Sculptures of Vera Mukhina. Women's history (photos, videos, documents). Vera Mukhina and Alexey Zamkov, television program "More than Love"

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina- famous Soviet sculptor, winner of five Stalin Prizes, member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Arts.

Biography

V.I. Mukhina was born on June 19/07/1, 1889 in Riga, in the family of a wealthy merchant. After the death of her mother, Vera, with her father and older sister Maria, moved to the Crimea, to Feodosia in 1892. Vera's mother died at the age of thirty from tuberculosis in Nice, where she was undergoing treatment. In Feodosia, unexpectedly for the Mukhin family, Vera developed a passion for painting. The father dreamed that his youngest daughter would continue his work; the girl’s character – stubborn, persistent – took after him. God did not give him a son, and he did not count on his eldest daughter - only balls and entertainment were important to Maria. But Vera inherited a passion for art from her mother. Nadezhda Vilhelmovna Mukhina, whose maiden name was Mude (she had French roots), could sing a little, write poetry and drew her beloved daughters in her album.

Vera received her first drawing and painting lessons from an art teacher at the gymnasium where she entered to study. Under his guidance, she went to the local art gallery copied Aivazovsky's paintings. The girl did it with complete dedication, receiving great pleasure from the work. But happy childhood, where everything is predetermined and clear, suddenly ended. In 1904, Mukhina’s father died, and at the insistence of her guardians, her father’s brothers, she and her sister moved to Kursk. There Vera continued her studies at the gymnasium and graduated in 1906. The next year, Mukhina, her sister and uncles went to live in Moscow.

In the capital, Vera did everything possible to continue her study of painting. To begin with, she entered a private painting studio with Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich and took lessons from Dudin. Very soon Vera realized that she was also interested in sculpture. This was facilitated by a visit to the studio of the self-taught sculptor N. A. Sinitsyna. Unfortunately, there were no teachers in the studio; everyone sculpted as best they could. It was attended by students from private art schools and students of the Stroganov School. In 1911, Mukhina became a student of the painter Ilya Ivanovich Mashkov. But most of all she wanted to go to Paris - the capital, the trendsetter of new artistic tastes. There she could continue her education in sculpture, which she lacked. Vera had no doubt that she had the ability to do this. After all, the sculptor N.A. Andreev himself, who often looked into Sinitsina’s studio, repeatedly noted her work. He was known as the author of the monument to Gogol. Therefore, the girl listened to Andreev’s opinion. Only the guardian uncles were against the niece’s departure. An accident helped: Vera was visiting relatives on an estate near Smolensk, when she slid down the mountain and broke her nose. Local doctors provided assistance. The uncles sent Vera to Paris for further treatment. So, the dream came true, even at such a high price. In the French capital, Mukhina underwent several nose jobs. Throughout her treatment, she took lessons at the Grande Chaumiere Academy from the famous French muralist sculptor E. A. Bourdelle, Rodin's former assistant, whose work she admired. The very atmosphere of the city – the architecture, sculptural monuments – also helped her complete her artistic education. In her free time, Vera visited theaters, museums, and art galleries. After treatment, Mukhina went on a trip to France and Italy, visiting Nice, Menton, Genoa, Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, etc.

Vera Mukhina in her Parisian workshop

In the summer of 1914, Mukhina returned to Moscow for the wedding of her sister, who was marrying a foreigner and leaving for Budapest. Vera could have gone to Paris again and continued her studies, but the First World War began world war, and she chose to enroll in nursing courses. From 1915 to 1917 she worked in the hospital together with the Grand Duchesses of the Romanovs.

It was during this period that she met the love of her life. And again the accident became decisive in the fate of Vera. Mukhina, full of energy and desire to help the wounded, suddenly became seriously ill in 1915. Doctors discovered a blood disease in her, unfortunately, they were powerless, they claimed that the patient was not curable. Only the chief surgeon of the Southwestern (“Brusilovsky”) Front, Alexey Zamkov, undertook to treat Mukhina and put her back on her feet. Vera fell in love with him in return. The love turned out to be mutual. One day Mukhina will say: “Alexey has a very strong creativity. Internal monumentality. And at the same time a lot from the man. External rudeness with great spiritual subtlety. Besides, he was very handsome." They lived in a civil marriage for almost two years, got married in 1918 on August 11, when the country was in full swing civil war. Despite her illness and busyness at the hospital, Vera found time for creative work. She participated in the design of the play “Famira Kifared” by I.F. Annensky and director A.Ya. Tairova at the Moscow Chamber Theater, made sketches of scenery and costumes for the productions of “Nal and Damayanti”, “Dinner of Jokes” by S. Benelli and “Rose and Cross” by A. Blok (not realized) of the same theater.

