Sculptor Vuchetich Eugene: biography and works

Sculptor Eugene Vuchetich ... This is the name of the creator of the great monuments, preserved, despite decades. It is the name of a gifted sculptor whose sculptures have a huge 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 interests many modern amateurs of plastic art, during his lifetime did not enjoy universal popularity and fame. For some reason, he was in the shadows - in the shadow of his luxurious monuments and grandiose statues, which enjoyed an incredible popular recognition and love.

It is also noteworthy that during his lifetime the sculptor Vuchetich was repeatedly criticized by prominent masters of that time. They accused Yevgeny Viktorovich of devotion to monumentality and inclusiveness, for which, as it seemed to some, he hid his mediocrity. However, these charges were groundless.

Sculptor Vuchetich, whose works are really colossal, created his creations for large pedestals and elevations so that they could be seen from afar, to be permanently imprinted in the memory and heart. It is quite an understandable phenomenon. Therefore, many monuments of the sculptor Vuchetich have unsurpassed power, solidity and greatness.

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 the family of educated intellectuals. Mother - a teacher, a Frenchwoman by birth, his father - an engineer, in the Civil War tried on the rank of a whiteguard officer.

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

Since 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. Teachers assured parents that a great future awaits the child.

Youth

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

Thanks to these mentors Vuchetich began to create easily and with enthusiasm. 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 skill.

Themes

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

The diploma work of a talented student was a statue of a sailor who was aiming at the enemy. And although the figure was performed immature and naive, yet she struck with her sincerity and intensity. Later the sculpture was acquired by the museum of the North Caucasus.

Carier start

After school, the young Eugene entered the Leningrad Institute, where he studied for only two years. At that time, the art college was under the powerful influence of formalism. Therefore Vuchetich, who was attracted to realistic art, remained in it for a short time. A huge influence on him was provided not by training in an educational institution, but by visiting museums and studying classical monuments of sculpture and architecture.

In 1932, the beginning sculptor returns home. Approximately at the same time, the ruling of the Communist Party comes out that artists should take an active part in the socialist construction and communist upbringing of the working people.

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

Architects-Mentors

During this period, Eugene met with famous Soviet architects, such as Gelfreich and Shchuko, who had an invaluable influence on his work. This was repeatedly acknowledged by the sculptor himself. For example, the memoirs of the sculptor Vuchetich report that many of the knowledge, useful in later activities, he drew from architects who helped him see the full scale and all the virtuosity of the art work.

Moving in

At the age of twenty-seven, the young sculptor Vuchetich Eugene Victorovich moved to the capital of Soviet Russia, where he opened up new spaces for creativity.

Sculptor begins to participate in international competitions and exhibitions, work in all kinds of art organizations, create projects of various monuments and work on decorating the construction of such famous objects as the hotel "Moscow" and the State Lenin Library.

To this period of Vuchetich's creative activity include his famous sculptures "Clement Voroshilov on horseback" and "Partisan". How much fire, courage and inner strength comes from these relief 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 portraitist. His sculpted busts Babenchikov, Gelfreich and Speransky amaze with 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 skill not in conveying the emotional or internal state of the object, but on the external correspondence and identity.

The Great Patriotic War

In 1941, the sculptor Vuchetich volunteered for the front, where he served in the front as an ordinary soldier-machine-gunner.

A year later he received the title of captain, but later was heavily contused and sent to the hospital for treatment. After the recovery of Eugene Viktorovich enlisted in the studio of military artists. Thanks to this talented sculptor was able to visit the hot front points and talk with courageous heroic people. Etudes, sketches and small sculptures, made hastily, helped Vuchetich for a long time to capture his feelings and sensations from what he saw.

What the young man experienced in the war itself, as well as what he recognized and heard, was preserved for a long time in his heart. It prompted the sculptor to create more accurately and emotionally, conveying even the most subtle internal psychological features and properties of objects that are invisible to the surface view.

Military portraits

Now, more than ever, Eugene Viktorovich begins to chant in his works of courageous and strong people who despise their own pain and death, courageously going to the feat for the sake of others.

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

To perform the work the master is responsible and reverent. Before meeting with the valiant model, Evgeni Viktorovich tried to learn about him as much as possible, so that a personal meeting helped to consolidate the created image.

When it came to the portraits of the deceased commanders, the studious sculptor studied not only all the available documentary material, but also communicated with the family and fellow heroes, trying to recreate his image as brightly and as accurately as possible.

Military monuments

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

Here it is necessary to mention the most vivid work of Vuchetich-sculptor - "Warrior-liberator". The monument, which was created for three years, has been 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 soldier who tramples on the Nazi swastika, which symbolizes the final defeat of the Nazi ideas. Both hands of the soldier are occupied - in the right he holds the lowered sword, and with his left he presses to the breast the child he has saved - a child born on the enemy's land.

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

Another interesting creation of Vuchetich is the monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad", the composition center of which is the sculpture "Motherland Calls!"

Motherland

This statue is the ninth highest statue in the whole world. Its height is eighty seven meters, and the 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 robes, with a sword raised in her right hand. This is an allegorical image of the Motherland, which calls its sons to fight against the people's oppressors.

According to official data, the wife of the sculptor Vuchetich posed for him when creating the sculpture. The sculptor himself called his work not otherwise than the name of his wife.

However, this is not very plausible information. Externally, the monument is not like the wife of Eugene Viktorovich, and the silhouette (or figure) of the reinforced concrete looks very much like the physique of one Soviet sportswoman, Nina Dumbadze's disco.

Now there are several versions of someone who could pose Vuchetich as a model. The children of the sculptor claim that the statue was a collective image, which appeared in the imagination of the great master.

Whatever the case, the sculpture "Motherland Calls!" Impresses with its inner strength and energy. She is not passive and alienated, no. It moves, it burns, it calls and waits.

The Statue of the World

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

The monument is based on biblical citations and is a strong muscular man who, with an incredible physical effort, breaks the sword in order to transform it into a tool of labor. The power and passion of the figure are transmitted in every muscle of the athlete. Everything says that he does not want war, but he wants peace.

Personal life

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

The first wife of Eugene Viktorovich died early, leaving the grieving widower two sons. Then followed a short marriage with a beautiful art critic, several romantic hobbies and passionate meetings, mostly with models. Children who were born to a sculptor without marriage were the fruits of sincere and profound love. For many years he cared about them and helped them.

The third wife of Vuchetich - Pokrovskaya Vera Vladimirovna - became his real friend and ally. She supported the sculptor in his creative pursuits, praised and encouraged. She was with Eugene 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 world recognition and fame, Vuchetich Yevgeny Viktorovich was awarded the Stalin Prize five times and twice - the Order of Lenin, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and the People's Artist of the USSR, and also Is endowed with the Lenin Prize and the Order of the Patriotic War.

Confession

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