The birth of a new man Tsereteli. Zurab Tsereteli - biography, information, personal life
By Decree of the President of the USSR dated November 11, 1990
Awards
Honorary titles
Public awards
The works of Zurab Tsereteli
Muralist
Riviera Park in Sochi (1970)
Sculptor
Natural Museum, Novosibirsk
January 2013 - Tver City Museum and Exhibition Center, Tver
February 2013 - Museum of Local Lore, Yekaterinburg
April 2013 - Omsk Museum of Fine Arts. Vrubel, Omsk
February 2014 - Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
September 2014 - National Art Gallery, Yoshkar-Ola
September 2014 - Nadya Brykina Gallery, Zurich
September 2014 - Astrakhan Art Gallery named after. P. M. Dogadina, Astrakhan
October 2014 - MBUK "Exhibition Center", Vladimir
December 2014 - Tver City Museum and Exhibition Center, Tver
May 2015 - North Caucasus branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Maykop
June 2015 - Tophane-i Amire Culture and Arts Center, Istanbul
October 2015 - State Museum of Art of the Republic of Kazakhstan named after. A. Kasteeva, Almaty
October 2015 - Moscow Days in Riga, Riga
February 2016 - Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after. I. N. Kramskoy, Voronezh
June 2016 - Art gallery of Cherkessk, Cherkessk
July 2016 - Pskov State United Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, Pskov
August 2016 - Museum and Exhibition Complex “New Jerusalem”, Istra
September 2016 - Museum of Contemporary Art “House of Muses”, Yaroslavl
December 2016 - Gran Guardia Palace, Verona
April 2017 - Lipetsk Regional Art Museum, Lipetsk
June 2017 - State Museum-Reserve Tauride Chersonesos, Sevastopol
September 2017 - Novy Urengoy City Museum of Fine Arts, Novy Urengoy
November 2017 - Russian Center for Science and Culture in Paris, Paris
March 2018 - Bahrain International Exhibition & Convention Center (BIECC), Bahrain
March 2018 - “Klyuev’s House”, Moscow Zoo, Moscow
July 2018 - Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, Moscow
July 2018 - Landscape Museum, Plyos
August 2018 - Museum-estate of A. M. Gerasimov, A. M. Gerasimov and Z. K. Tsereteli. Exhibition of works by two presidents of the Academy of Arts, Michurinsk
November 2018 - Patriot Park, Kubinka
January 2019 - ESTE ARTE, Punta del Este
January 2019 - Saatchi Gallery, London
February 2019 - Academy Gallery, Krasnoyarsk
March 2019 - Bahrain International Exhibition & Convention Center (BIECC), Bahrain
April 2019 - International exhibition of contemporary art “Art Paris”, Paris
April 2019 - Tomsk Regional Art Museum, Tomsk
April 2019 - Municipal cultural institution "Podolsk Exhibition Hall", Podolsk
May 2019 - Tbilisi Museum of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi
May 2019 - Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku
June 2019 - Liechtenstein State Museum, Liechtenstein
June 2019 - Art gallery "Dias", Irkutsk
July 2019 - Primorsky branch of the Union of Artists of Russia, Vladivostok
July 2019 - Vyatka Art Museum named after V. M. and A. M. Vasnetsov, Kirov
September 2019 - International Сontemporary Art Exposition, Istanbul
September 2019 - Museum and Creative Center “Korbakov House”, Vologda
October 2019 - D10 Art Space, Geneva
November 2019 - Museum of Contemporary Art “House of Muses”
Family of Zurab Tsereteli
Wife - Inessa Alexandrovna Andronikashvili (born 1937), princess.
Daughter - Elena (Lika) (born 1959), art critic.
Grandchildren: Vasily (born 1978), Zurab (born 1987), Victoria (born 2000).
Great-grandchildren: Alexander (born 2003), Nikolai (born 2005), Philip (born 2008), Maria Isabella (born 2009).
03.01.2020
Zurab Tsereteli
Tsereteli Zurab Konstantinovich
Russian Artist
Sculptor
Hero of Socialist Labor
Russian muralist. Sculptor. Painter. Teacher. Professor. UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. President of the Russian Academy of Arts. Hero of Socialist Labor. People's Artist of the Russian Federation. Laureate of State Prizes.
Zurab Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The boy grew up in the family of a civil engineer. The child’s creative influence was exerted by his uncle, the artist Giorgi Nizharadze, in whose house he spent a lot of time. Also, many famous Georgian artists often visited there, who became his first teachers in painting.
