Sculptor Trubetskoy Pavel: biography, art and architecture

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

Born in sunny Italy, far from his native Russian expanses, sculptor Pavel Trubetskoy gained fame in the creative field at the beginning of the 20th century. His work was highly regarded by famous sculptors, painters and writers of the time. The style in which he works, laconic and at the same time raging with energy, can be described as kind, perhaps even a little naive, but warm and somehow seeming native.

The very personality of the successful sculptor was contradictory, very contrasting. He basically did not read books, his good friend and part-time famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy called him primitive and unusually talented. Tall and stately, but also rather modest and silent, Pavel has seen a lot in his lifetime, his biography is dotted with interesting moments, which the reader will soon see for himself.

Pavel Trubetskoy's parents

Back in 1863, the father of the eminent sculptor Trubetskoy, Prince Peter Trubetskoy, whomoment at the Russian royal court, by order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was sent as a diplomat to Florence. Here he meets his love and future wife, singer Ada Winans, who came from the USA to Italy, to a city on the Arno River, to take singing lessons and develop her musical abilities to a greater extent.

Despite the fact that he was already married to a Russian girl, Peter decided at first to be in Ada in a civil marriage, gradually fussing over a divorce from his first wife, which he achieved only in 1870. When the information reached the royal court, Alexander II became very angry, forbidding Trubetskoy to return to his homeland in order to prevent the “spirit of debauchery” from entering it. At this time, the family couple already lives in the north of Italy in the city of Intra under the name Stahl, where their children, 3 boys, were born. The middle one was Paolo, who was born in 1866.

Childhood and youth

The future sculptor P. P. Trubetskoy was born in a house on the shore of a quiet lake Lago Maggiore. From an early age, mother, being a creative person, instilled in her son a love for music, literature and art in general. The well-known painter Daniele Ranzoni was a frequent guest in the Trubetskoy's house, who in fact was not Pavel's teacher, but was his spiritual mentor, moving him in a creative direction.

At the age of 8, he sculpts his first work in wax, and immediately after it, the next one in marble called "Resting Deer". His first works were duly appreciated by the sculptor J. Grandi, who immediately noticed a talented child.

SFrom 1877 to 1878, Pavel studies at an elementary school in Milan, after completing it, he enters a technical school, where he was not at all interested in studying. Later he entered college in Intra, and in 1884 he made his first, but short-term trip to Russia with his relatives. After returning from a short tour, Pavel began to seriously engage in sculpture, taking professional lessons from such masters as J. Grandi, E. Bazarro. However, he never received a formal education.

Career start

In 1885, Pavel buys a studio in Milan, and a year later in the same city he participates in an exhibition, during which the general public responded extremely positively to his work "Horse". Animalism, as a genre of fine arts, occupies at that time a dominant position in the work of the novice sculptor Trubetskoy. After an exhibition in Milan, he slowly begins to travel around the world, the first foreign exhibition was held in San Francisco, USA. His works are in demand, they are bought by Counts Visconte and Durini.

In 1886, the Trubetskoy family went bankrupt, Pavel began an independent life. He roams from place to place, surviving with intermittent earnings, painting portraits to order. In 1890, the sculptor actively participated in various competitions. So, for example, for the project of the monument to Gribaldi, Pavel receives the first award in his life. The second one he received a year later for the project of the sculpture of Dante in the city of Trento. In the mid-1890s, the sculptor Trubetskoy took part in many European exhibitions and enlisted the support of the famouscriticism of Vittorio Pica.

Russia. Fruitful 4 years

Only in 1896 Trubetskoy came to Russia with serious intentions, as a well-known sculptor in wide circles. His arrival did not go unnoticed: Prince Lvov, director of the School of Painting and Architecture in Moscow, offers him to teach sculpture at the school, to which Pavel willingly agrees. Already by 1898, he became a professor of sculpture in an educational institution, to which Pavel devoted 6 years of his life.

At the school, attention to his person was unprecedented: a separate huge workshop was built especially for him, in which there were even special furnaces and machines for foundry work. In this workshop, he creates the first serious bronze work called "Moscow cabman", distinguished by sincerity and smooth forms.

Meet new people

The first 5 years of life in Russia were extremely fruitful for the sculptor Trubetskoy in terms of both the creative process and immersion in Russian realities, acquiring new connections. In 1898, he met the painters I. Repin, I. Levitan, and the opera singer F. Chaliapin.