The young family settled in Moscow, in a small apartment in the Mukhins’ apartment building, which already belonged to the state. The family lived poorly, from hand to mouth, since Vera also lost all her money. But she was happy with life and devoted herself entirely to work. Mukhina actively participated in Lenin's plan for monumental propaganda. Her work was a monument to I.N. Novikov - Russian public figure XVIII century, publicist and publisher. She made it in two versions, one of them was approved by the People's Commissariat for Education. Unfortunately, none of the monuments have survived.

Although Mukhina accepted the revolution, her family did not escape trouble from the policies of the new state. One day, when Alexey went to Petrograd on business, he was arrested by the Cheka. He was lucky that Uritsky was the head of the Cheka, otherwise Vera Mukhina could have remained a widow. Before the revolution, Zamkov hid Uritsky from the secret police at his home, now the time has come for an old acquaintance to help him out. As a result, Alexey was released and, on the advice of Uritsky, changed his documents; now his origin was peasant. But in new government Zamkov became disillusioned and decided to emigrate; Vera did not support him - she had work. A sculpture competition was announced in the country, and she was going to participate in it. On the instructions of the competition, Vera worked on projects for the monuments “Revolution” for Klin and “Liberated Labor” for Moscow.

In the first post-revolutionary years, sculpture competitions were often held in the country, Vera Mukhina actively participated in them. Alexey had to come to terms with his wife’s wishes and stay in Russia. By that time, Vera had already become a happy mother; her son Seva, born on May 9, 1920, was growing up. And again misfortune came to the Mukhina family: in 1924, their son became very ill, and doctors discovered tuberculosis in him. The boy was examined by the best pediatricians in Moscow, but everyone just shrugged hopelessly. However, Alexey Zamkov could not come to terms with such a verdict. Just like Vera once did, he begins to treat his son himself. He takes a risk and performs the operation at home on the dining room table. The operation was successful, after which Seva spent a year and a half in a cast and walked on crutches for a year. He eventually recovered.

All this time Vera was torn between home and work. In 1925 she proposed new project monument to Ya. M. Sverdlov. Next competitive work Mukhina became the two-meter "Peasant Woman" for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. And again trouble came to the Mukhina family. In 1927, her husband was expelled from the party and exiled to Voronezh. Vera could not go after him, she worked - she taught in art school. Mukhina lived at a frantic pace - she worked fruitfully in Moscow and often went to visit her husband in Voronezh. But it couldn’t go on like this for long; Vera couldn’t stand it and moved to live with her husband. Only such an act did not pass without a trace for Mukhina; in 1930 she was arrested, but was soon released, as Gorky stood up for her. During the two years that Vera spent in Voronezh, she decorated the Palace of Culture.

Two years later, Zamkov was pardoned and allowed to return to Moscow.

Mukhina's fame came in 1937, during the World Exhibition in Paris. The Soviet pavilion, which stood on the banks of the Seine, was crowned with Mukhina’s sculpture “Worker and Collective Farm Woman.” She made a splash. The idea of the sculpture belonged to the architect B.M. Iofanu. Mukhina worked on this project together with other sculptors, but her plaster sketch turned out to be the best. In 1938, this monument was installed at the entrance to VDNH. In the thirties, Mukhina also worked on a memorial sculpture. She especially succeeded in the tombstone of M.A. Peshkov (1934). Along with monumental sculpture, Mukhina worked on easel portraits. The heroes of her portrait gallery of sculptures were doctor A.A. Zamkov, architect S.A. Zamkov, ballerina M.T. Semenova and director A.P. Dovzhenko.

At the beginning of World War II, Mukhina and her family were evacuated to Sverdlovsk, but in 1942 they returned to Moscow. And then misfortune befell her again - her husband died of a heart attack. This misfortune happened on the very day when she was awarded the title of Honored Artist. During the war, Mukhina worked on the design of the play "Electra" by Sophocles at the Theater. Evgeniy Vakhtangov and on the project of the monument to the “Defenders of Sevastopol”. Unfortunately, it was not implemented.

Vera Mukhina with her husband Alexei Zamkov

Sculpturography

1915-1916- sculptural works: “Portrait of a Sister”, “Portrait of V.A. Shamshina”, monumental composition “Pieta”.

1918– monument to N.I. Novikov for Moscow according to Lenin’s plan for monumental propaganda (the monument was not realized).

1919- monuments “Revolution” for Klin, “Liberated Labor”, V.M. Zagorsky and Ya.M. Sverdlov (“Flame of the Revolution”) for Moscow (not implemented).

1924- monument to A.N. Ostrovsky for Moscow.

1926-1927- sculptures “Wind”, “Female Torso” (wood).

1927– statue “Peasant Woman” for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution.

1930- sculptures “Portrait of a Grandfather”, “Portrait of A.A. Zamkov”. Project of the monument to T.G. Shevchenko for Kharkov,

1933– project of the monument “Fountain of Nationalities” for Moscow.

1934- “Portrait of S.A. Zamkov”, “Portrait of a son”, “Portrait of Matryona Levina” (marble), tombstones of M.A. Peshkov and L.V. Sobinov.