After graduating from the Tbilisi Academy of Arts in 1958, Tsereteli began his creative career. First he worked as an artist at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, which played a significant role in his development as an artist and monumentalist. Even then, Zurab began to participate in various exhibitions, and in 1964 he completed a training course in France, where he had the opportunity to communicate with Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.
Since the late 1960s, Tsereteli paid great attention to work in the field of monumental and mosaic art, which for many years became the master’s favorite techniques and brought him fame both in Russia and abroad. Among the first works that brought fame to the master: the design of a resort complex in Pitsunda in 1967, mosaic and stained glass compositions in Tbilisi in 1972, an ensemble of a children's resort town in Adler in 1973. Also in 1970-1980 he worked as the chief artist of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, performed chief artist of the 1980 Olympics and participated in the creation of the Izmailovo hotel complex.
In subsequent years, Zurab Konstantinovich worked more in metal and sculpture, actively using large metal high reliefs. The geography of his monumental works in this technique covers the territory of several countries around the world. In addition to Russia, his sculptural works are in the UK, Spain, USA, France, Japan, Brazil, Georgia and Lithuania. Among them are the most significant monuments: “Happiness to the Children of the World”, “Science, Education for the World” and “Tear of Sorrow” in the USA, “Breaking the Wall of Mistrust” in London, “Man and the Sun” and “History of Georgia” in Tbilisi, “Birth New Man" in Seville, "Friendship Forever" in Moscow, a monument to the memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in Beslan. At the same time, he continued to create stained glass windows.
By Decree of the President of the USSR dated November 11, 1990 For his great personal contribution to the development of Soviet fine art and fruitful social activities, the chairman of the Union of Designers of Georgia, Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
Back in the early 1990s, Tsereteli moved to Moscow, where, having received the support of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, he actually became the main monumentalist of the capital. Zurab Konstantinovich participated in the construction of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Gora and in a number of other projects: the Okhotny Ryad shopping and recreation complex, the sculptural decoration of Manezhnaya Square, the monument “In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Navy,” the design of several new metro stations. In addition, Tsereteli created a number of monuments to figures of the past and lifetime sculptural portraits of contemporaries, which were installed in cities of Russia and the world.
It is worth noting his painting and graphic art. In total, more than 5,000 paintings are known, which are on display in many museums, galleries and private collections and overflow the artist’s workshops.
In addition to creativity, Tsereteli is actively involved in social activities. Since 1997, he has been president of the Russian Academy of Arts, where, first of all, he works to develop academic art education. The biggest undertaking of the President and the entire Russian Academy of Arts was participation in the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Since 1999, Tsereteli has also been the director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, which he created, and in 2001, the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery opened. Also, he was president of the Moscow International Assistance Fund and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, academician of the International Academy of Creativity, Russian Academy of Arts, Georgian Academy of Sciences, corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and the Academy of Fine Arts of France, honorary professor of many academies and universities, Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Zurab Tsereteli's life is closely connected with charity. Some of the works were created by the master free of charge, as a gift to one or another city, institution, or foundation. The artist participates in charity exhibitions and auctions, donating funds from sold works to the fight against childhood diseases.
The house-museum of Zurab Tsereteli in Peredelkino opened in 2016. The museum is an open-air sculpture garden and the author’s creative workshop.
On July 17, 2019, the Russian Institute of Theater Arts received a sculptural composition “Monument to Future Stars” as a gift from the monumental artist, President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli. The monument was erected near the historical GITIS mansion in the courtyard of the institute in Maly Kislovsky Lane.
