Mukhina V.I. Wind. 1926-1927.
Bronze. 88 x 54 x 30. Tretyakov Gallery
For the centenary of the revolution in Russia, the Tretyakov Gallery opens an exhibition of works by sculptors who witnessed those historical events. On display are portraits of revolutionaries, workers and Red Army soldiers, projects of monuments created according to the plan of monumental propaganda in 1918, as well as works that reflect the spirit of the revolutionary era. The sculptural busts of N.I. Altman, who have not been shown since 1990, as well as “Homeless Children” by I.N. Zhukov and the project of the monument to Karl Marx A.M. Gyurjan, never exhibited after entering the Gallery's collection in 1929.
Sculpture was the kind of art that the asserted revolutionary government valued for its enormous agitation and propaganda potential. Masters of different generations saw in the revolution a harbinger of a new bright future. They captured the leaders and revolutionaries of their time, as well as typical faces of the Red Army, peasants, workers, that is, those who sincerely believed in the revolution. In works created after 1917, the revolutionary era appears stormy, dramatic and multifaceted.
Mukhina V.I. The project of the monument to V.M. Zagorsky. 1921.
Bronze. 77 x 31 x 46.Base: 5 x 31 x 31. Tretyakov Gallery
Portrait of V.I. Lenin (1920, bronze) is valuable because it was made by N.I. Altman from nature in the Kremlin office and reflects the artist's impressions of direct communication with a statesman. In the 1920s, this bust was quite famous, but later it was supplanted by the replicated works of N.A. Andreeva. The bust of Lenin is surrounded by sculptural images of comrades-in-arms: “Portrait of A.V. Lunacharsky "N.I. Altman (1920, bronze) and "Portrait of F.E. Dzerzhinsky "S.D. Lebedeva (1925, bronze).
"Krasnoflotets" A.E. Zelensky (1932-1933, marble), "Portrait of a Red Army soldier" by V.V. Adamchevskaya (1930s, bronze), "Worker with a hammer" by I.D. Shadra (1936, bronze) - these are heroized collective images of contemporaries, carrying the tension of feelings, the pathos of experiencing revolutionary events of an unprecedented scale.
Frikh-Har I.G. Chapaevsky accordion player Vasya. 1929.
Cement. 71 x 66 x 54. Tretyakov Gallery
The central work of the exhibition is "Wind" by V.I. Mukhina (1927, bronze). The element and the struggle with it are filled with metaphorical, philosophical meaning. When you move around the sculpture, you can see how the posture of the female figure is transformed, the position of the arms and legs changes, then it is lost, then balance is gained. This work is also interesting from the point of view of affirming a new ideal of the beauty of the female body in society, when a strongly built, corpulent, physically strong worker became a reference point.
For S.T. Konenkov, the theme of the destructive power of the Russian revolt is associated with the revolution. His image of Stepan Razin (1918-1919, tinted tree) echoes folk sculpture and absorbs the hero's folklore perception associated with the plot of folk songs. "The Head of Stenka Razin" is a variation on the theme of the sculptural group "Stepan Razin with a gang", made by Konenkov in accordance with the plan of monumental propaganda and installed on Red Square near the place where Razin was executed.
Konenkov S.T. Head of Stepan Razin. 1918-1919.
Wood. 54 x 30 x 35. Tretyakov Gallery
Statue of I.D. Shadra "Into the Storm" (1931, bronze) is seen as a symbol of the opposition of the will and consciousness of man to natural and social forces. The incredibly complex pose of the female figure, violating the concept of static and stability, the broken lines of her silhouette give rise to the drama and emotional intensity of the image.
The exhibition displays works that convey the atmosphere of those years and specific episodes of history. Sculpture by I.N. Zhukov's "Homeless Children" (1929, tinted plaster) is evidence of the devastation and chaos that reigned during the Civil War that followed the First World War and the Revolution. In these turbulent times, a huge number of children found themselves on the street.