1936– project for the sculptural decoration of the USSR pavilion at International exhibition in Paris 1937.

Sculpture by Mukhina “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”

1937- Installation of the sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" in Paris.

1938- monument to the “Salvation of the Chelyuskinites” (not realized), sketches of monumental and decorative compositions for the new Moskvoretsky Bridge.

1938- monuments to A.M. Gorky for Moscow and Gorky, (installed in 1952 on the First of May Square in Gorky, architects P.P. Steller, V.I. Lebedev). Sculptural design of the Soviet pavilion at the 1939 International Exhibition in New York.

Late 30's- Based on Mukhina’s sketches and with her participation, the “Kremlin Service” (crystal), vases “Lotus”, “Bell”, “Aster”, “Turnip” (crystal and glass) were made in Leningrad. Project of the monument to F.E. Dzerzhinsky for Moscow. 1942 - “Portrait of B.A. Yusupov”, “Portrait of I.L. Khizhnyak”, sculptural head “Partisan”.

1945- project of a monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky for Moscow (installed in 1954 in front of the building of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky). Portraits of A.N. Krylova, E.A. Mravinsky, F.M. Ermler and H. Johnson.

1948- project of a monument to Yuri Dolgoruky for Moscow, glass portrait of N.N. Kachalov, porcelain composition "Yuri Dolgoruky" and "S.G. Koren in the role of Mercutio"

1949-1951- together with N.G. Zelenskaya and Z.G. Ivanova, monument to A.M. Gorky in Moscow according to the project of I.D. Shadra (architect 3.M. Rosenfeld). In 1951 it was installed on the square of the Belorussky Station.

1953– project of the sculptural composition “Peace” for the planetarium in Stalingrad (installed in 1953, sculptors S.V. Kruglov, A.M. Sergeev and I.S. Efimov).

"In bronze, marble, wood, and steel, images of people of the heroic era are sculpted with a bold and strong chisel - a single image of man and humanity, marked by the unique stamp of great years."

ANDart critic Arkin

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina was born in Riga on July 1, 1889 into a wealthy family andreceived a good education at home.Her mother was Frenchfather was a gifted amateur artistand Vera inherited her interest in art from him.She didn’t have a good relationship with music:Verochkait seemed that her father did not like the way she played, but he encouraged his daughter to take up drawing.Childhood yearsVera Mukhinatook place in Feodosia, where the family was forced to move due to the serious illness of the mother.When Vera was three years old, her mother died of tuberculosis, and her father took her daughter abroad for a year, to Germany. Upon their return, the family settled again in Feodosia. However, a few years later, my father changed his place of residence again: he moved to Kursk.

Vera Mukhina - Kursk high school student

In 1904, Vera's father died. In 1906 Mukhina graduated from high schooland moved to Moscow. UShe no longer had any doubt that she would pursue art.In 1909-1911 Vera was a student at a private studio famous landscape painter Yuona. During these years, he first showed interest in sculpture. In parallel with painting and drawing classes with Yuon and Dudin,Vera Mukhinavisits the studio of the self-taught sculptor Sinitsina, located on Arbat, where for a reasonable fee one could get a place to work, a machine and clay. From Yuon at the end of 1911 Mukhina moved to the studio of the painter Mashkov.
At the beginning of 1912 VeraIngatyevnawas visiting relatives on an estate near Smolensk and, while sledding down the mountain, she crashed and disfigured her nose. Home-grown doctors somehow “sewed” the face onto whichFaithI was afraid to look. The uncles sent Verochka to Paris for treatment. She endured several facial plastic surgeries. But his character... He became harsh. It is no coincidence that many colleagues would subsequently dub her as a person of “tough character.” Vera completed her treatment and at the same time studied with the famous sculptor Bourdelle, at the same time she attended the La Palette Academy, as well as the drawing school, which was led by the famous teacher Colarossi.
In 1914, Vera Mukhina toured Italy and realized that her true calling was sculpture. Returning to Russia at the beginning of the First World War, she created her first significant work - the sculptural group “Pieta”, conceived as a variation on the themes of Renaissance sculptures and a requiem for the dead.

The war radically changed the usual way of life. Vera Ignatievna left sculpture, entered nursing courses, and in 1915-17 worked in a hospital. Thereshe also met her betrothed:Alexey Andreevich Zamkov worked as a doctor. Vera Mukhina and Alexey Zamkov met in 1914, and got married only four years later. In 1919, he was threatened with execution for participating in the Petrograd rebellion (1918). But, fortunately, he ended up in the Cheka in the office of Menzhinsky (since 1923 he headed the OGPU), whom he helped to leave Russia in 1907. “Eh, Alexey,” Menzhinsky told him, “you were with us in 1905, then you went to the whites. You won’t survive here.”
Subsequently, when Vera Ignatievna was asked what attracted her to her future husband, she answered in detail: “He has a very strong creativity. Internal monumentality. And at the same time a lot from the man. Internal rudeness with great spiritual subtlety. Besides, he was very handsome."