Awards and Recognition of Zurab Tsereteli
State awards of the Russian Federation and the USSR
Hero of Socialist Labor with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal (November 11, 1990) - for his great personal contribution to the development of Soviet fine arts and fruitful social activities
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (July 26, 2010) - for outstanding contribution to the development of fine arts and many years of creative activity
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class (January 4, 2006) - for outstanding contribution to the development of fine arts
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree (April 29, 1996) - for great personal contribution to the creation and successful completion of the complex of works of the Victory Monument on Poklonnaya Hill
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (February 20, 2014) - for great contribution to the development of fine arts, many years of creative and social activity
Order of Friendship of Peoples (November 14, 1980) - for great work in preparing and holding the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Breastplate of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation “For contribution to Russian culture” (2018)
Encouragements from the President of the Russian Federation
Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation (December 1, 2008) - for great services in the development of fine arts, many years of creative and social activity
Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (November 18, 1997) - for active participation in the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the founding of Moscow
Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (August 14, 1995) - for active participation in the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945
Awards from constituent entities of the Russian Federation
Insignia “For Services to Moscow” (Moscow, December 30, 2003) - for great personal contribution to the development of fine arts, many years of fruitful activity in the interests of the city and Muscovites
Order named after Akhmat Kadyrov (Chechnya, 2005) - for personal contribution to perpetuating the memory of the first president of the Chechen Republic, Hero of Russia Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, activities promoting the strengthening of peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples
Medal For the Glory of Ossetia (North Ossetia, 2010) - for the monument to the victims of the 2004 terrorist attack in Beslan
Order "Key of Friendship" (Kemerovo region, 2012)
Medal of the Tula City Duma “For merits in the field of culture and art” (2019)
Orders and medals of foreign countries
Knight of the Legion of Honor (France, 2010)
Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (France, 2005)
Order of Friendship (Azerbaijan, May 20, 2019) - for fruitful activities in strengthening cultural ties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan
Medal “Astana” (Kazakhstan, December 11, 1998) - for great contribution to strengthening friendship and cooperation between peoples
Order of Gabriela Mistral (Chile, 2002) - for special merits in the field of education and culture
Order of Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile, 2007)
Vermeil Medal - the highest award of the city of Paris (1998)
Large bronze medal of the city of Paris - for outstanding contribution to culture, art and the rapprochement of the peoples of Russia and Georgia with France (1998)
Cross of Honor of the Charitable Interregional Association of Veterans of the French Resistance “Volunteer Combatant” (2000)
UNESCO Picasso Gold Medal (2007)
Gold Medal of Honor (National Society of the Arts) - for outstanding contributions to the arts (2010)
Honorary badge “Golden Age” - for exceptional contribution to Bulgarian culture and the development of cultural cooperation, (Bulgaria, November 18, 2012)
Awards
USSR State Prize (1970) - for mosaic compositions of the Lenin Memorial in Ulyanovsk (1969) and in the Palace of Trade Unions in Tbilisi (1969-1970)
Lenin Prize 1976 in the field of literature, art and architecture (April 20, 1976) - for the spatial and decorative design of the children's area of the resort town in Adler (award for works of literature and art for children)
USSR State Prize (1982) - for participation in the creation of the Izmailovo hotel complex in Moscow (1980)
State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art (June 21, 1996) - for the memorial complex “Monument to Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow
Contemporary Art Prize 2000 "International Recognition" - "Golden Hand" (France) (2000)
State Prize of Georgia (2004)
National Award “Russian of the Year” - for the formation and establishment in the world of the image of a single Russian nation with common historical and cultural roots and rich spiritual traditions (2005)
Public award of the newspaper "Izvestia" - "Izvestia" (2009)
Public Prize "Golden Bridge" - for making the most significant contribution to the strengthening and development of relations between the Italian Republic and the Russian Federation (2009)
Nominated for the Rome Academy of Fine Arts Award "For a Lifetime in Art - 2012"
Peoples' Friendship Award "White Cranes of Russia", 2015
Honorary titles
Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (1967)
People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1978)
People's Artist of the USSR (March 28, 1980) - for great services in the development of Soviet fine art
Professor at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts (1982)
Full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1988)
People's Artist of the Russian Federation (January 4, 1994) - for great services in the field of fine arts
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador (1996)
Full member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1996)
Corresponding Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid) (1998)
Full member of the Academy of Arts of the Kyrgyz Republic (1998)
Corresponding member of the Academy of Fine Arts (Academy of Immortals) of France (Paris) (2002)
Honorary Professor of Moscow State University (2004)
Full member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Austria) (2009)
People's Artist of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania (2019)
