Vera Mukhina is a well-known sculptor of the Soviet era, whose work is still remembered today. She has influenced Russian culture in many ways. Her most famous work is the monument "Worker and Collective Farm Girl", she also became famous for the creation of a faceted glass.

Personal life

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina was born in 1889 in Riga. Her family belonged to a well-known merchant family. Father, Ignatius Mukhin, was a major merchant and patron of sciences and arts. The parental home of an outstanding artist can be seen today.

In 1891, at the age of two, the girl loses her mother - the woman dies of tuberculosis. The father begins to worry about his daughter and her health, so he transports her to Feodosia, where they live together until 1904 - this year her father dies. After that, Vera and her sister moved to Kursk to live with her relatives.

Already in childhood, Vera Mukhina begins to draw with enthusiasm and understands that art inspires her. She enters the gymnasium and graduates with honors. After Vera moves to Moscow. The girl gives all her time to her hobby: she becomes a student of such famous sculptors as Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon, Ivan Osipovich Dudin and Ilya Ivanovich Mashkov.

On Christmas Day 1912, Vera travels to Smolensk to visit her uncle, and there an accident occurs to her. A 23-year-old girl is riding a sleigh down a mountain and crashes into a tree, a branch severely injures her nose. Doctors promptly sew him up in a Smolensk hospital, and later Vera undergoes several plastic surgeries in France. After all the manipulations, the famous sculptor's face takes on rough male forms, this confuses the girl, and she decides to forget about dancing in eminent houses, which she adored in her youth.

Since 1912, Vera has been actively studying painting, studying in France and Italy. Most of all she is interested in the direction of the Renaissance. The girl goes through such schools as the Colarossi studio, the Grand Chaumier Academy.

Vera returns home two years later, and Moscow does not welcome her at all: the First World War begins. The girl is not afraid of hard times, she quickly masters the profession of a nurse and works in a military hospital. It was at this tragic time in the life of Vera that a happy event occurs - she meets her future husband Alexei Zamkov, a military doctor. By the way, it was he who became for Bulgakov the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky in the story "Heart of a Dog". After that, the son Vsevolod will appear in the family, who will become a famous physicist.

In the future, until her death, Vera Ignatievna is engaged in sculpture and the disclosure of young talents. On October 6, 1953, Vera Mukhina died of angina pectoris, which is most often the result of hard physical work and great emotional stress. There were many first and second in the life of the sculptor. This is a brief biography of a famous Soviet woman.

Creativity and work

In 1918, Vera Mukhina for the first time received a state order to create a monument to Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov, a well-known publicist and educator. The layout of the monument was made and even approved, but it was made of clay and stood for some time in a cold workshop, as a result of which it cracked, so the project was never implemented.

At the same time, Mukhina Vera Ignatievna creates sketches of the following monuments:

• Vladimir Mikhailovich Zagorsky (revolutionary).
• Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (political and statesman).
• Monument "Liberated Labor".
• Monument "Revolution".

In 1923, Vera Mukhina and Alexandra Alexandrovna Exter were invited to decorate the hall for the Izvestia newspaper at the Agricultural Exhibition. Women create a sensation with their work: they amaze the audience with their creativity and rich imagination.

However, Vera is known not only as a sculptor, she also owns other works. In 1925, she created a collection of clothes for women in France together with fashion designer Nadezhda Lamanova. The peculiarity of this clothing was that it was created from unusual materials: cloth, peas, canvas, calico, matting, wood.

Since 1926, the sculptor Vera Mukhina began to contribute not only to the development of art, but also to education, working as a teacher. The woman taught at the Art College and at the Higher Art and Technical Institute. Vera Mukhina gave impetus to the creative destiny of many Russian sculptors.

In 1927, the world-famous sculpture "Peasant Woman" was created. After winning the first place at the exhibition dedicated to October, the monument's journey around the world begins: first, the sculpture goes to the Trieste Museum, and after the Second World War it “moves” to the Vatican.

Probably, we can say that at this time the flowering of the sculptor's creativity falls. Many people have a direct association: “Vera Mukhina -“ Worker and Collective Farm Girl ”- and this is not accidental. This is the most famous monument not only to Mukhina, but in principle in Russia. The French wrote that it is the greatest work of world sculpture of the 20th century.