Alexey Andreevich Zamkov was indeed a very talented doctor, he treated unconventionally, tried traditional methods. Unlike his wife Vera Ignatievna, he was a sociable, cheerful, sociable person, but at the same time very responsible, with a heightened sense of duty. They say about such husbands: “With him, she’s like behind a stone wall.”

After October Revolution Vera Ignatievna is interested in monumental sculpture and makes several compositions on revolutionary themes: “Revolution” and “Flame of Revolution”. However, the expressiveness of her modeling, combined with the influence of Cubism, was so innovative that few people appreciated these works. Mukhina abruptly changes her field of activity and turns to applied art.

Mukhinsky vases

Vera Mukhinais getting closerI'm with avant-garde artists Popova and Ekster. With themMukhinamakes sketches for several of Tairov’s productions at the Chamber Theater and is engaged in industrial design. Vera Ignatievna designed the labelswith Lamanova, book covers, sketches of fabrics and jewelry.At the Paris Exhibition of 1925clothing collection, created according to sketches by Mukhina,was awarded the Grand Prix.

Icarus. 1938

“If we now look back and try once again to survey and compress a decade of Mukhina’s life with cinematic speed,- writes P.K. Suzdalev, - passed after Paris and Italy, then we will face an unusually complex and turbulent period of personality formation and creative search for an extraordinary artist new era, a female artist, formed in the fire of revolution and labor, in an unstoppable striving forward and painfully overcoming the resistance of the old world. A swift and impetuous movement forward into the unknown, despite the forces of resistance, towards the wind and storm - this is the essence of Mukhina’s spiritual life of the past decade, the pathos of her creative nature. "

From drawings and sketches of fantastic fountains („ Female figure with a jug”) and “fiery” costumes for Benelli’s drama “Dinner of Jokes”, from the extreme dynamism of “Archery” she comes to the projects of monuments to “Liberated Labor” and “Flame of the Revolution”, where this plastic idea takes on sculptural existence, form, albeit not yet fully found and resolved, but figuratively filled.This is how “Yulia” is born - named after the ballerina Podgurskaya, who served as a constant reminder of the shapes and proportions of the female body, because Mukhina greatly rethought and transformed the model. “She wasn’t that heavy,” said Mukhina. The refined grace of the ballerina gave way in “Julia” to the strength of deliberately weighted forms. Under the stack and chisel of the sculptor was not just born beautiful woman, but the standard of a healthy, harmoniously built body full of energy.
Suzdalev: ““Julia,” as Mukhina called her statue, is built in a spiral: all spherical volumes - head, chest, belly, thighs, calves - everything, growing out of each other, unfolds as the figure goes around and again twists in a spiral, giving rise to the feeling the whole form of the female body filled with living flesh. Individual volumes and the entire statue resolutely fill the space occupied by it, as if displacing it, elastically pushing the air away from itself. “Julia” is not a ballerina, the power of her elastic, deliberately weighted forms is characteristic of a woman of physical labor; this is the physically mature body of a worker or peasant woman, but with all the heaviness of the forms, there is integrity, harmony and feminine grace in the proportions and movement of the developed figure.”
In 1930, Mukhina’s well-established life suddenly breaks down: her husband, the famous doctor Zamkov, is arrested on false charges. After the trial, he is deported to Voronezh and Mukhina, along with her ten-year-old son, follows her husband. Only after Gorky’s intervention, four years later, did she return to Moscow. Later Mukhina created a sketch tombstone Peshkov.

Portrait of a son. 1934 Alexey Andreevich Zamkov. 1934

Returning to Moscow, Mukhina again began to design Soviet exhibitions abroad. She creates the architectural design of the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. Famous sculpture“Worker and Collective Farm Woman,” which became Mukhina’s first monumental project. Mukhina's composition shocked Europe and was recognized as a masterpiece of 20th century art.

V.I. Mukhina among second-year students of Vkhutein
From the late thirties until the end of her life, Mukhina worked primarily as a portrait sculptor. During the war years, she created a gallery of portraits of medal-bearing soldiers, as well as a bust of Academician Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov (1945), which now adorns his tombstone.

Krylov’s shoulders and head grow from a golden block of elm, as if emerging from the natural growths of a thick tree. In places, the sculptor’s chisel glides over chipped wood, emphasizing their shape. There is a free and relaxed transition from the raw part of the ridge to the smooth plastic lines of the shoulders and the powerful volume of the head. The color of elm gives a special, vibrant warmth and solemn decorativeness to the composition. Krylov's head in this sculpture is clearly associated with images ancient Russian art, and at the same time - this is the head of an intellectual, a scientist. Old age and physical decline are contrasted with the strength of spirit, the volitional energy of a person who has given his entire life to the service of thought. His life is almost lived - and he has almost completed what he had to do.

Ballerina Marina Semyonova. 1941.