Awards from international organizations
Anniversary medal “IPA CIS. 25 years" (CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, November 29, 2018) - for services to the development and strengthening of parliamentarism, for contribution to the development and improvement of the legal framework for the functioning of the Commonwealth of Independent States, strengthening international relations and inter-parliamentary cooperation
Badge of honor “For merits in the development of culture and art” (CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, May 19, 2016) - for a significant contribution to the formation and development of the common cultural space of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, to the implementation of ideas of cooperation in the field of culture and art
Public awards
Order "Glory to Russia" (2003)
Medal "For Labor and Fatherland" (2003)
“Russian National Olympus” - the title “Super Star” - with the presentation of the Order “For Honor and Valor”, the “Radiant Star” award and a diploma (2003)
Order "Patron" of the charitable foundation "Patrons of the Century" (2003)
Order of St. Anna, 1st degree - for fruitful professional and charitable activities both in Russia and abroad (Russian Imperial House, March 4, 2013)
Samara Cross (Public Council of Bulgaria, 2013)
Cross of Honor for Culture and Art (Austrian Albert Schweitzer Society, 2014)
Order of Friendship of Peoples "White Cranes of Russia", 2015
Honorary Civil Order - Silver Star “70 Years of the Great Victory” (2015)
Breastplate of the National Association of Surveyors and Designers, 2016 “For outstanding contribution to domestic and world culture”
Order "Honor and Glory of Great Russia" (Foundation "Strength of the Fatherland", 2016)
The works of Zurab Tsereteli
Muralist
Sculptural compositions “Legends of Crimea” above the entrance to the Yalta-Intourist hotel (1977)
Resort complex in Pitsunda (1967)
Riviera Park in Sochi (1970)
Palace of Trade Unions in Tbilisi (1970)
Hotel “Venets” (swimming pool-mosaic “Sea Bottom”) (1970, Ulyanovsk)
Lenin Memorial in Ulyanovsk (1970; USSR State Prize 1970)
Resort town of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions in Adler (Sochi) (1973; Lenin Prize 1976)
Hotel complex "Yalta-Intourist" in Yalta (1978)
Permanent Mission of the USSR to the UN (1980, New York)
Hotel "Sport" (1980, Moscow)
Trade mission of Hungary to the USSR (1982, Moscow)
Hotel complex "Izmailovo" in Moscow (1980; USSR State Prize 1982)
Building of the MNTK “Eye Microsurgery” (1983, Moscow)
New stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (2002)
Moscow metro stations Trubnaya and Park Pobedy
Sculptor
The monument “Friendship Forever” in honor of the bicentenary (1783-1983) of Georgia’s annexation to Russia, immediately after its installation received an ironic nickname among Muscovites - “Shashlyk” (Tishinskaya Square in Moscow, the author of the architectural part is the famous poet Andrei Voznesensky)
Monument “Good conquers Evil” in front of the UN building in New York;
"Breaking the Wall of Mistrust" Monument (London, UK);
Six-meter Monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg
Bronze sculpture “Birth of the New Man” (Paris, France);
Sculptural composition “Birth of the New Man” (Seville, Spain)
"Birth of the New World", Columbus Monument in Puerto Rico, 2016
Monument to John Paul II. France.
Sculptural design of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow (1995; State Prize of the Russian Federation 1996)
The “Tear of Sorrow” monument (2006, New York) is a gift to the American people in memory of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Monument to Marina Tsvetaeva (2012, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France)
Monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (2013, Ruza)
Monument to Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, based on the Yalta Conference (2015, Yalta)
Sculptural composition “Warrior Skier” in Patriot Park (2017)
Alley of Russian Rulers (2017, Moscow)
Monument to Pushkin (2017, Apatity)
Sculpture of A. S. Griboyedov in the cultural and historical complex “Cyrillic Courtyard” (Pliska).
The monument to Peter I (the official name is the Monument “In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet”) was erected in 1997 by order of the Moscow Government on an artificial island built at the fork of the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal. It marked the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet. The total height of the monument is 98 meters, which makes it one of the tallest monuments in Russia and in the world
2009 - “One Hundred Works from Paris.” State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
September 2010 - Art Gallery, Tarusa, Kaluga region
July 2010 - Chuvash State Art Museum, Cheboksary
January 2011 - exhibition “This Wonderful World” as part of the Year of the Russian Language and Russian Culture in Italy, Central Exhibition Hall,
March 2011 - Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum, Zvenigorod
March 2011 - Personal exposition within the framework of the exhibition “Russian Academy of Arts. People, events, facts of history", San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome, Italy
April 2011 - Tsereteli’s personal exhibition as part of the Russia-Italy Year 2011, Ancona, Italy
May 2011 - Konstantinovsky Palace, Strelna, St. Petersburg
May 2011 - personal exhibition Chelyabinsk City Museum of Art, Chelyabinsk
September 2011 - Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, Yekaterinburg
December 2011 - Tula Museum of Fine Arts, Tula
March 2012 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
March 2012 - Novosibirsk State Artist
Natural Museum, Novosibirsk
September 2012 - Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts, Kemerovo
September 2012 - Ulyanovsk Museum-Memorial of V.I. Lenin, Ulyanovsk
July 2012 - Tomsk Regional Art Museum, Tomsk
December 2012 - State Museum Association “Artistic Culture of the Russian North”, Arkhangelsk
Zurab Tsereteli is one of the most famous Soviet artists, and now the president of the Russian Academy of Arts. The talented and creative Zurab Tsereteli was able to express himself in almost all spheres of modern art - the author owns paintings, frescoes, mosaics, bas-reliefs, sculptures, monuments and other works.