The statue reaches a height of 24 meters, and certain lighting effects are calculated in its design. As conceived by the sculptor, the sun should illuminate the figures from the front and create a glow, which is visually perceived as if a worker and a collective farmer are floating in the air. In 1937, the sculpture was presented at the World Exhibition in France, and two years later it returned to its homeland, and Moscow took the monument back. Currently, it can be seen at VDNKh, as well as as a sign of the Mosfilm film studio.

In 1945, Vera Mukhina saved the Freedom Monument in Riga from demolition - her opinion was one of the decisive experts in the commission. In the post-war years, Vera is fond of creating portraits from clay and stone. She creates a whole gallery, which includes sculptures of the military, scientists, doctors, writers, ballerinas and composers. From 1947 until the end of her life, Vera Mukhina was a member of the presidium and an academician of the USSR Academy of Arts. Author: Ekaterina Lipatova

Name: Vera Mukhina

Age: 64 years old

Place of Birth: Riga

A place of death: Moscow

Activity: monumental sculptor

Family status: widow

Vera Mukhina - Biography

Her talent was admired by Maxim Gorky, Louis Aragon, Romain Rolland and even the "father of nations" Joseph Stalin. And she smiled less and less and reluctantly appeared in public. After all, recognition and freedom are not the same thing.

Childhood, the family of Vera Mukhina

Vera was born in Riga in 1889, the son of a wealthy merchant, Ignatius Mukhin. Mother lost early - after childbirth, she suffered from tuberculosis, from which she did not escape even in the fertile climate of southern France. Fearing that children may have a hereditary predisposition to this disease, the father moved Vera and her eldest daughter Maria to Feodosia. Here Vera saw Aivazovsky's paintings and took up brushes for the first time...

In 1911 they were brought to Moscow to look for suitors. Vera did not like this idea of ​​the guardians at once. All her thoughts were occupied by the fine arts, the world capital of which was Paris - it was there that she aspired with all her heart. In the meantime, she studied painting in Moscow art studios.

Misfortune helped Mukhina get what she wanted. In the winter of 1912, while sleighing, she crashed into a tree. The nose was almost torn off, the girl underwent 9 plastic surgeries. “Well, okay,” Vera said dryly, looking into the hospital mirror. “People live with scarier faces.” To comfort the orphan, her relatives sent her to Paris.

In the capital of France, Vera realized that her vocation was to be a sculptor. Mukhina was mentored by Bourdelle, a student of the legendary Rodin. One remark from the teacher - and she smashed her next work to smithereens. Her idol is Michelangelo, the genius of the Renaissance. If you sculpt, then no worse than him!

Paris gave Vera and great love - in the person of the fugitive SR-terrorist Alexander Vertepov. In 1915, the lovers parted: Alexander went to the front to fight on the side of France, and Vera went to Russia to visit her relatives. There she was caught by the news of the death of her fiancé and the October Revolution.

Oddly enough, the merchant's daughter with a European education accepted the revolution with understanding. During the First World War and during the Civil War she worked as a nurse. Saved dozens of lives, including her future husband.

Vera Mukhina - biography of personal life

The young doctor Alexei Zamkov was dying of typhus. For a whole month, Mukhina did not leave the patient's bed. The better the patient got, the worse Vera herself: the girl realized that she had fallen in love again. She did not dare to talk about her feelings - the doctor was painfully handsome. Everything was decided by chance. In the fall of 1917, a shell hit the hospital. From the explosion, Vera lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she saw the frightened face of Zamkov. "If you died, I would die too!" Alexei blurted out in one breath...

At the age of 4, the boy injured his leg, tuberculous inflammation began in the wound. All doctors in Moscow refused to operate on the child, considering him hopeless. Then Zamkov operated on his son at home, on the kitchen table. And Vsevolod recovered!