In the half-figure portrait of Semyonova, the ballerina is depictedin a state of external stillness and internal composurebefore going on stage. In this moment of “getting into character” Mukhina reveals the confidence of an artist who is in the prime of her wonderful talent - a feeling of youth, talent and fullness of feeling.Mukhina refuses the image dance movement, considering that the portrait task itself disappears in it.

Partisan.1942

“We know historical examples,” Mukhina spoke at an anti-fascist rally. - We know Joan of Arc, we know the mighty Russian partisan Vasilisa Kozhina. We know Nadezhda Durova... But such a massive, gigantic manifestation of true heroism, which we meet among Soviet women in the days of the battle against fascism, is significant. Our soviet woman consciously goes to great deeds. I’m not only talking about such women and heroic girls as Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Elizaveta Chaikina, Anna Shubenok, Alexandra Martynovna Dreyman - a Mozhai partisan mother who sacrificed her son and her life to her homeland. I'm also talking about thousands of unknown heroines. Isn’t any Leningrad housewife, for example, a heroine, who during the days of the siege of her hometown did she give the last crumb of bread to her husband or brother, or just to a male neighbor who made shells?”

After the warVera Ignatievna Mukhinacarries out two large official orders: creates a monument to Gorky in Moscow and a statue of Tchaikovsky. Both of these works are distinguished by the academic nature of their execution and rather indicate that the artist is deliberately moving away from modern reality.

Project of the monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky. 1945. On the left - “The Shepherd” - high relief for the monument.

Vera Ignatievna fulfilled the dream of her youth. figurinesitting girl, shrunk into a ball, amazes with its plasticity and melodiousness of lines. Slightly raised knees, crossed legs, outstretched arms, arched back, lowered head. A smooth sculpture that somehow subtly echoes the “white ballet” sculpture. In glass it became even more graceful and musical, and acquired completeness.

Seated figurine. Glass. 1947

http://murzim.ru/jenciklopedii/100-velikih-skulpto...479-vera-ignatevna-muhina.html

The only work, besides “The Worker and the Collective Farm Woman,” in which Vera Ignatievna managed to embody and bring to the end her figurative, collective-symbolic vision of the world, is her tombstone to a close friend and a relative of the great Russian singer Leonid Vitalievich Sobinov. It was originally conceived in the form of a herm, depicting the singer in the role of Orpheus. Subsequently, Vera Ignatievna settled on the image of a white swan - not only a symbol of spiritual purity, but more subtly connected with the swan prince from “Lohengrin” and the “swan song” of the great singer. This work was a success: Sobinov’s tombstone is one of the most beautiful monuments in the Moscow Novodevichy Cemetery.

Monument to Sobinov at the Moscow Novodevichy Cemetery

The bulk of Vera Mukhina’s creative discoveries and ideas remained in the stage of sketches, models and drawings, replenishing the rows on the shelves of her studio and causing (albeit extremely rarely) a flow of bitternesstheir tears of the powerlessness of the creator and woman.

Vera Mukhina. Portrait of the artist Mikhail Nesterov

“He chose everything himself, the statue, my pose, and point of view. I determined the exact size of the canvas myself. Everything - myself", - said Mukhina. Confessed: “I can’t stand it when they see how I work. I never allowed myself to be photographed in the workshop. But Mikhail Vasilyevich certainly wanted to write me at work. I couldn't do not give in to his urgent desire.”

Boreas. 1938

Nesterov wrote it while sculpting “Borey”: “I worked continuously while he wrote. Of course, I couldn’t start something new, but I was finalizing... as Mikhail Vasilyevich correctly put it, I started darning.”.

Nesterov wrote willingly and with pleasure. “Something is coming out,” he reported to S.N. Durylin. The portrait he painted is amazing in the beauty of its composition (Borey, jumping off his pedestal, seems to be flying towards the artist), and in the nobility of its color scheme: a dark blue robe, with a white blouse underneath; the subtle warmth of its shade competes with the matte pallor of the plaster, which is further enhanced by the bluish-lilac reflections from the robe playing on it.

In a few yearsBefore this, Nesterov wrote to Shadra: “She and Shadr are the best and, perhaps, the only real sculptors we have,” he said. “He is more talented and warmer, she is smarter and more skilled.”This is how he tried to show her - smart and skilled. With attentive eyes, as if weighing the figure of Borey, eyebrows drawn together in concentration, sensitive, able to calculate every movement with his hands.

Not a work blouse, but neat, even smart clothes - how effectively the bow of the blouse is pinned with a round red brooch. His shadar is much softer, simpler, more frank. Does he care about a suit - he's at work! And yet the portrait went far beyond the framework originally outlined by the master. Nesterov knew this and was glad about it. The portrait does not speak of intelligent skill - it speaks of creative imagination, curbed by will; about passion, holding backoccupied by the mind. About the very essence of the artist’s soul.