An important part of the exposition is made up of projects of unrealized monuments within the framework of the plan of monumental propaganda. They represent the circle of individuals and the ideas they profess, in which the revolutionaries saw the foundation of a new culture. In Moscow, it was planned to erect monuments to the freedom fighters - the biblical Samson and the gladiator Spartak.
Altman N.I. Portrait of V.I. Lenin. 1920.
Bronze. 51 x 41 x 33. Tretyakov Gallery
Contemporaries were not forgotten either - among them the revolutionary V.V., who was killed in Lausanne. Vorovsky, as well as V.M. Zagorsky, the project of the monument to which was created by V.I. Mukhina in 1921. Different figures became metaphorical images embodying the spirit of revolution for sculptors: N.A. Andreeva - blacksmith; B.D. The queen are slaves breaking chains. The sketches of two figures of a peasant and a Red Army soldier for the sculptural composition of A.T. Matveeva "October" (1927), which have not been shown to the viewer for the last thirty years.
Zhukov I.N. Homeless children. 1929.
Tinted plaster. 53 x 65. Tretyakov Gallery
The Wind of Revolution exhibition shows the realities of life in those years and conveys not only anxiety in front of uncertainty, but also the inspiration fueled by hopes for a happy future. The revolutionary era appears before the viewer in a romantically upbeat vein.
The address: Krymsky Val, 10. Hall 21-22.
Directions to the station Metro Park Kultury or Oktyabrskaya.
Working hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday - from 10.00 to 18.00
thursday, Friday, Saturday - from 10.00 to 21.00
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day off - Monday.
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Free - for persons under 18. More details.
Every Wednesday entrance to the permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions held in the building on Krymsky Val, for individual visitors free.
MOSCOW, September 27 - RIA Novosti. An exhibition of works by Russian artists created in the era of the 1917 revolution, "Someone 1917", opened at the Tretyakov Gallery, and two canvases by Kazimir Malevich were brought to Russia for the first time from abroad for the first time.
"The Tretyakov Gallery, which houses the most significant collection of 20th century art, could not pass by this date ... This exhibition is about the attitude of artists in 1917, the most diverse, representing the most diverse points of view, both ethical and political, philosophical, aesthetic. the polyphony that simultaneously falls on you. This is in the very last degree a reflection of the political events that took place in front of these artists, "said the head of the Tretyakov Gallery, Zelfira Tregulova, at the opening of the exhibition.
According to her, the exhibition features works from 36 museum and private collections in Russia and Europe. "I would like to draw your attention to the fact that for the first time in Russia two principal works of Malevich are shown. They are marked with" 1916 ", but, in the opinion of all experts, this is the end of 1916 - the beginning of 1917. This is the work of Malevich from the Tate gallery and his same "Suprematism" from the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, "- said the head of the Tretyakov Gallery. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see the work of Marc Chagall from the Pompidou Gallery in Paris at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.
As noted in the museum, the exhibition raises the question of the place of art in a critical era. The goal of the project is to move away from stable stereotypes and get closer to understanding the complex picture of a most important period in the life of Russia. "Art before an unknown reality" - this is how the curators conditionally designated the topic, choosing a new approach to its presentation. They abandoned both the usual iconographic principle of showing works depicting revolutionary events, and the now traditional convergence of the political revolution with the art of the avant-garde. The exhibition has been in preparation for over three years.
Also on Wednesday, the museum opened an exhibition "Wind of the Revolution. Sculpture of 1918 - early 1930s", which presents portraits of revolutionaries, workers and Red Army men, projects of monuments created according to the plan of monumental propaganda in 1918, as well as works that reflect the spirit of the revolutionary era ...
“We tried to show in this exhibition completely different sides of how the sculptors worked and felt in this era. These are the leaders, among whom there is a unique portrait of Lenin by Altman, which the audience has not seen for many decades. This is a civil war, heroes are notable, nameless , but there are things that are exhibited for the first time, "- said the head of the sculpture department of the museum Irina Sedova.
Free admission days at the museum
Every Wednesday you can visit the permanent exhibition "Art of the 20th century" at the New Tretyakov Gallery for free, as well as temporary exhibitions "Gift of Oleg Yakhont" and "Konstantin Istomin. Color in the window ”, held in the Engineering Building.
