Soviet sculptor Aleksandr Matveyev (1878–1960). Sculptural composition October. 1927

At the beginning of 1928, Hall of the Central Museum of the Revolution of the USSR officially opened their doors for visitors. There was a jubilee exhibition dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. It was first shown sculptural composition “October” by Soviet sculptor Aleksandr Matveyev (1878–1960), which stood out among the works of their program exposure, with the sharpness of social sound. Brightly and vividly embodied the heroism of the revolution, the work was seen as a symbol of the new era of accomplished changes. The idea of ​​the artist – to show the age-old human dream, the inviolability of the achievements of socialism – grew up in the capacious collective image of the people and their stories. With discreet and at the same time sublime language Matveyev conveyed the main idea of ​​the time – the assertion of the ideal of freedom.
More »

Soviet sculptor Anatoly Kusch. Peace. Copper electroplating. 1977

Heroes of the compositions on which Soviet sculptor Anatoly Kusch worked in the 1980s were as young as their creator. They are in love, joy, experiencing first feelings of young parents, boys and girls. He took an active part in tenders for the creation of various monuments. These include sculptural and architectural complex “Friendship of Peoples”, dedicated to the reunification of Ukraine and Russia. He refers to the sculpture park. Soon the territory of the beautiful resort “Khmelniki” of Vinnitsa region, surrounded by greenery and lakes decorated sculptural compositions “Young Family”, “Boy with a Dolphin,” “The Swan Princess”, fountain “Source”.
More »

Portrait of a rural teacher RS Dyakonova. 1969, marble. Soviet Yakut sculptor Pyotr Zakharov

Soviet Yakut sculptor Pyotr Zakharov was born in 1933 in Kobyayskiy district of Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR. In 1955, he graduated from the Yakut art school, and in 1969 – the sculptural faculty of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Ilya Repin, where he studied in the studio of MA Kerzin. Pyotr Zakharov – Member of the Union of Artists since 1970. Pyotr Zakharov belongs to the older generation of the Yakut sculptors whose work has played an important role in the development of the fine arts of Yakutia. A man of boundless energy, perseverance and performance, the artist has created a large number of monumental and easel paintings, imbued with a high sense of civic duty and heroism. In the genre of portrait sculpture he embodied images of historical figures and contemporaries – teachers, writers, scientists, and representatives of creative intelligentsia.
More »

Soviet sculptor Pavel Turayev. Creativity. Bronze. 1989

Soviet sculptor Pavel Turayev belongs to a generation of artists, who actively began his artistic life in the 1980s. He was born in 1955 in Moscow. In 1979 he graduated from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute of Surikov, workshop of greatest masters of Soviet sculpture N.V. Tomsky and M.F. Baburin. As a student, he began to participate in art exhibitions. At the All-Union Exhibition of 1979 he enjoyed a real success, the work of the young sculptor was awarded Diploma of the USSR Academy of Arts. Since that time, Pavel performs a variety of orders in Moscow and other Russian cities, working under contracts of youth committees and the Academy of Arts of the USSR Union of Artists. Since 1983 Turayev has been a member of the Artists’ Union of the USSR, member of Union of Russian Artists, Moscow Union of Artists and the Association of Moscow Sculptors.
More »

Soviet Kirghiz sculptor Turgunbai Sadykov working on the statue ‘Liberty’

Soviet Kirghiz sculptor Turgunbai Sadykov – Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1973), winner of the Lenin Prize (1980), Corresponding Member (1979), USSR Academy of Arts, academician (1988), People’s Artist of the Kirghiz SSR and the USSR (1986), Hero of Socialist Labor (1991), rector of the National Academy of Arts of the Kirghiz Republic (4 October 2010), Hero of Kyrgyzstan (1997). From 1985 to 1990 he was a Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR. Turgunbai Sadykov was born November 4, 1935 in the village of Govsuvar, Osh oblast, Kirghiz SSR. From an early age he was lucky for kind and sensitive teachers. The first school teacher noticed and always encouraged the talent of Sadykov. He was constantly busy with painting, sculpture, carving in a boarding school, where he was after his mother’s death …
More »

Glorification of labor in Soviet art. Yuri Mikhailovich Neprintsev (August 15, 1909 – October 20, 1996). Metro builders – drifters, 1959

Glorification of labor in Soviet art
Any work in the Soviet times was held in high esteem, and proletarian enjoyed not less respect than office worker. To be a worker was beneficial, prestige and promising in the USSR. Without workers – turners, millers, welders – Soviet production would not have reached such high results. It is the working class of the Soviet Union kept the industry. Labor heroes were at the same level as movie stars, if not higher. They were often invited to television programs, interviewed, their portraits decorated magazine covers, about them were filmed documentaries and feature films. Not surprisingly, the theme of workers has been widely reflected in the works of famous artists, and to draw the heroes of socialist labor was an honorable thing.
More »

Soviet monumental propaganda. Youzas Mikenas (1901-1964). The first swallows. 1964. Gypsum

Soviet monumental propaganda played an important role in the ideological and aesthetic education of the people. For the sculpture “First Swallows” Soviet Lithuanian sculptor Youzas Mikenas (1901 – 1964) was People’s Artist of the USSR (1961), winner of the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1947), Order of Lenin (1954), member of the Communist party of the Soviet Union since 1952. “First Swallows” became the last sculpture of the artist, for which he was awarded the State Prize of the Lithuanian SSR in 1966, posthumously. The sculpture was exhibited at the Expo 67 World’s Fair in Montreal (Canada). Enhanced version of the sculpture is cast in bronze and in 1987 set near the National Gallery in Vilnius.
More »