Sculptor Evgeny Vuchetich: biography and works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich… This is the name of the creator of great monuments that have survived despite decades. This is the name of a gifted sculptor whose sculptures have great symbolic meaning. This is the name of a person with a bright talent and an unusual fate.

It is interesting that the sculptor Vuchetich, whose biography is of interest to many modern lovers of plastic art, did not enjoy universal popularity and fame during his lifetime. For some reason, he was in the shadow - in the shadow of his chic monuments and grandiose sculptures, which enjoyed incredible popular recognition and love.

It is also noteworthy that during his lifetime, the sculptor Vuchetich was subjected to undeserved criticism several times by prominent masters of that time. They accused Yevgeny Viktorovich of being monumental and comprehensive, behind which, as it seemed to some, he hid his mediocrity. However, these accusations were unfounded.

Sculptor Vuchetich, whose work is really colossal, created his creations for large pedestals and elevations, so that they could be seen from afar, so that for a long timeimprinted in memory and heart. A completely understandable phenomenon. Therefore, many monuments of the sculptor Vuchetich have unsurpassed power, solidity and grandeur.

Let's get to know them better. But first, let's learn a little about the life and work of their creator.

Childhood

The future sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich was born in the winter of 1908 in a family of educated intellectuals. Mother is a teacher, French by birth, father is an engineer who tried on the rank of a White Guard officer during the Civil War.

Although Zhenya was born in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine), he spent his early childhood in the Caucasus, where his father worked in oil refineries. After the events of the October Revolution, the Vuchetichi moved to Rostov-on-Don.

From childhood, the boy showed an indomitable talent as a sculptor. He sculpted figures from everything that was at hand - from bread crumb, from plasticine, from plaster or clay. The teachers assured the parents that the child had a great future.

Youth

Evgeny Vuchetich is an educated and enlightened sculptor. In accordance with his vocation, at the age of eighteen he entered the local art school, where he studied with talented and conscientious teachers such as Chinenov and Mukhin. They were the first to consider in a gifted student the makings of a future muralist, they were the first to instill in him a love for the complex painstaking work of a sculptor, introduced him to realistic art, taught him to stubbornly and persistently go towards the goal.

Thanks to these mentors, Vuchetich began to create easily and with passion. He was not content with just working on the school curriculum. Often a talented young man visited teachers at home, honing his skills, improving technique and dexterity.

Theme

Already in that early period of his work, Yevgeny Viktorovich determined for himself the specifics of his works. It was a war theme. The novice sculptor was attracted by battles and weapons, quickly galloping horsemen and fluttering banners. Vuchetich endowed his first works with realistic romance and life expression, which will be present in all his further sculptures.

The thesis work of a talented student was a statue of a sailor aiming at the enemy. And although the figure was executed immaturely and naively, it still struck with its sincerity and tension. Subsequently, the sculpture was acquired by the Museum of the North Caucasus.

Career start

After studying at school, young Eugene entered the Leningrad Institute, where he studied for only two years. At that time, the art school was under the powerful influence of formalism. Therefore, Vuchetich, who was attracted by realistic art, did not stay in it for long. It was not studying at an educational institution that had a huge impact on him, but visiting museums and studying classical monuments of sculpture and architecture.

In 1932, a beginner sculptor returns home. Around the same time, the Communist Party issued a decree that artists should take an active part insocialist construction and communist education of workers.

In accordance with this decision, the young sculptor Vuchetich plunges into the social and creative life of Rostov. He becomes chairman of the Union of Artists and is engaged in decorative sculpture: he makes a large relief for a hotel under construction and builds a fountain for a theater park.

Architect Mentors

During this period, Eugene met famous Soviet architects such as Gelfreich and Shchuko, who had an invaluable influence on his work. The sculptor himself has repeatedly admitted this. For example, the memoirs of the sculptor Vuchetich report that he learned much of the knowledge that was useful in his future work from architects, who helped him see the full scale and virtuosity of the artwork.

Moving

At the age of twenty-seven, the young sculptor Vuchetich Evgeny Viktorovich moved to the capital of Soviet Russia, where new spaces for creativity opened up before him.

The sculptor begins to participate in international competitions and exhibitions, work in various art organizations, create projects for various monuments and work on the design of the construction of such famous objects as the Moscow Hotel and the Lenin State Library.

This period of Vuchetich's creative activity includes his famous sculptures “Kliment Voroshilov on horseback” and “Partisan”. How much fire, courage and inner strength comes from theserelief sculptures! Not surprisingly, the works were presented at the Paris Exhibition, where they received due approval and praise.

By the beginning of the 1940s, the master began to work as a portrait painter. His sculptural busts of Babenchikov, Gelfreich and Speransky amaze with their individual style and similarity with the originals. True, many works are not psychologically saturated enough. In the pre-war period, the Vuchetich sculptor focused in his skill not on conveying the emotional or internal state of the object, but on external correspondence and identity.

The Great Patriotic War

In 1941, the sculptor Vuchetich volunteered for the front, where he served on the front line as an ordinary machine gunner.