However, with special inspiration, the meter creates monuments of monumental art, investing in them his talent, experiences and soul. Despite the successful career and enormous popularity of the monumental sculptor, his works still cause mixed reactions not only among ordinary people, but also among art historians, art critics and colleagues in the creative workshop. What is the genius and ambiguity of the person of Zurab Tsereteli, we will understand in this article.
Biography of Zurab Tsereteli
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934 in the capital of Georgia. Both the father and mother of the future sculptor belonged to well-known princely families in Georgia, so the Tsereteli family belonged to the Georgian elite. Zurab Tsereteli's father Konstantin Georgievich was a successful construction engineer.
The mother of the future artist, Tamara Semyonovna Nizharadze, devoted herself to family and children. The key influence on the choice of the professional and creative path of the future master was Georgiy Nizharadze, Tamara Semyonovna’s brother and a famous Georgian painter.
In the house of George Nizharadze, where Zurab spent a lot of time, the Georgian creative elite D. Kakabadze, S. Kobuladze, U. Japaridze and others gathered. It was they who involved the young man in the world of painting and art, taught him the basics of drawing and creating sculptures, and inspired him to be creative development.
The brilliant sculptor graduated from the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, but his career path began with work at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of Georgia. In 1964, Zurab Tsereteli underwent advanced training in France, where he became acquainted with the work of outstanding painters of the era P. Picasso and M. Chagall.
At the end of the 60s, the sculptor decided to develop in the field of monumental and sculptural art, after which hundreds of well-known monuments, sculptures, steles, monuments, statues, and busts were created all over the world.
For his professional and personal merits, the sculptor was awarded a number of awards and titles: Hero of Socialist Labor, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the Lenin Prize, State Prizes of the USSR, State Prize of Russia, Knight of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor.
From 1997 to the present day, Zurab Tsereteli has headed the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2003, Zurab Tsereteli received Russian citizenship for his professional achievements and services to Russia.
The brilliant sculptor is also successful in family life. Zurab Tsereteli is married to Inessa Alexandrovna Andronikashvili and has a daughter, Elena, who gave him three grandchildren. And in the early 2000s, the Tsereteli couple added four great-grandchildren.
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The most famous works of Zurab Tsereteli
The author's creative heritage consists of more than 5,000 works, each of which is original, distinctive and unique. The hands of the great artist belong to dozens of landscapes, portraits, mosaics, panels, bas-reliefs, busts and hundreds of sculptural sculptures. All the works of the Georgian sculptor are dedicated to the most famous persons in world history (Sh. Rustaveli, George the Victorious, M. Tsvetaeva, B. Pasternak, etc.) and the picturesque nature of Russia and Georgia.
Sculptures and monuments to the maestro were installed not only in his native Russia and Georgia, but also in France, Brazil, Spain, Lithuania, Great Britain and other countries. It was the sculptural sculptures that became iconic in Tsereteli’s work and the most famous works. Thus, the most successful works of Zurab Tsereteli are recognized as:
- The paired monument “Friendship of Peoples” is one of the sculptor’s earliest works. The monument was erected in Moscow in 1983 as a symbol of the 200th anniversary of the reunification of Russia and Georgia;
- Victory Stele - erected in 1995 on Poklonnaya Hill in honor of the victory over Nazi Germany. The height of the monument is 141.8 m and has a symbolic meaning - each day of the war corresponds to 1 decimeter;
- The sculptural composition “The Birth of a New Man” was installed in 1995 in Seville. This sculpture is considered one of the most famous works of Zurab Tsereteli throughout the world. A miniature copy of the monument was also installed in France;
- The monument “Monument to Peter I” was erected in 1997 on an artificially created island between the drainage canal and the Moscow River. The monument was commissioned by the Russian Government and dedicated to the memory of the great Tsar Peter I. The height of the monument is about 100 meters;
- The “Tear of Sorrow” monument was created by the sculptor as a sign of sympathy and memory of the victims of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. The monument was erected in the USA, and President B. Clinton was present at its opening.
- The “History of Georgia” monument was erected near the Tbilisi Sea. Work on the sculpture is not yet finished. Today, the monument consists of three rows of columns on which there are bas-reliefs and three-dimensional images of the most famous and iconic people of Georgia;
- The sculpture “Good conquers evil” was installed in the USA in front of the main UN building in 1990. The sculpture became a symbol of the end of the Cold War;
- The monument “St. George the Victorious” was erected in Tbilisi (Georgia) in 2006. The equestrian statue of St. George the Victorious is located on a 30-meter column on Freedom Square.
In the field of architecture, Zurab Tsereteli also created brilliant works. Under his leadership, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built. According to the sculptor's idea, the building was decorated with massive medallions made of polymer alloys, the cladding was made of marble, and the roof was made of a coating including titanium nitride.