It's interesting to compare this portrait with photographs, made with Mukhina during work. Because, even though Vera Ignatievna did not allow photographers into the studio, there are such photographs - Vsevolod took them.

Photo 1949 - working on the statuette “Root in the role of Mercutio”. Closed eyebrows, a transverse fold on the forehead and the same intense gaze as in the portrait of Nesterov. The lips are also pursed slightly questioningly and at the same time decisively.

The same ardent power of touching a figurine, a passionate desire to pour a living soul into it through the trembling of fingers.

Another message

The leading theme of the sculptor’s work has always been the glorification of the spiritual beauty of Soviet people.

“In bronze, marble, wood, images of people of the heroic era were sculpted with a bold and strong chisel - a single image of man and humanity, marked by the unique stamp of great years,” wrote art critic D. Arkin about the art of Mukhina, whose work largely determined the appearance of the new Soviet art. Vera Ignatievna Mukhina was born into a wealthy merchant family. Soon after the death of the mother, father and daughter moved from Riga to Crimea and settled in Feodosia. There, the future artist received her first lessons in drawing and painting from a local high school art teacher. Under his leadership, she copied paintings by the famous marine painter in the I.K. Aivazovsky gallery and painted landscapes of Taurida.

Mukhina graduates from high school in Kursk, where her guardians take her after her father’s death. At the end of the 1900s, a young girl travels to Moscow, where she firmly decides to take up painting. In 1909-1911 she was a student in the private studio of K.F. Yuon. During these years, Mukhina first showed interest in sculpture. In parallel with her painting and drawing classes with Yuon and Dudin, she visited the studio of the self-taught sculptor N.A. Sinitsina, located on Arbat, where for a reasonable fee she could get a place to work, a machine and clay. Students from private art schools and students from the Stroganov School studied in the studio; there were no teachers here; a model was set up, and everyone sculpted it as best they could. Often her neighbor, the sculptor N.A. Andreev, known for his recently opened monument to N.V. Gogol, came into Sinitsina’s studio. He was interested in the work of the students of Stroganov, where he taught sculpture. He often stopped at the works of Vera Mukhina, the originality of whose artistic style he immediately noted.

From Yuon at the end of 1911, Mukhina moved to the studio of the painter I.I. Mashkov. At the end of 1912 she goes to Paris. As in early XIX centuries, Russian painters and sculptors sought to go to Rome, so at the beginning of the 20th century the young generation dreamed of getting to Paris, which became the trendsetter of new artistic tastes. In Paris, Mukhina entered the Grand Chaumiere Academy, where the sculpture class was led by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. The Russian artist studied for two years with Rodin’s former assistant, whose sculpture attracted her with its “irrepressible temperament” and genuine monumentality. Simultaneously with Bourdelle’s classes at the Academy fine arts Mukhina is taking an anatomy course. The artistic education of the young sculptor is complemented by the very atmosphere of the French capital with its architectural and sculptural monuments, theaters, museums, art galleries.

In the summer of 1914, Vera Ignatievna returned to Moscow. The First World War, which began in August, radically changed the usual way of life. Mukhina left sculpture, entered nursing courses, and worked in a hospital in 1915-1917. The revolution returns the artist to the field of art. Together with many Russian sculptors, she participates in the implementation of Lenin's grandiose plan of monumental propaganda. Within its framework, Mukhina is creating a monument to I.N. Novikov, a Russian public figure of the 18th century, publicist and publisher. Unfortunately, both versions of the monument, including the one approved by the People's Commissariat for Education, perished in the sculptor's unheated workshop in the harsh winter of 1918-1919.

Vera Ignatievna participates and wins in a number of sculpture competitions, often held in the first post-revolutionary years; She completed the projects of the monuments “Revolution” for Klin and “Liberated Labor” for Moscow. The sculptor finds the most interesting solution in the design of the monument to Ya.M. Sverdlov (1923), where the allegorical male figure rushing upward with a torch in his hand personifies the selfless service to the cause of the revolution of the faithful Bolshevik-Leninist. This project is better known under the motto “Flame of the Revolution”. By the mid-20s, an individual artistic style a master who increasingly moved away from abstract allegory and conventionally schematic solutions in the spirit of Cubism. The program work was the two-meter "Peasant Woman" (1926, plaster, Tretyakov Gallery), which appeared at the exhibition of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. The monumentality of forms, the accentuated architectonics of sculpture, the power of artistic generalization are now becoming distinctive features easel and monumental sculpture by Mukhina.