Works by Vera Mukhina

In the late 1920s, Mukhina returned to the profession. The first success of the sculptor was the work called "Peasant Woman". Unexpectedly for Vera Ignatievna herself, the “folk goddess of fertility” received a laudatory review from the famous artist Ilya Mashkov and a grand prix at the exhibition “10 Years of October”. And after the exhibition in Venice, "Peasant Woman" was bought by one of the museums in Trieste. Today, this creation by Mukhina adorns the collection of the Vatican Museum in Rome.

In 1930, the couple decided to escape to Latvia. The idea was planted by agent provocateur Akhmed Mutushev, who appeared to Zamkov under the guise of a patient. In Kharkov, the fugitives were arrested and taken to Moscow. They interrogated me for 3 months, and then they exiled me to Voronezh.

The essence of the competition was simple: to create a monument glorifying communism. The year 1937 was approaching, and with it the World Exhibition of Science and Technology in Paris. The pavilions of the USSR and the Third Reich were located opposite each other, which complicated the task for the sculptors. The world had to understand that the future belongs to communism, not Nazism.

Mukhina put up the sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Girl" for the competition, and unexpectedly won for everyone. Of course, the project had to be finalized. The commission ordered both figures to be dressed (Vera Ignatievna had them naked), and Voroshilov advised "to remove the bags under the girl's eyes."

Inspired by the era, the sculptor decided to assemble figures from sparkling sheets of steel. Before Mukhina, only the Eiffel with the Statue of Liberty in the USA decided on such a thing. "We will surpass him!" - Vera Ignatievna confidently declared.

In Moscow, the Parisian euphoria of Vera Ignatievna quickly dissipated. Firstly, her "Worker and Collective Farm Girl" was badly damaged during delivery to her homeland. Secondly, they installed it on a low pedestal and not at all where Mukhina wanted (the architect saw her creation either on the arrow of the Moscow River or on the observation deck of Moscow State University).

Thirdly, Gorky died, and the persecution of Alexei Zamkov flared up with renewed vigor. The doctor's institute was plundered, and he himself was transferred to the position of an ordinary therapist in an ordinary clinic. All appeals to Stalin had no effect. In 1942, Zamkov died due to the consequences of a second heart attack ...

Once in Mukhina's studio, a call came from the Kremlin. "Comrade Stalin wants to have a bust of your work," the official minted. The sculptor replied: “Let Joseph Vissarionovich come to my studio. Sessions from nature are required. Vera Ignatievna could not even think that her businesslike answer would offend the suspicious leader.

From that day Mukhina was in disgrace. She continued to receive Stalin's prizes, orders and sit on architectural commissions. But at the same time, she did not have the right to travel abroad, hold personal exhibitions, or even take ownership of a workshop house in Prechistensky Lane. Stalin played with Mukhina like a cat with a mouse: he did not finish off completely, but he did not give freedom either.

Vera Ignatievna survived her tormentor for half a year - she died on October 6, 1953. The last work of Mukhina was the composition "Peace" for the dome of the Stalingrad planetarium. A majestic woman holds a globe from which a dove takes off. It's not just a testament. This is forgiveness.

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina

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

Biography

IN AND. Mukhina was born on 06/19/07/1889 in Riga, in the family of a wealthy merchant. After the death of her mother, Vera moved with her father and older sister Maria in 1892 to the Crimea, to Feodosia. 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 woke up with a craving for painting. The father dreamed that the youngest daughter would continue his work, the character - stubborn, persistent - the girl went into him. God did not give him a son, and he did not count on his eldest daughter - only balls and entertainment were important for Mary. But Vera inherited a passion for art from her mother. Nadezhda Vilgelmovna Mukhina, nee Mude (she had French roots), could sing a little, write poetry and draw her favorite daughters in her album.

Vera received her first drawing and painting lessons from a drawing teacher at the gymnasium where she entered to study. Under his guidance, she copied Aivazovsky's paintings in a local art gallery. The girl did it with full dedication, getting great pleasure from work. But a happy childhood, where everything is predetermined and understandable, 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, graduating in 1906. The following year, Mukhina with her sister and uncles went to live in Moscow.

