijani sculpture Omar Gasanovich Eldarov (born December 21, 1927). Soviet sculptor Omar Eldarov – Academician, member of Academy of Art of the USSR (1984), awarded Silver Medal of the USSR Academy of Arts (1962), the USSR State Prize (1962), Cavalier of the Order “Badge of Honor” (1980) and Order of Red Banner of Labor (1980).
More »