In 1936, the Soviet Union began preparations for the World Exhibition "Art, Technology and modern life". The author of the multi-stage Soviet pavilion, architect B.M. Iofan, proposed completing its 33-meter head pylon with a two-figure sculptural group with the emblem of our state - a hammer and sickle. The plaster sketch by Mukhina, who developed this theme together with other artists, was recognized as the best. To the sculptor, always dreaming of grandiose scales, had to lead the complex work of manufacturing a 25-meter statue with a total weight of about 75 tons. The sculptural frame, consisting of steel trusses and beams, was gradually covered with plates of chromium-nickel steel. The group symbolized the union of the working class and the peasantry, made of. the latest materials using industrial methods, conveyed, in the words of the sculptor, that “cheerful and powerful impulse that characterizes our country.” And at present, the monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”, the plastic power of which “is not so much in the beauty of its monumental forms, but in the rapid and clear rhythm of a strong-willed gesture, in a precisely found and powerful movement forward and upward,” occupies a place of honor at the entrance to VDNKh in Moscow, where it was installed in 1938 with minor compositional changes.

In 1929, Mukhina created one of her best monuments - a monument to M. Gorky for the city that bears his name. The figure of the writer, slightly elongated vertically, standing on the banks of his native Volga can be read in a clear silhouette. The characteristic swing of the head completes the image created by the sculptor of the “petrel of the revolution”, who emerged from the people of a rebel writer. In the 1930s, Mukhina also worked in memorial sculpture: she especially successfully designed the tombstone of M.A. Peshkov (1935) with a carved marble full height a figure with a thoughtfully bowed head and hands tucked into his trouser pockets.

The leading theme of the sculptor’s work has always been the glorification of the spiritual beauty of Soviet people. Simultaneously with the creation in monumental sculpture of a generalized image of a contemporary - the builder of a new world, this theme was developed by the master in an easel portrait. In the 30s, the heroes of the sculptor’s portrait gallery were doctor A.A. Zamkov and architect S.A. Zamkov, director A.P. Dovzhenko and ballerina M.T. Semenova. During the war years, Mukhina’s portraits became more concise, all unnecessary effects were removed. The material is also changing: the previously often used marble is replaced by bronze, which, according to A.V. Bakushinsky, gives more opportunities “for constructing forms in sculpture designed for silhouette, for movement.” Portraits of Colonels I.L. Khizhnyak and B.A. Yusupov (both - 1943, bronze, Tretyakov Gallery), "Partisan" (1942, plaster, Tretyakov Gallery), for all their individuality, have the typical features of a wartime Soviet man of composure, decisive readiness to fight against the enemy.

In the post-war years, V.I. Mukhina continued to work in monumental sculpture. With a group of assistants, she translates into bronze the sculptural design of the monument to M. Gorky by I.D. Shadra (in 1951 it was opened on the square in front of the Belorussky railway station in Moscow). In 1954, after the death of Vera Ignatievna Mukhina, a monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky, on which she worked in 1948-1949, was cast and installed in front of the Conservatory building in Moscow.

Vera Mukhina was born on July 1, 1889 in Riga into a merchant family. As a child, she lived in Feodosia (1892-1904), where her father brought her after the death of her mother.

Having moved to Moscow, Vera Mukhina studied in the private art studio of Konstantin Yuon and Ivan Dudin (1908-1911), and worked in the sculpture studio of Nina Sinitsina (1911). Then she moved to the studio of the painter Ilya Mashkov, one of the leaders of the group of innovative artists “Jack of Diamonds”.

She continued her education in Paris in the private studio of F. Colarossi (1912-1914). She also attended the Grande Chaumire Academy (Acadmie de la Grande Chaumire), where she studied with the famous French monumental sculptor Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. At the same time, I took an anatomy course at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1914 she traveled to Italy, where she studied Renaissance art.

In 1915-1917, during the First World War, she was a nurse in a hospital in Moscow. At the same time, from 1916 she worked as an assistant to production designer Alexandra Ekster in Chamber Theater under the leadership of Alexander Tairov.

After the October Revolution, the country adopted a plan for the so-called “monumental propaganda”, within the framework of which sculptors received orders from the state for city monuments. In 1918, Vera Mukhina completed the design of a monument to Novikov, a Russian public figure of the 18th century, which was approved by the People's Commissariat for Education. However, the clay model, which was stored in an unheated workshop, cracked from the cold.

In 1919 she joined the Monolit association. In 1924 she became a member of the "4 Arts" association, and in 1926 - the Society of Russian Sculptors.

In 1923, she participated in the design of the pavilion of the Izvestia newspaper for the first All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Exhibition in Moscow.

In 1926-27 she taught in the modeling class of the Art and Industrial College at the Toy Museum, from 1927 to 1930 - at the Higher Art and Technical Institute in Moscow.

By the end of the 1920s, easel sculptures"Julia", "Wind", "Peasant Woman". In 1927, "Peasant Woman" was awarded first prize at the exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. In 1934, the sculpture was exhibited at the International Exhibition in Venice, after which it was purchased by the Trieste Museum (Italy). After the Second World War it became the property of the Vatican Museum in Rome. The bronze cast of the sculpture was installed in the Tretyakov Gallery.

In 1937, at the World Exhibition in Paris, Vera Mukhina was awarded the Grand Prix gold medal for the composition “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”. The sculpture crowned the Soviet pavilion, designed by architect Boris Iofan. In 1939, the monument was erected in Moscow near the northern entrance to the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (now VDNH). Since 1947, the sculpture has been the emblem of the Mosfilm film studio.