In the capital, Vera did her best to continue her study of painting. To begin with, she entered a private painting studio to Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich, 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 of 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 - to the capital-legislator of new artistic tastes. There she could continue her education in sculpture, which she lacked. The fact that she has this ability, Vera did not doubt. After all, the sculptor N. A. Andreev himself, who often looked into the workshop of Sinitsyna, repeatedly noted her work. He was known as the author of the monument to Gogol. Therefore, the girl listened to the opinion of Andreev. Only the guardian uncles were against the departure of the niece. An accident helped: Vera was visiting relatives on an estate near Smolensk, when she was driving down a mountain on a sled, she broke her nose. Local doctors helped. Uncle Vera was sent to Paris to recover. So, the dream came true, even at such a high price. In the capital of France, Mukhina underwent several nose jobs. Throughout her treatment, she took lessons at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière from the renowned French muralist E. A. Bourdelle, Rodin's former assistant, whose work she admired. The very atmosphere of the city - architecture, sculptural monuments - helped her to replenish her art education. In her free time, Vera visited theaters, museums, and art galleries. At the end of the treatment, Mukhina went on a trip to France and Italy, visited Nice, Menton, Genoa, Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice and others.

Vera Mukhina in a 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 to continue her studies, but the First World War began, 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, unexpectedly in 1915 she herself fell seriously ill. 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, Alexei Zamkov, undertook to treat Mukhina and put her on her feet. Vera fell in love with him. The love turned out to be mutual. One day Mukhina will say: “Alexey has a very strong creative beginning. Internal monumentality. And at the same time a lot from the man. Outward rudeness with great spiritual subtlety. Besides, he was very handsome.” They lived in a civil marriage for almost two years, signed in 1918 on August 11, when the civil war was in full swing in the country. Despite the illness and employment in the hospital, Vera found time for creative work. She participated in the design of the performance "Famira Kifared" by I.F. Annensky and director A.Ya. Tairova at the Moscow Chamber Theatre, 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 implemented) 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 in poverty, starving, since Vera also lost all her money. But she was satisfied with her life, she devoted herself entirely to work. Mukhina actively participated in Lenin's plan for monumental propaganda. Her work was a monument to I.N. Novikov, a Russian public figure of the 18th 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 survived.

Although Mukhina accepted the revolution, her family did not escape the troubles of the policy of the new state. Once, when Alexei went to Petrograd on business, he was arrested by the Cheka. He was lucky that Uritsky headed the Cheka, otherwise Vera Mukhina could have remained a widow. Before the revolution, Zamkov hid Uritsky from the secret police at home, now it's time for an old acquaintance to help him out. As a result, Alexei was released and changed his documents on the advice of Uritsky, now his origin was a peasant. But Zamkov was disappointed in the new government and was planning to emigrate, Vera did not support him - she had a job. A sculptural competition was announced in the country, she was going to participate in it. On the instructions of the competition, Vera worked on the projects of the monuments "Revolution" for Klin and "Emancipated Labor" for Moscow.

In the first post-revolutionary years, sculptural competitions were often held in the country, Vera Mukhina actively participated in them. Alexei had to come to terms with his wife's desire and stay in Russia. By that time, Vera had already become a happy mother; her son, Seva, was born on May 9, 1920. And again, misfortune came to the Mukhina family: in 1924, the son became very ill, the 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 accept such a verdict. So, as once Vera, he begins to treat his son himself. He takes a risk and performs surgery on him at home on the dining table. The operation was successful, after which Seva spent a year and a half in a cast and walked on crutches for a year. In the end, he recovered.

Vera has been torn between home and work all this time. In 1925, she proposed a new project for the monument to Ya. M. Sverdlov. Mukhina's next competitive work was the two-meter "Peasant Woman" for the 10th anniversary of October. And again trouble came to the Mukhina family. In 1927, her husband was expelled from the party and exiled to Voronezh. Vera could not follow him, she worked - she taught at an art school. Mukhina lived at a frantic pace - she worked fruitfully in Moscow and often went to her husband in Voronezh. But it couldn’t go on for so long, Vera couldn’t stand it, she moved to live with her husband. Only such an act did not go unnoticed for Mukhina, in 1930 she was arrested, but soon released, since Gorky stood up for her. During the two years that Vera spent in Voronezh, she designed the Palace of Culture.