One of the last creations of the sculptor was the Alley of Rulers, which is located in Moscow, on Petroverigsky Lane. On the Alley there are busts of all the rulers of Rus', created by the hands of Zurab Tsereteli.
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Tsereteli's scandalous works
The sculptor’s work also includes controversial, even scandalous works. A number of the most famous monuments aroused indignation and criticism from both customers and townspeople, and the installation of the monuments was shrouded in rumors and protests. Thus, the installation of such monuments was accompanied by loud scandals:
- Monument to Peter I - even before the installation, some Muscovites were against the installation of the monument in their city. Residents organized pickets and rallies and wrote requests to the President. Protests continued after the installation of the monument. There were also rumors that initially there was a statue of Columbus on the site of Peter, but it was never possible to sell the monument either to Latin America or to Spain. After this, Columbus was replaced by a statue of the first Russian emperor and safely installed in Moscow. The scandalousness of Tsereteli’s statue was also added by its presence in the Rating of the Ugliest Buildings in 2008. Opponents of the installation of the monument sarcastically nicknamed the monument “Peter in a Skirt.”
- The monument “Monument to the Gendarme” (or “Louis”) was installed in Moscow, next to the Cosmos Hotel. The monument was created in honor of the leader of the French Resistance, but the French authorities refused the gift, after which the monument was erected in Russia. Subsequently, both French and Russian media blasted the appearance of the statue to smithereens. Thus, the press wrote that the great leader looked more like a martyr or a slave, his face was distorted by all the torments of hell, and his silhouette generally looked comical. There was an opinion that the statue looked like Louis de Funes, a famous French actor who played the main role in a series of films about gendarmes. Journalists debated whether the monument would cause an international scandal or amount to a diplomatic incident.
- The sculptural composition “Tear of Sorrow” was presented to the American people as a sign of sympathy for the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The author himself symbolically depicted the twin towers in his creation, but the Americans saw a completely different meaning in the monument. Thus, in one American publication it was written that the monument is visually similar to the genitals of a woman, and installing it would be an insult to the fair sex. Initially, the installation of the statue was planned at the site of the tragedy, but after such critical comments, the monument was installed in the state of New Jersey on the Hudson River pier.
- The “Tragedy of Nations” monument is a symbolic statue dedicated to the victims of Beslan. The sculpture represents a procession of genocide victims rising from their graves. This sculptural composition caused a mixed reaction among the population and critics. Thus, art critics positively assessed the sculpture, calling it the best work of Zurab Tsereteli. But Muscovites were categorically against its installation and organized pickets and protests. The townspeople called the marchers “zombies” and “coffins” and demanded that this “horror” be at least moved away. Subsequently, the sculpture was dismantled and moved deep into the park on Poklonnaya Gora.
Another scandal surrounding Tsereteli’s work occurred in 2009, when it was planned to install a statue of Jesus Christ on Solovki. The management of the Solovki nature reserve argued against the installation of the statue. The monument was never erected.
(born 1934) Russian sculptor, designer
All his life Zurab Tsereteli has been busy saturating cities with his sculptural compositions. In Moscow alone there are about a dozen of them. This is a column with script from the letters of the Armenian, Georgian and Slavic alphabets on Tishinskaya Square, the sculptural composition “Tragedy of Nations” on Poklonnaya Hill, figures of animals in the Alexander Garden at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, sculptural fragments of crosses and doors, as well as the interior decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior , reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square according to Tsereteli’s design, his monument to Peter I.
Obviously, contemporaries should be grateful to the sculptor for his desire to please people with his art. However, the work of Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli evokes an ambiguous attitude towards itself. Some speak of him as a man of great talent, others believe that the sculptor achieved fame thanks to his organizational skills. “There are too many Tseretelis everywhere,” say his critics. And there really is a lot of it. Sculptural compositions of Zurab Tsereteli are installed not only in Moscow, St. Petersburg, in the sculptor’s homeland in Georgia, but also in other countries of the world. Tsereteli made three sculptures for the USA. His composition “Good Conquers Evil,” made from the remains of Soviet and American SS-20 and Zersching nuclear missiles, is installed in front of the UN headquarters in New York. Tsereteli's sculptures are located in London, Paris, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, in the capitals and cities of eleven countries around the world.
However, Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli knows how to defend his point of view on art. He has no doubt that time will put everything in its place and his descendants will be grateful to him for his functional art, which is aimed at the benefit of man.
