Sculptor Eugene Vuchetich ... This is the name of the creator of the great monuments that have survived, despite decades. This is the name of a gifted sculptor, whose sculptures have great symbolic significance. This is the name of a person with a bright talent and an unusual fate.
It is interesting that the sculptor Vuchetich, whose biography interests many modern plastic art lovers, 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 life, the sculptor Vuchetich was several times subjected to undeserved criticism from prominent masters of that time. They accused Yevgeny Viktorovich of adhering to monumentality and comprehensiveness, behind which, as it seemed to some, he hid his mediocrity. However, the allegations were unfounded.
The sculptor Vuchetich, whose work is really colossal, created his creations for large pedestals and elevations, so that they were visible from afar, so that they could be imprinted in memory and heart for a long time. A completely explainable phenomenon. Therefore, many monuments of the sculptor Vuchetich have unrivaled power, solidity and grandeur.
Let's get to know them better. But first, we learn a little about the life and work of their creator.
Childhood
The future sculptor Eugene Vuchetich was born in the winter of 1908 in a family of educated intellectuals. His mother is a teacher, a Frenchwoman by birth, her father is an engineer who, in the Civil War, tried on the rank of White Guard officer.
Although Zhenya was born in Yekaterinoslav (now the Dnieper, 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 the indomitable talent of the sculptor. He sculpted figures from everything that was at hand - from bread crumb, from plasticine, from gypsum or clay. The teachers assured their parents that a great future awaits the child.
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 the talents of the future monumentalist in the gifted student, they were the first to instill in him a love for the painstaking painstaking work of the sculptor, to introduce realistic art, and to teach them how to persistently and persistently pursue their goals.
Thanks to these mentors, Vuchetich began to create easily and with enthusiasm. He was not content only with work 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, Evgeny Viktorovich determined for himself the specifics of his works. This was the theme of war. The beginner sculptor was attracted by battles and weapons, fast-riding riders 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 of a talented student was a statue of a sailor aiming at an enemy. And although the figure was immature and naive, it still amazed with its sincerity and tension. Subsequently, the sculpture was acquired by the Museum of the North Caucasus.
Carier start
After studying at school, young Eugene entered the Leningrad Institute, where he studied for only two years. At that time, an art university was under the powerful influence of formalism. Therefore, Vuchetich, who was attracted by realistic art, did not stay in it for long. A huge influence on him was not made by studying at an educational institution, but by visiting museums and studying classical monuments of sculpture and architecture.
In 1932, the novice sculptor returned home. Around the same time, the Communist Party issued a decree that artists should take an active part in socialist construction and the communist education of workers.
In accordance with this decision, the young sculptor Vuchetich plunges into the social and creative life of Rostov. He becomes the chairman of the Union of Artists and is engaged in decoration sculpture: he performs a large relief for the hotel under construction and erects a fountain for the theater park.
Mentors Architects
During this period, Eugene met with famous Soviet architects such as Gelfreich and Schuko, 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 gained much of the knowledge that came in handy from architects who helped him to see the full scale and virtuosity of the artwork.
Relocation
At the age of twenty-seven, the young sculptor Vuchetich Evgeny Viktorovich moved to the capital of Soviet Russia, where new open spaces for creativity opened before him.
The sculptor begins to participate in international competitions and exhibitions, to work in various art organizations, create projects of various monuments and work on 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 “Clement Voroshilov on horseback” and “Partizanka”. How much fire, courage, and inner strength comes from these embossed sculptures! It is not surprising that 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 are striking in their individual style and similarity with the originals. True, many works are not psychologically rich enough. In the pre-war period, the Vuchetich sculptor emphasized his mastery not on conveying the emotional or internal state of an object, but on external conformity 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 soldier-machine gunner.
A year later, he received the rank of captain, but later was heavily shell-shocked and sent for treatment to the hospital. After recovering, Yevgeny Viktorovich was enrolled in the Studio of Military Artists. Thanks to this, the talented sculptor was able to visit the hot front points and chat with courageous heroic people. Sketches, sketches and small sculptures made in haste helped Vuchetich to capture his feelings and sensations from what he saw for a long time.
The fact that the young man himself experienced in the war, as well as what he learned and heard, has long been preserved in his heart. It prompted the sculptor to create more accurately and sincerely, conveying even the most subtle, invisible with a superficial gaze, internal psychological features and properties of objects.
Military portraits
Now, as never before, Yevgeny Viktorovich begins to glorify in his works courageous and strong people who despise their own pain and death, courageously go on a feat for the sake of others.
During this period, Vuchetich began to work on a group of portraits of military heroes. These were the busts of Efremov, Vatutin, Zhukov, Rudenko and others.
The master takes responsibility and reverence for the execution of work. Before meeting with the valiant sitter, Evgeny 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 portraits of the deceased commanders, the diligent sculptor studied not only all available documentary material, but also talked with the hero’s relatives and colleagues, trying to recreate his image as brightly 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 most striking work of Vuchetich-sculptor - “Warrior-Liberator”. The monument, which was created over three years, has been in Berlin since 1949 and is considered a real 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 the fascist swastika with his feet, which symbolizes the final defeat of Nazi ideas. Both hands of a soldier are occupied - in his right he holds a lowered sword, and with his left he presses to his chest the girl he saved - a child born on the ground of the enemy.
The composition impresses with its power and grandeur, as well as the seriousness of the truths embodied 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 “Mother Mother Calls!”
Motherland
This statue is the ninth highest statue in the world. Its height is eighty-seven meters, and its mass is eight thousand tons.
The sculpture is hollow inside, consists of prestressed reinforced 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 fluttering clothes, with a sword raised up in his right hand. This is an allegorical image of the Motherland, calling on its sons to fight against 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 only the name of his wife.
However, this is not very plausible information. Externally, 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 - Nina Dumbadze's disk tank.
Now there are several versions of the one who could pose for Vuchetich as a model. The sculptor’s children claim that the statue was a collective image that appeared in the imagination of the great master.
Be that as it may, the sculpture “Motherland is Calling!” Impresses with its internal strength and energy. She is not passive and alienated, no. She moves, burns, she calls and waits.
Peace statue
Another famous sculpture of Vuchetich is the statue “We cross swords to yelling,” 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 is a strong muscular man who smashes his sword with incredible physical effort in order to convert it into a tool. The power and passion of the figure is transmitted in every muscle of an athlete. Everything suggests that he does not want war, but seeks peace.
Personal life
The sculptor Vuchetich, whose family and personal life had been 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 the mourning widower two sons. This was followed by a short marriage with a beautiful art historian, several romantic hobbies and passionate dates, mainly with sitters. Children who were born to a sculptor without marriage were the fruits of sincere and deep love. Over the years, he took care of them and helped them.
Vuchetich’s third wife, Vera Vladimirovna Pokrovskaya, became his real girlfriend and ally. She supported the sculptor in his creative searches, praised and encouraged. It was she who was with Yevgeny 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 Hero of Socialist Labor and People's Artist of the USSR, as well as gifted with the Lenin Prize and the Order of the Patriotic War.
Confession
In memory of Vuchetich's merits, grateful descendants named one of Moscow streets and one of the Dnieper squares in his name, and also set up a memorial plaque and a bust monument in his honor.