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

Glory to Mukhina came in 1937, during the World Exhibition in Paris. The Soviet pavilion, which stood on the banks of the Seine, was crowned by Mukhina's sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman". She made a splash. The idea of ​​the sculpture belonged to the architect B.M. Iofan. Mukhina worked on this project with other sculptors, but her plaster sketch was the best. In 1938, this monument was erected at the entrance to VDNKh. In the thirties, Mukhina also worked on 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 sculpture gallery were Dr. 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 she returned to Moscow. And then misfortune struck her again - her husband died of a heart attack. This misfortune happened precisely on the 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. Yevgeny Vakhtangov and on the project of the monument to the Defenders of Sevastopol. Unfortunately, it has not been implemented.

Vera Mukhina with her husband Alexei Zamkov

Sculpture

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

1918- a monument to N.I. Novikov for Moscow according to the Leninist plan of monumental propaganda (the monument was not realized).

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

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

1926-1927- sculptures "Wind", "Female torso" (wood).

1927- the statue "Peasant Woman" for the 10th anniversary of October.

1930- sculptures "Portrait of a grandfather", "Portrait of A.A. Zamkov". The 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- a project of sculptural decoration of the USSR pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937.

Sculpture Mukhina "Worker and Collective Farm Girl"

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

1938- a monument to "Saving the Chelyuskinites" (not implemented), 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 May Day Square in Gorky, architects P.P. Shteller, V.I. Lebedev). Sculptural decoration of the Soviet pavilion at the 1939 International Exhibition in New York.

Late 30s- According to the sketches of Mukhina and with her participation, the "Kremlin Service" (crystal), vases "Lotus", "Bell", "Astra", "Turnip" (crystal and glass) were made in Leningrad. The 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 the monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky for Moscow (installed in 1954 in front of the building of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory). Portraits of A.N. Krylova, E.A. Mravinsky, F.M. Ermler and H. Johnson.

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

1949-1951- together with N.G. Zelenskaya and Z.G. Ivanova, a 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 railway station.

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

June 19 (July 1), 1889 - October 6, 1953
- Russian (Soviet) sculptor. People's Artist of the USSR (1943). Active member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947). Winner of five Stalin Prizes (1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1952). From 1947 to 1953 -
member of the Presidium of the Academy of Arts of the USSR.

Many creations of Vera Ignatievna have become symbols of the Soviet era. And when a work becomes a symbol, it is impossible to judge its artistic value - the symbolic one will somehow distort it. The sculptures of Vera Mukhina were popular as long as the ponderous Soviet monumentalism, so dear to the heart of the Soviet leaders, was in fashion, and were forgotten or ridiculed later.

Many of Mukhina's works had a difficult fate. And Vera Ignatievna herself lived a difficult life, where worldwide recognition coexisted with the possibility of losing her husband at any moment or going to jail herself. Did her genius save her? No, the recognition of this genius by the powerful of this world rescued. Rescued style, surprisingly coincided with the tastes of those who built the Soviet state.

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina was born on July 1 (June 19 according to the old style), 1889, into a wealthy merchant family in Riga. Soon Vera and her sister lost their mother and then their father. The father's brothers took care of the girls, and the sisters were not offended in any way by the guardians. The children studied at the gymnasium, and then Vera moved to Moscow, where she took painting and sculpture lessons.

.
In Paris, the Mecca of artists, the guardians were still afraid to let the young girl go, and Vera was brought there not by talent, but by an accident. While sleighing, the girl fell and severely injured her nose. And in order to preserve the beauty of the niece, the uncles had to send her to the best plastic surgeon in Paris. Where Vera, taking advantage of the opportunity, stayed for two years, studying sculpture with the famous sculptor Bourdelle and attending anatomy courses.

In 1914 Vera returned to Moscow. During the First World War, she worked as a nurse in a hospital, where she met her future husband, surgeon Alexei Andreyevich Zamkov. They married in 1918, and two years later Vera gave birth to a son. This couple miraculously survived the storms of revolution and repression. She is a merchant family, he is a nobleman, both have a difficult character and "non-working" professions. However, Vera Mukhina's sculptures won many creative competitions, and in the 1920s she became a well-known and recognized master.