It seems that Zurab Tsereteli had to defend his position all his life, and he fully mastered the art of compromise. “I was often criticized, but I always did my job. I did not allow myself to be distracted by showdowns and conflicts. I have such a character: I wake up and don’t remember yesterday’s grievances. A creative person cannot be vindictive,” says the sculptor.
Problems with self-affirmation began in his student years. Zurab Tsereteli studied at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts and prepared a painting for graduation called “Song about Tbilisi.” However, the commission saw elements of convention in it, and Tsereteli was not allowed to defend himself. Someone else in his place would have been confused or would have continued to defend his point of view. But he chose a different path. Tsereteli persuaded his friend to pose for him and in two weeks he painted another picture called “The New Man,” depicting a strong athlete with a tennis racket in his hands. This time the painting fully complied with the principles of socialist realism and was made in the spirit of the then recognized poster art. This work completely satisfied the demanding commission. Zurab Tsereteli defended his diploma with honors, and thus the conflict was resolved.
After the academy, he had to go to work at the Institute of Ethnography and Archeology to support his family. He was already married then, and his wife was expecting a child. However, this time was not wasted for the sculptor. Together with scientific expeditions, he traveled the length and breadth of Georgia, learned its history, life, and customs of the people well, without which a true artist cannot become a true artist.
Finally, Zurab Tsereteli managed to receive an order to decorate the city of Pitsunda. This became his first big professional work. He based his project on a plot on an ancient theme about the Argonauts who sailed to Colchis for the Golden Fleece. His next work - a project for a children's town in Adler - was awarded the Lenin Prize.
Since then, Tsereteli has been rapidly growing and there has been no shortage of orders. He designed the Yalta Hotel in Crimea, worked in Miskhor, and became the chief designer for the design of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. By this time, Zurab Tsereteli was already settling in Moscow. In 1967, he received a studio on Tverskoy Boulevard, in which, according to the sculptor, Vladimir Vysotsky celebrated his wedding with Marina Vladi.
However, Tsereteli does not break his ties with his homeland and alternately lives in Moscow and Tbilisi. This continued until he had disagreements with the then President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who demanded that the sculptor not host US President George W. Bush in his Moscow workshop. By refusing to comply with this demand, Zurab Tsereteli became “an enemy of the Georgian people.” In Tbilisi, his statue “Ring of Friendship” was blown up, a house was set on fire, in which 100 paintings were burned and many other valuable things were destroyed. After this incident, Tsereteli finally moved to Moscow. Here the sculptor received as a gift from the Russian government a luxurious mansion and a plot of land in the very center of Moscow, on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street, which previously belonged to the German Embassy. This also caused disapproval in artistic circles, but Tsereteli believes that in this case justice prevailed, since his ancestors once owned this land, and now it has rightfully returned to him.
Tsereteli, in turn, donated his mansion in Tbilisi, which once housed the first Russian mission in Georgia, to the Russian government, and now the Russian embassy in Georgia is located there.
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli likes to say that all his wealth comes from his work and his friends. He works really hard. However, the sculptor has not only obvious and secret ill-wishers, but also good friends. Among them are artists, scientists, and politicians. He considers the now deceased great artists of our time M. Saryan, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, D. Siqueiros to be his friends. Tsereteli says that Siqueiros specially came to Tbilisi to look at his mosaic panel, he also went to Adler, where the sculptor was designing a children’s playground at that time, and seemed to say: “My teacher Rivera once worked like that, but he had plastic art.” evil, but yours is kind.”
His family is small. His only daughter is married to the son of the former chief architect of Moscow M. Posokhin, and his grandson graduated from high school at the UN.
Zurab Tsereteli is not offended by the authorities. He is a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR. Currently he is a People's Artist of the Russian Federation and President of the Academy of Arts.
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli is still tireless, continues to work hard and is thinking about many new projects, not forgetting to repeat his favorite saying: “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.”
Any work of art inevitably bears the imprint of the time in which it is created.
Lado Gudiashvili wrote: “I am firmly convinced of one thing – art cannot exist outside of a specific time. No matter how large the work is, no matter how high its tower is, how strong its foundation and first floors are, it must remain in the time in which it is created. There is no other given, and therefore art is eternal. Its forms, the thoughts it carries, are only an expression of the existence of time, its integral features.”
Subsequently, the images of works of each era will form the cultural heritage of society, but first they will turn into a symbol of their time, influencing the consciousness of contemporaries, preserving and replenishing their historical memory.
The monumental work of Zurab Tsereteli is no exception. The master creates monuments, sculptural groups and compositions dedicated to the victims of tragic events of our time - wars, terrorism, outstanding contemporaries - figures of art, culture and science, historical figures and facts that arouse the greatest interest of our time. After all, historical memory is not the history of humanity that has gone forever into the past, not events and people that have dissolved into oblivion, but something that is present and acts in our lives constantly, on a subconscious level.