A year later he received the rank of captain, but later he was severely shell-shocked and sent to the hospital for treatment. After recovering, Evgeny Viktorovich was enrolled in the Studio of Military Artists. Thanks to this, the talented sculptor was able to visit hot front-line spots and communicate with courageous heroic people. Etudes, sketches and small sculptures, made hastily, helped Vuchetich to capture his feelings and sensations from what he saw for a long time.

What the young man himself experienced in the war, as well as what he learned and heard, remained in his heart for a long time. It prompted the sculptor to create more accurately and sincerely, conveying even the most subtle, invisible to a superficial glance, the internal psychological features and properties of objects.

Military portraits

Now more than ever EugeneViktorovich begins to sing in his works of courageous and strong people who despise their own pain and death, bravely going to a feat for the sake of others.

During this period, Vuchetich began to work on a group of portraits of military heroes. These were busts of Efremov, Vatutin, Zhukov, Rudenko and others.

The master treats the execution of work responsibly and reverently. Before meeting with the valiant sitter, Yevgeny Viktorovich tried to learn as much as possible about him, so that a personal meeting would help to consolidate the created image.

When it came to the portraits of the dead commanders, the diligent sculptor studied not only all available documentary material, but also communicated with the hero's relatives and colleagues, trying to recreate his image as vividly and accurately as possible.

Military monuments

Along with the creation of small creations, the famous sculptor begins to work on grandiose monuments in honor of the fearless defenders of the Motherland.

Here it is necessary to mention the brightest work of Vuchetich the sculptor - “The Liberator Warrior”. The monument, which was created over the course of three years, has been located in Berlin since 1949 and is considered a true symbol of valor, peace and victory over fascism.

The monument is made of bronze and granite and is a twelve-meter monument weighing seventy tons. The center of the composition is the figure of a Soviet private, trampling underfoot the fascist swastika, which symbolizes the final defeat of Nazi ideas. Both hands of the soldier are occupied - in his right he holds a loweredsword, and with his left presses to his chest the girl he saved - a child born on the land of the enemy.

The composition impresses with its power and grandiosity, as well as the seriousness of the truths contained in it.

Another interesting creation of Vuchetich is the monument-ensemble “To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad”, the compositional center of which is the sculpture “The Motherland Calls!”

Motherland

This statue is the ninth tallest statue in the world. Its height is eighty-seven meters, and its mass is eight thousand tons.

The sculpture is hollow inside, made of prestressed concrete.

Work on the monument lasted for seven years. At the time of installation, it was the tallest statue in the world.

The monument depicts a woman in flowing clothes, with a sword raised up in her right hand. This is an allegorical image of the Motherland calling on its sons to fight the oppressors of the people.

According to official figures, the wife of the sculptor Vuchetich posed for him when creating the sculpture. The sculptor himself called his work none other than the name of his wife.

However, this is not very plausible information. Outwardly, the monument does not look like the wife of Yevgeny Viktorovich, and the silhouette (or figure) of the reinforced concrete beauty is very reminiscent of the physique of one Soviet athlete - disco ball Nina Dumbadze.

Now there are several versions of who could pose for Vuchetich as a model. The sculptor's children claim that the statue was a collective image that appeared inthe imagination of the great master.

Be that as it may, the sculpture “Motherland is calling!” impresses with its inner strength and energy. She is not passive and aloof, no. She moves, she burns, she calls and waits.

Statue of Peace

Another famous sculpture by Vuchetich is the statue “Let's Forge Swords into Plowshares”, which carries the idea of world peace and harmony. The monument was erected in New York, in 1957, opposite the main entrance to the United Nations building.

The monument is based on biblical quotes and represents a strong, muscular man who, with incredible physical effort, breaks a sword in order to remake it into a tool. The power and passion of the figure are conveyed in every tense muscle of the athlete. Everything suggests that he does not want war, but seeks peace.

Private life

Sculptor Vuchetich, whose family and personal life were hidden from prying eyes for a long time, was married three times and had five children, three of whom were illegitimate.

The first wife of Yevgeny Viktorovich died early, leaving two sons to the grieving widower. This was followed by a short marriage with a beautiful art critic, several romantic hobbies and passionate dates, mostly with models. Children who were born to the sculptor without marriage were the fruits of sincere and deep love. Over the years, he has taken care of them and helped them.

The third wife of Vuchetich - Pokrovskaya Vera Vladimirovna - became his true friend and ally. She issupported the sculptor in his creative searches, praised and encouraged. It was she who was with Evgeny Viktorovich until the end of his days.

The great sculptor died at the age of sixty-five.

Awards

For his considerable contribution to Russian art, for the creation of beautiful, truly grandiose monuments, for worldwide recognition and fame, Vuchetich Evgeny Viktorovich was awarded the Stalin Prize five times and the Lenin Order twice, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and People's artist of the USSR, and also gifted with the Lenin Prize and the Order of the Patriotic War.

Recognition

In memory of the merits of Vuchetich, grateful descendants named one of the Moscow streets and one of the Dnieper squares after him, and also erected a memorial plaque and a bust monument in his honor.