The right to visit expositions free of charge in the Main Building in Lavrushinsky Pereulok, the Engineering Building, the New Tretyakov Gallery, V.M. Vasnetsov, A.M. Vasnetsov is provided on the following days for certain categories of citizens on a first come first served basis:
First and second Sunday of every month:
for students of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, regardless of the form of study (including foreign citizens-students of Russian universities, graduate students, adjuncts, residents, assistants-trainees) upon presentation of a student card (does not apply to persons presenting student cards "student-trainee" );
for students of secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (from 18 years old) (citizens of Russia and the CIS countries). Students-holders of ISIC cards on the first and second Sunday of each month have the right to visit the exhibition "Art of the XX century" of the New Tretyakov Gallery free of charge.
every Saturday - for members of large families (citizens of Russia and CIS countries).
Please note that conditions for free admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the information on the pages of the exhibitions.
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Visiting the museum on holidays
On National Unity Day - November 4 - the Tretyakov Gallery is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (entrance until 17:00). Paid entrance.
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Please note that conditions for preferential admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the information on the pages of the exhibitions.
Preferential visit right The Gallery, except as provided for by a separate order of the Gallery's management, is provided upon presentation of documents confirming the right to preferential visits:
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Free admission right The main and temporary exhibitions of the Gallery, except for cases provided for by a separate order of the Gallery's management, are provided for the following categories of citizens upon presentation of documents confirming the right to free admission:
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- volunteers of the "Sputnik" program - entrance to the expositions "Art of the XX century" (Krymsky Val, 10) and "Masterpieces of Russian art of the XI - early XX centuries" (Lavrushinsky lane, 10), as well as to the House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov and A.M. Vasnetsov (citizens of Russia);
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Visitors to the above categories of citizens receive a free entrance ticket.
Please note that conditions for preferential admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the information on the pages of the exhibitions.
The author of the sculpture "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman", which became the quintessence of the Soviet style, and laureate of five Stalin Prizes, left behind a huge number of unrealized ideas (she called them dreams on the shelf). Among them is the demonic composition "The Flame of the Revolution" - a rejected project of a monument to Sverdlov - a shepherd with a pipe that never became part of the monument to Tchaikovsky erected next to the Moscow Conservatory, a monument to the Chelyuskinites. At the exhibition in the Tretyakov Gallery, dedicated to her 125th anniversary, the curators decided not to reduce Mukhina to "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" and showed about two dozen of her sketches of the 1910-1940s.
In addition to "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" and the execution of Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda
Mukhina developed a model of a Soviet costume for a Soviet woman condemning bourgeois excesses, made sculptural portraits of bronze (reminiscent of both antique heads and sweeping expressionist figures), worked with glass and drew sketches for theatrical performances.
You can have different attitudes to pseudo-antiquity with a taste of Stalinism, the enthusiasm of monumental sculptors and the main genre of Soviet art at that time - industrial feat. But their ponderous sculptures can hardly be denied power and dynamics. Mukhina herself, for example, wrote in 1939: "Style is born when an artist ... otherwise he cannot feel when the ideology of his century, his people becomes his personal ideology."
"Worker and Kolkhoz Woman"
"Worker and Kolkhoz Woman"
ITAR-TASS"Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" tells about the totalitarian regime more efficiently and more eloquently than history textbooks. Mukhina saw them as the heirs of the Petersburg Bronze Horseman - Peter I - as well as Minin and Pozharsky sitting next to the Kremlin. The sculpture was conceived for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, which heralded the Second World War. Then "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" from the USSR pavilion (designed by Boris) looked at the eagle crowning the German pavilion, and between them lay Warsaw Square.
Mukhina, who won the competition for the implementation of the sculpture, did not like Iofan's idea of \u200b\u200b"the equal size of sculpture and architecture." Iofan doubted that the lyricist Mukhina would cope with the project.