At this time, he sculpts sculptures of his new acquaintances, which were highly appreciated by them. Despite his acquaintance with most of the Russian intelligentsia and representatives of culture, Trubetskoy was especially close to the famous Russian writer L. Tolstoy, with whom they became good friends.

Friendship with Leo Tolstoy

From the moment they met in 1898 until their departure from Russia in 1910, the sculptor and writer communicated well. Pavel Petrovich immediately liked Tolstoy with his open big soul, love for animals and irreverence for secular conventions. As Lev Nikolaevich himself writes, Trubetskoy was a well-mannered and extremely talented person, but at the same time completely primitive and naive, interested only in his art.

The acquaintance itself and the first meeting between Trubetskoy and Tolstoy are full of funny moments. From the very threshold, the sculptor declares that he has never read books, including Tolstoy's books, to which the writer replied: "And they did the right thing." In the future, Trubetskoy says that he has read Lev Nikolayevich's article on the dangers of smoking. To the question of its author "And how?" sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy replies that the article is good, but he has not quit smoking.

During the first two years of their acquaintance, Trubetskoy creates several bronze busts of his friend, of which the one on which the writer's arms are crossed on his chest is especially distinguished by the liveliness of the depicted mental process and the smoothness of forms. Also at this time, he creates a sculpture depicting Tolstoy on a horse, the idea for which Pavel Petrovich came up with while riding with the writer.

Great work

In 1900, the sculptor participated in the competition for the creation of a monument to Alexander III, in which the creator beat eminent rivals: Opekushin, Chizhov, Tomishko. It is worth noting here that the sculptor PaoloTrubetskoy and Alexander II, or rather his monument, are not connected with each other. The monument to Alexander II was erected in 1898 and is the work of the sculptor Opekushin.

Pavel Petrovich did not like the original version of the king sitting on the throne, so he proposed his own idea, according to which the ruler was mounted on a horse. Later, the sculptor jokingly said that his task in relation to this sculpture was to depict one animal on another, which, however, was more of a compliment, a reference to the brutal power of the king. Moreover, the sculptor was very fond of animals.

He performed a grandiose visual task - to naturally convey the moment at which the horse stops abruptly, thereby conveying the strength and weight of the action. It was also necessary to correctly maintain the proportions of the horse and the king sitting on it, to convey greatness in sculpture.

The casting of the monument lasted almost 10 years. Only in 1909 did the author manage to take a picture with his brainchild on Vosstaniya Square in St. Petersburg. The erection of the monument was perceived differently by the inhabitants of the city, the creators and the intelligentsia. Some spoke extremely positively about the work, calling it charming. Others spoke of it as the triumph of vulgarity. In any case, the monument to Alexander III is one of the most famous works of the sculptor Trubetskoy, concurrently his last work in Russia.

Life in Europe

In 1906 Trubetskoy moved to Paris, where he lived until 1914. At this time, he participates in manyexhibitions, sculpts sculptures by the famous writer B. Shaw and sculptor O. Rodin. However, the excitement for his work falls over time, the number of negative reviews increases. Some critics call his work light and immature.

During the outbreak of the First World War, the sculptor moved to the United States, where he lived until moving back to Paris in 1921. In the United States, Trubetskoy travels to major cities, showing his work. In 1922 he creates a sculpture in honor of the soldiers who fell during the First World War, which was placed in Pallanza, Italy. In Venice and Paris, Trubetskoy arranges solo exhibitions, which presented his latest works.

The sculptor spends the last 6 years of his life at Villa Cabianca in Italy, where he moved permanently 5 years after the tragic death of his wife Elin Sundstrom in 1927. From 1932 until his death in 1938, Trubetskoy exhibited his works in Spain and Egypt. His last work was the image of Christ, who mourns humanity.

General conclusion

"Russian Italian", Pavel Trubetskoy was a contrasting figure, on one side of whose personality there was talent and a desire to create, and on the other - a kind of opposition to the norms and, as L. Tolstoy put it, primitiveness. In any case, he was a kind man with an open mind who loved animals.

During his life, the sculptor created many works, the peak of his activity came at the time of his life in Russia, here he is friendswith many prominent writers, artists and other artists. His main work can be called a monument to Alexander III, which received a large number of positive reviews. It is also worth noting that the sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy and the monument to Alexander II have nothing in common. It was not Pavel who created this work in 1898, but Opekushin.