Her sculptures are somewhat heavy, but full of power and indescribable healthy animal strength. They perfectly correspond to the calls of the leaders: "Let's build!", "We'll catch up and overtake!" and "Let's overfulfill the plan!" Her women, judging by their appearance, can not only stop a galloping horse, but also lift a tractor on their shoulders.

Revolutionaries and peasant women, communists and partisans - socialist Venus and Mercury - the ideals of beauty, which all Soviet citizens should have been equal to. Their heroic proportions, of course, for most people, were almost unattainable (like the modern standards of a fashion model 90-60-90), but it was very important to strive for them.

Vera Mukhina loved to work from life. The sculptural portraits of her husband and some of her friends are far less known than her symbolic works. In 1930, the couple decide to flee the Union, tired of harassment and denunciations and expecting the worst, but in Kharkov they are removed from the train and taken to Moscow. Thanks to the intercession of Gorky and Ordzhonikidze, the fugitives receive a very mild punishment -
exile for three years in Voronezh.

From the iron broom of the thirty-eighth, Vera is saved by "Worker and Collective Farm Girl". Among many projects, the architect B. Iofan chose this one. The sculpture adorned the USSR pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris, and the name of Vera Mukhina became known to the whole world. Vera Mukhina is congratulated, awarded orders and prizes, and most importantly, now she has been saved from persecution. She is entrusted with teaching at an art university. Later, she goes to work in the experimental workshop of the Leningrad Porcelain Factory.

After the war, Vera Mukhina worked on the monument to M. Gorky (designed by I.D. Shadr) and P.I. Tchaikovsky, which was installed in front of the Conservatory building after her death.

Vera Mukhina: Socialist Art

Vera Mukhina and Alexei Zamkov, TV program "More than love"

Vera Mukhina, TV show
"How the idols left"

Museum of Vera Mukhina in Feodosia

Museum

virtual trip
around the museum V. I. Mukhina

Mukhina, Vera Ignatievna- Vera Ignatievna Mukhina. MUKHINA Vera Ignatievna (1889-1953), sculptor. Early works are romantically elevated, laconic, generalized in form (“Flame of the Revolution”, 1922-23), in the 30s. symbolic (symbols of the new system in the USSR) work ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Soviet sculptor, People's Artist of the USSR (1943), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). She studied in Moscow (1909–12) with K. F. Yuon and I. I. Mashkov, and also in Paris (1912–14) with E. A. Bourdelle. From 1909 she lived ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (1889 1953), Soviet sculptor. People's Artist of the USSR (1943), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). She studied in Moscow (1909-12) with K.F. Yuon and I.I. Mashkov, and also in Paris (1912-14) with E.A. Bourdelle. She taught at the MVHPU (1926 27) and ... ... Art Encyclopedia

- (1889 1953) Russian sculptor, People's Artist of the USSR (1943), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). Early works are romantically elevated, laconic, generalized in form (Flame of the Revolution, 1922-23), in the 30s. symbolic (symbols of the new ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Genus. 1889, mind. 1953. Sculptor. Student of K. Yuon, E. A. Bourdelle. Works: "Flame of the Revolution" (1922-23), "Peasant Woman" (1927), group "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" (1935-37), tombstone of M. A. Peshkov (1935), group ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

- (1889 1953), sculptor, People's Artist of the USSR (1943), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). Early works are romantically elevated, laconic, generalized in form (The Flame of the Revolution, 1922-23); in the 30s. created symbolic works ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1889, Riga 1953, Moscow), sculptor, People's Artist of the USSR (1943), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). She studied in Moscow in the studio of K.F. Yuon (1909-11). In those same years, she met the artist L.S. Popova, who not only ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Vera Muhina Vera Mukhina. Portrait by artist Mikhail Nesterov Date of birth ... Wikipedia

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina Vera Muhina Vera Mukhina. Portrait by artist Mikhail Nesterov Date of birth ... Wikipedia

Books

• Series "Life in Art". Outstanding painters and sculptors (set of 50 books),. Life in art... A beautiful romantic image, but how much do we know about what it means to live in art. We admire paintings and books, sometimes not even assuming that their authors died ...