More than a hundred people worked on the statue. One hand is a gondola; a skirt is a whole room, ”Mukhina recalled. She wanted to simultaneously convey "that vigorous and powerful impulse that characterizes our country", and at the same time not crush the audience with the weight of the sculpture. A scarf fluttering in the air played the role of a lightening element.
Was conquered by the choice of material - stainless steel. The Parisians noted the logical justification of each line and the swiftness of the step of the heroes. Later, Mukhina, however, was accused of false denunciation, which she portrayed in the person of the Worker. After the exhibition "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" they were supposed to be dismantled, but on the wave of success they decided to return to Moscow - let it stand for five years at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSHV). It stood there until 2003 (with an internal frame rotten to the roots), and after six years it lay disassembled into parts and only in 2009 returned to VDNKh.
Monument to Leonid Sobinov at the Novodevichy cemetery
vivovoco.astronet.ruIt is noteworthy that Mukhina herself considered her best creation not “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman”, but a decorative dying swan - a memorial sculpture made for the grave of the opera singer. She wanted to present the artist with either Lensky or Orpheus descending into Hades - in one of his main images. However, instead of a figure in a tunic standing between cypresses, a dying bird made in plaster appeared, reminiscent of Vrubel's "Demon Defeated" - a hymn to decay that does not know transformation.
Naturalism mixed with sentiment was not expected from the monumentalist Mukhina.
But the widow (by the way, Mukhina's cousin) Nina Ivanovna liked it, and her daughter Svetlana called the swan a Russian song burnt with metal. Six years later, in 1941, she transferred the sculpture to marble, making a swan with outstretched wings a symbol of transcendental grief, and not the materialized torment of physical dying.
Faceted glass
Faceted glass
RIA News"The design of a faceted Soviet-style glass, which became part of Russian mythology and the main fetish of the era, is attributed to Mukhina. However, of course, there are no documents confirming this. The only proof is the connection of the sculptor with the Leningrad Experimental Factory of Art Glass, where, in the 1930s-1940s, she created, for example, a massive and austere Kremlin service made of smoky glass.
At the same time, a state order was ripe for another industrial feat: it was necessary to make a glass for public catering - durable and suitable in shape for dishwashers.
It is believed that the first Soviet faceted glass was produced on September 11, 1943 at the glass factory in Gus-Khrustalny. It had 16 faces and a smooth ring running around the circumference. The dimensions of a standard faceted glass are 65 mm in diameter and 90 mm in height. In the USSR, it was distributed everywhere, from canteens to soda machines, and instantly became as much a sign of the times as, say, a can of Coca-Cola for America in the 1960s.
Monument at the Novodevichy cemetery
Monument to Maxim Peshkov at the Novodevichy cemetery
vivovoco.astronet.ruMaxim Peshkov, performed by Mukhina, is the son of a famous father, painfully experiencing existence in the shadow of the giant of Soviet literature. Pensive and focused, he almost merged with the tombstone of the Ural gray marble, only his head protrudes slightly forward.
Gorky wanted to put on the grave of his son a simple stone with a bas-relief and the inscription: "His soul was chaos."
Mukhina considered the plan poor and inexpressive. She decided: "Let's take a stone, but let a man be born from it." Then, in 1935, the tombstone sculptures were supposed to be solemn and elegiac at the same time. Maxim came out ugly at Mukhina: his face is sullen, his head is shaved, his hands are shoved into his pockets. He could become one of the inhabitants of the bottom, portrayed by Gorky. However, the feeling of drama (and not horror before death) makes the figure calm and, it seems, even dignified.
Monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky near the building of the Moscow Conservatory
ITAR-TASSIn sculpture, Mukhina believed, there should be nothing petty and ordinary, only one big generalized meaning. However, she decided to present Tchaikovsky not as an idol, but as a creator at work. At first she was going to portray him in full growth, conducting an orchestra. Then she stopped on the seated figure, but the conductor's wave of her hands remained. Mukhina was accused of the fact that the composer's posture was unnatural and too graceful, they say, a genius in a moment of creative enlightenment could not sit on a leg.
To explain Tchaikovsky's pose, behind the monument she was going to sculpt a figurine of a village boy playing the pipe. The composer listened to his melody, picking it up with a movement of his hand.