From 1938 to 1939, the artist worked on sculptures for the Moskvoretsky Bridge by architect Alexei Shchusev. However, the sketches remained unfulfilled. Only one of the compositions - "Bread" - was performed by the author in large size for the exhibition "Food Industry" in 1939.

In 1942 she was awarded the title "Honored Artist of the RSFSR", in 1943 - People's Artist USSR.

In the years Patriotic War Mukhina created portraits of Colonel Khizhnyak, Colonel Yusupov, the sculpture “Partisan” (1942), as well as a number of sculptural portraits of civilians: Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova (1941), surgeon Nikolai Burdenko (1942-43), shipbuilder Alexei Krylov (1945).

Since 1947, Vera Mukhina has been a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts and a member of the academy's presidium.

Among famous works Vera Mukhina's sculptures "Revolution", "Julia", "Science" (installed near the Moscow State University building), "Earth" and "Water" (in Luzhniki), monuments to the writer Maxim Gorky, composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (installed near the Moscow Conservatory) and many others . The artist participated in the design of the Moscow metro station "Semyonovskaya" (opened in 1944), and was engaged in industrial graphics, clothing design, and design work.

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina is a laureate of five Stalin Prizes (1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1952), awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor, and the Order of Civil Merit.

The name of the sculptor was given to the Leningrad Higher Art and Industrial School. In Moscow, in the Novo-Peredelkino district, a street is named in her honor.

From Yuon at the end of 1911, Mukhina moved to the studio of the painter I.I. Mashkov. At the end of 1912 she goes to Paris. Just as at the beginning of the 19th century Russian painters and sculptors sought to go to Rome, so at the beginning of the 20th century the young generation dreamed of getting to Paris, which became the trendsetter of new artistic tastes. In Paris, Mukhina entered the Grand Chaumiere Academy, where the sculpture class was led by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. The Russian artist studied for two years with Rodin’s former assistant, whose sculpture attracted her with its “irrepressible temperament” and genuine monumentality. Simultaneously with Bourdelle’s classes at the Academy of Fine Arts, Mukhina is taking an anatomy course. The artistic education of the young sculptor is complemented by the very atmosphere of the French capital with its architectural and sculptural monuments, theaters, museums, and art galleries.

Vera Ignatievna participates and wins in a number of sculpture competitions, often held in the first post-revolutionary years; She completed the projects of the monuments “Revolution” for Klin and “Liberated Labor” for Moscow. The sculptor finds the most interesting solution in the design of the monument to Ya.M. Sverdlov (1923), where the allegorical male figure rushing upward with a torch in his hand personifies the selfless service to the cause of the revolution of the faithful Bolshevik-Leninist. This project is better known under the motto “Flame of the Revolution”. By the mid-20s, the master’s individual artistic style was taking shape, moving more and more away from abstract allegory and conventionally schematic solutions in the spirit of cubism. The program work was the two-meter "Peasant Woman" (1926, plaster, Tretyakov Gallery), which appeared at the exhibition of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. The monumentality of forms, the accentuated architectonics of sculpture, and the power of artistic generalization now become the distinctive features of Mukhina’s easel and monumental sculpture.

In 1936, the Soviet Union began preparations for the World Exhibition "Art, Technology and Modern Life". The author of the multi-stage Soviet pavilion, architect B.M. Iofan, proposed completing its 33-meter head pylon with a two-figure sculptural group with the emblem of our state - the hammer and sickle. The plaster sketch by Mukhina, who developed this theme together with other artists, was recognized as the best. The sculptor, who always dreamed of grandiose scales, had to lead the most difficult work of making a 25-meter statue with a total weight of about 75 tons. The sculptural frame, consisting of steel trusses and beams, was gradually covered with chromium-nickel steel plates. The group, symbolizing the union of the working class and the peasantry, made from the latest materials using industrial methods, conveyed, in the words of the sculptor, that “cheerful and powerful impulse that characterizes our country.” And at present, the monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”, the plastic power of which “is not so much in the beauty of its monumental forms, but in the rapid and clear rhythm of a strong-willed gesture, in a precisely found and powerful movement forward and upward,” occupies a place of honor at the entrance to VDNKh in Moscow, where it was installed in 1938 with minor compositional changes.

In 1929, Mukhina created one of her best monuments - a monument to M. Gorky for the city that bears his name. The figure of the writer, slightly elongated vertically, standing on the banks of his native Volga can be read in a clear silhouette. The characteristic swing of the head completes the image created by the sculptor of the “petrel of the revolution”, who emerged from the people of a rebel writer. In the 1930s, Mukhina also worked in memorial sculpture: she especially successfully designed the tombstone of M.A. Peshkov (1935) with a full-length figure carved from marble with a thoughtfully bowed head and hands tucked into trouser pockets.