Category Archive: Personalities

Called ‘the queen of the Russian folk song’, the singer usually performed in peasant clothes. USSR people’s artist, Russian singer Lidiya Ruslanova monument in Saratov. Work by sculptor Andrey Shcherbakov

Russian singer Lidiya Ruslanova monument
Opened 3 April 2018 the monument decorates the square at the central entrance to the Saratov regional center of folk art named after Ruslanova. The bronze monument is a single-figure composition of the singer, which stands in a characteristic pose – at the time of performing a folk song. The author of the three-meter bronze sculpture is Honored Artist of Russia Andrei Shcherbakov. The sculptor portrayed the “Queen of Russian Song” at the time of his performance in front of the soldiers on the steps of the Reichstag shortly before the end of World War II. According to the biographers, the singer gave more than 1,100 concerts at the front. Ruslanova is famous for the songs “Steppe and Steppe around”, “Shining Month”, “Valenki” and “Katyusha”. On the monument, the inscription “Throw, throw me into the Volga-Mother, I will drown in it my sadness, my sadness.”
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A furtive glance, the strands of untidy hair thrown back and the nightgown slipping from her shoulders – Bust of Costanza Buonarelli, 1636. Beloved woman of Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680)

Beloved woman of Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The swarm of runners scattered along the stone pavement and broke the silence of the morning city. The younger brother flew ahead with a distraught look, and the older one raced after him. Already in the cathedral, catching him up, he raised over his younger brother’s head an instrument of violence … Lorenzo Bernini, one of the brilliant artists of Rome, favorite of popes and the audience, resembled the biblical Cain who is about to will bring down his anger on the head of the unfortunate Abel.
Meanwhile, it all happened because of the one whose marble bust Bernini sculpted – Costanza Buonarelli. A furtive glance, the strands of untidy hair thrown back and the nightgown slipping from her shoulders – such was the lover from under the chisel of Lorenzo.
Traditionally, the bust portraits in marble could have only kings, popes and other wealthy persons, and certainly men. But not half-naked women… However, Bernini didn’t care any canons and rules. Since childhood, Giovanni Lorenzo, or just Lorenzo, considered himself a man who can do a lot.
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According to local historians, the statue which adorned Tverskaya Street in Moscow depicts Lepeshinskaya, famous Russian ballerina. Work by sculptor Gennady Motovilov. Outstanding ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya monuments

Outstanding ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya monuments
Once, the statue of the “ballerina” adorned the house on Tverskaya Street (former Gorky Street) in Moscow. However, the authorities removed the monument 60 years ago, in 1958. According to one version, because the rulers did not like to drive “under the skirt”.
Meanwhile, the local historians state that the statue depicts a ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya, who allegedly lived in the same house. In favor of this version, was the fact that Stalin, who determined the appearance of Gorky Street, often visited the productions with her participation.
However, four times Stalin prize winner Lepeshinskaya herself denied this fact. Here is her answer: “I never lived there and nobody sculpted a statue from me. But the fact is that at the beginning of the war I was on duty on this roof, extinguished German lighters.”
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Opened in Moscow in 2012, on March 29 Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich monument. Work by the sculptor Alexandr Iulianovich Rukavishnikov, architect Igor Nikolaevich Voznesensky

Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich monument

Born March 27, 91 years ago, Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was an outstanding cellist, pianist, conductor, and public figure. Also, he was a teacher, five-time Grammy Award winner, State Prize winner of Russia, People’s Artist of the USSR.
A bright memory to the Great Musician became a monument opened in Moscow in 2012, on March 29, not far from the so-called House of Composers in Bryusov Lane. The place, where the musician lived with his wife, the great opera diva Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya. In fact, the opening ceremony took place in the frame of celebration of 85-year anniversary of the birth of a famous musician and conductor.
The author of the sculptural composition was the sculptor Alexander Iulianovich Rukavishnikov, who worked in tandem with the architect Igor Nikolaevich Voznesensky.
Performed from bronze cello, bow and strings, as well as dynamism in the image of Rostropovich create the impression that from the pedestal will soon sound divine music.
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Soviet prima ballerina Alla Yakovlevna Shelest (1919-1998), Marble. Sculptor A. G. Dema, architects S. L. Mikhailov and N. N. Sokolov. 2000. Photo by Alexandra Solovyova. Ballerina Alla Shelest monument in Volkovo cemetery, Literary bridges in St.Petersburg

Ballerina Alla Shelest monument in Volkovo cemetery
According to Mstislav Rostropovich, Shelest was “bright on the stage and closed in life”. And the legendary Plisetskaya considered her one of the best dancers she had ever seen.
Alla Shelest was an outstanding classic ballerina of a romantic, heroic and tragic plan. But a rare ballerina was not so unlucky as Shelest.
At the age of fifteen, Shelest came to the class of Vaganova. The change in aesthetic and pedagogical requirements was too harsh and could not help leaving a trace … In the theater Shelest expected even greater difficulties. The life of a great ballerina was not strewn with roses. During the war she lived and worked in a besieged city, every day faced starvation and shelling in blocked Leningrad. For sixteen years she was doomed to duplicate the first performer of new parties … Nevertheless, Shelest achieved much. ”
According to famous ballerina Galina Ulanova, each performance of Shelest – not only the talent of the ballerina, but also the mind, and the great inner culture of the true artist. The ballerina is tragic and inspired, and always recognized by emotionality and selflessness of the dancer.”
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Ulyanovsk, Russia. Soviet TV star Valentina Leontieva monument, opened August 1, 2008. Bronze. Work by sculptor Nikolai Antsiferov

Adored by millions, Soviet TV star Valentina Leontieva was among those celebrities whom the whole country worshiped. The monument to the famous TV presenter appeared just on her birthday – August 1 (2008). A bronze two-meter sculpture on a pedestal made of granite from the Irininsky deposit (Moscow region) depicts Valentina Leontieva, who left the theater and sat down in the park to relax and admire the view of the river. The author of the monument – sculptor from St. Petersburg Nikolai Antsiferov.
Born on August 1, 1923 in Leningrad, Valentina Leontieva had to survive the siege of Leningrad. At the age of 18 she helped the wounded and sick in the besieged city. When the “Road of Life” opened, her mother and two sisters left the blockaded city. Subsequently, Valentina recalled how her sister’s son died on the road and she could not even bury him humanly: the body of the child had to be buried in a roadside drift.
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October, 2017. The “Dubrava” park of Klimovsk (urban district of Podolsk). Work by sculptor Alexander Rozhnikov. Russian artist Vasily Polenov monument

Russian artist Vasily Polenov monument

In the “Dubrava” park of Klimovsk appeared a monument to outstanding Russian painter Vasily Polenov. On the sculptural composition worked a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia, sculptor Alexander Rozhnikov. The sculptural composition, made of bronze, is a figure of the artist and a frame mounted on an easel. Besides, the author of the monument attached a tablet to the frame with the name of the work “Klimovsk. Oak trees. 2017”. The landscape behind the frame will change constantly, together with the seasons and people who visit this part of the park. A cloth thrown on the frame, as if opening a new masterpiece of fine art. In addition, two more sculptures decorate the composition – a small dog at the feet of Vasily Polenov, and a cat.
Less than a week has passed since the opening of the sculpture, however among the people have already appeared a legend – to make money, you need to rub the cat’s right ear.
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