But the shepherdess, associated with ancient Greek idylls and ideologically alien to Soviet ideas about music, was ordered to be removed. In 1945, the first version of the monument was rejected by the selection committee. The second option had to wait another two years for approval. Before her death, Mukhina dictated a letter to her son to the government: she asked him to finish the monument and install it. She called Tchaikovsky her swan song, but she never lived to see it opened in 1954.
Vera Mukhina at work in her workshop
RIA News"After the October Revolution and the establishment of the new government, the head of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, showed particular interest in the ideological possibilities of monumental art, which was expressed in the signing by him of the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the removal of monuments erected in honor of the tsars and their servants, and the development of projects for the monuments of the Russian socialist revolution "of April 14, 1918, nicknamed" the plan of monumental propaganda "and gave rise to a new direction in the artistic life of Soviet Russia.
It was proposed to demolish the monuments to "kings and their servants", and instead to create monuments to famous writers, philosophers, revolutionaries; in the list, developed by the People's Commissariat of Education, there were about 60 names. Civil war and devastation did not allow resorting to widespread use of monumental propaganda.
The first monuments were created from unstable materials - gypsum, wood, cement. In this regard, in an interview with the People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, Lenin noted that the statues should be "temporary, at least made of plaster or concrete," also "it is important that they be accessible to the masses, so that they are conspicuous," and their discovery let it "be an act of propaganda and a small holiday, and then, on the occasion of anniversaries, you can repeat the reminder of this great man, always, of course, clearly linking him with our revolution and its tasks." Therefore, in the period from 1918 to 1921, over 25 monuments were erected in Moscow and Petrograd - an extremely large number for that time.
47 sculptors joined the implementation of the decree's provisions in Moscow alone; Vera Mukhina was actively involved in the work. She was a prominent member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, and the 1920s-1930s were the real flowering of her creativity and fame. The projects of the monuments were discussed during numerous competitions, but their implementation was postponed for many decades. Mukhina's four projects, one of many unfulfilled works, which she called “dreams on the shelf”, were not implemented in this way. Among them was a sketch of a monument to Lenin's ally and one of the authors of the first Soviet constitution - revolutionary and statesman Yakov Sverdlov, secretary of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), chairman of the All-Russian Executive Committee, who died during a flu pandemic in 1919.
History
The first competition for a monument to Sverdlov was held in 1919, but did not give results, and in 1922 the second competition was announced, before which the sculptors were given photographs of Sverdlov, and also given the opportunity to inspect his death mask, which was removed by another famous sculptor - Sergei Merkurov ...
However, Mukhina decided to get away "from historical and photographic expressiveness" and portrait accuracy, resorting to allegory as a means, "sometimes much more powerful, allowing for a strong condensation and concentration of the theme."
unknown, Public DomainIt is noteworthy that the thin Sverdlov was a typical intellectual with glasses, and in his person, in Lenin's words, appeared before us "the most minted type of professional revolutionary." It should be noted that in Soviet times, requirements were imposed on monuments that did not correspond to the specifics of this popular type of monumental art.
Without going into the narrow framework of officialdom, Mukhina, as an artist of realism and a painter of the beauty of the human body, without much success advocated convention, the use of allegorical and mythological images as methods of creating the necessary degree of generalization. In search of allegory, she turned to the antiquity of Ancient Greece and Rome.
unknown, Public Domain On the figurative sketches of Mukhina, distinguished by strokes of sharp corners and straight lines, a rebellious angel with mighty arms appears with a fierce gaze, an indomitable spirit Moses or the fighter Prometheus, with a boiling of passions, strong-willed aspiration and energy, moral strength gleaned from ancient legends.
The sculpture "Flame of the Revolution" was a kind of fruit of these creative quests associated with the concept of the Moscow monument to Sverdlov. At first, Mukhina wanted to take advantage of the myth of the stimfalids - huge birds with human heads that Hercules fought against, but the silhouette of the bird did not fit the monument, which required a tall and slender figure. Rejecting both the woman in long robes with wings instead of arms, and the winged Nika, crowning the hero with a laurel wreath, the sculptor came not to the goddess of glory, not to Stifhalis, but to the Genius of the Revolution with a torch in his hand, carrying the flame of the revolution to the future, to that rushing into the battle of Hercules. In this one can consider the sincere expression of the sculptor's ideal, her faith in a new person, perfect and free.
Fate
Following the example of the monument "Revolution" for the city of Klin, Mukhina proposed to make the sculpture for the monument to Sverdlov polychrome - the figure would be cast from black cast iron, the robe and torch would be made of light golden bronze.
However, Mukhina's project was rejected as caricature and not having a portrait resemblance. The work was criticized for its "formalistic schematism" and was misunderstood by critics, so it was not even reproduced in monographs. The monument to Sverdlov was never erected, but a reduced copy of his project has survived. Mukhina regretted her unfulfilled dream and considered the plaster model lost.
After her death in 1953, the damaged statue was discovered in the storerooms of the Central Museum of the Revolution in Moscow, after which it was restored and in 1954 cast in bronze for the failed sculptor's museum. Currently, the plaster version is exhibited in Hall 15 "Culture of Soviet Russia" in the State Central Museum of Contemporary Russian History - the fireplace room of the English Club. The wax sketch is in the museum of Vera Mukhina in Feodosia.
Vera Mukhina, Fair useA bronze copy with a height of 104 cm is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, where it was exhibited in 2014-2015 in connection with the 125th anniversary of Mukhina. In 2017, she was exhibited at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London dedicated to the art born from the October Revolution.
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Helpful information
"Flame of the revolution"
Quote
“Working according to the plan of monumental propaganda was the seed from which Soviet sculpture sprouted. Unprecedented perspectives opened before art, it was enriched with new goals. The task set by Lenin was important and necessary not only for the masses, but also for us, artists. While doing it, we learned the scale and boldness of thought, learned Creativity in the highest sense of the word. "
Vera Mukhina
Composition
Despite some formal references to modernism, cubism and futurism, "Flame of Revolution" embodies all the romanticized elements of socialist realism. The half-naked figure of the Genius of the Revolution, the prototype of Sverdlov without specific portrait features, is a romantic image of the Bolshevik-Leninist, personifying the apotheosis of the rebellious element of the revolutionary struggle. Stretching out his hands up and forward, in one of which the Genius holds a lighted torch, throwing his hair back, he stubbornly lowered his head down, purposefully and courageously fighting against the stormy gusts and whirlwinds of the wind of resistance. The sharp tilt of the whole figure, embodied in the motive of an energetic and expressive confrontation, finds firm support in the slope of the obliquely cut pedestal, which further enhances the dynamics of the composition, as if bubbling with fierce tension. The robe of the Genius is conditional - his body in a spiral is enveloped in something like a huge flowing scarf or cloak with spectacular folded and angular draperies that form powerful volumes independent of plastic figures, which, like sails enveloped in the wind, create a feeling of flying upward.
Mukhina returned to the motive of the flight in 1938 in the version of the monument "To the Rescue of the Chelyuskinites", made in more realistic forms. A huge figure of the north wind - Borea in the form of an old man with a polar bear skin fluttering behind his shoulders, as if yielded to the courage of people and flew away from the ice crystal block on the arrow of the island, which was supposed to be created in the area between Kamenny and Crimean bridges. Below, to the right and to the left, at the supports on the ledges of the projected, but not built bridge, which would connect the embankment at the Palace of Soviets with Zamoskvorechye, it was planned to install two large sculptural groups - the Chelyuskinites led by Otto Schmidt and their pilots-saviors.
The motives of the "Flame of the Revolution" are also seen in the sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman", made by Mukhina for the Paris World Exhibition of 1937 and subsequently installed at the main entrance of VDNKh in Moscow. The torch was replaced by a hammer and sickle, which are held over their heads by the heroes of this monument, devoid of the last elements of avant-garde, but which became Mukhina's professional triumph as a leading woman sculptor of the era of socialist realism.