From this point of view, his sculptural work can be divided into two parts - portrait sculpture and works born of themes that are eternal for humanity. This study is devoted to portrait images created by Tsereteli, which can be thematically grouped according to the following positions: history of Russian statehood, images of saints and the “My Contemporaries” gallery.
At the heart of their common foundation are issues of morality and morality. Portrait images created by the sculptor are united by society’s increased attention to the destinies and characters of specific individuals.
1. History of Russian statehood in portraits
The sculptural series of works by Zurab Tsereteli, dedicated to the history of Russia in the person of its rulers of the 9th–20th centuries, has a special place. The series is executed in the form of bronze busts and portrait statues. The culmination of the artist’s close attention to the history of Georgia and Russia - his two native sides, as mentioned earlier, almost coincided in time with an incredible surge of interest in national history. “Almost,” because Tsereteli, faithful only to his own worldview, did not expect this wave. Since the 1980s, he has gradually created, first the plastic suite “Rulers of Russia” in the form of herm busts, and then full-scale portraits and sculptural compositions dedicated to representatives of the Romanov dynasty, the 400th anniversary of which was celebrated in 2013. The sculptor himself speaks of this work as follows: “I had a need to speak out. I have been making the sculpture series “Rulers of Russia” and “History of Georgia” for almost thirty years. And now I'm done. It's not that simple. This is the professional scream that I experienced..."
Today we see how these plastic chronicles reflected the spirit of our era, how they voiced a theme that has seriously worried society all these years - the return of the historical memory of the nation, a return to its origins.
The composition consists of two bronze figures: the young emperor and his mother, placed on round high podiums. Little Peter runs excitedly along the cobblestone street with a sword in his hand, looking half-turned at Queen Natalya, née Naryshkina, walking behind him. The son seems to be persistently calling her to follow him, urging her to join him. The Emperor is depicted as still a boy, but his whole figure expresses an unbridled desire to move forward. His energetic run is conveyed so vividly that it seems that the hero might stumble from the podium on which his figure is installed. The pressure and energy in Peter's movement is emphasized by the sharp contrast of the dynamics of his figure and the static figure of his mother. Her image is likened to the image of Russia at the end of the 17th century - a huge, clumsy empire, which Peter would be destined to lead.
Tsereteli interprets the figure of Natalia Naryshkina as a fairy-tale noblewoman, absolutely closed from prying eyes. He places the figure of the queen strictly frontally and dresses her in a long, “closed-back” dress, in the fashion of the 17th century, decorated with a rich pattern, covers her on top with an equally richly decorated sleeveless cape, fastened with a buckle on the chest, and wraps her headdress with a shawl. The statue of the queen looks like a silent work of art, indifferent to what is happening around. You can barely move in such clothes, and they stand like the frozen cocoon of a strange butterfly. You just need to wake her up, shake her, so that she shows herself in all her glory. In essence, the sculptor created an allegory of patriarchal Rus' - beautiful, rich, incomprehensible to its neighbors, frozen in a drowsy hibernation. It won't be long until Peter wakes her up. A deep understanding of historical events helped the author achieve a high artistic generalization of the image. All details of the sculptural composition “Childhood of Peter” were carefully worked out. The expressive appearance of the future emperor, his facial expressions, gestures, costume details, as well as the amazing image of his mother, personifying the homeland of the future reformer, were modeled.
Speaking about the sculptural series “Rulers of Russia”, one cannot fail to mention the monument “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, Patroness of Pskov” - one of three monuments on the theme of Russian statehood, installed in Russia in a real urban environment. The monument was built in 2003 to mark the 1100th anniversary of Pskov. The first mention of the city in the chronicle in 903 is associated with the name of Grand Duchess Olga, who is revered in Pskov as its founder. Due to circumstances, having become the head of a huge, still emerging state, the princess went down in history as the great creator of state life and culture of Kievan Rus. It was Olga who had the honor of making a choice that determined the subsequent fate of Russia - she was the first of the Rurik dynasty to convert to Christianity. Subsequently, the Grand Duchess was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as Equal-to-the-Apostles.
The monument is characterized by laconicism and restraint. In the plastic solution of the image, the holy sculptor expressed the majestic image of a woman with an unbending will and high self-esteem, indestructible courage and a truly statesmanlike mind, imprinted in the national memory. The figure is solved strictly and monumentally. While maintaining real features, the image of Olga is emphatically conventional - she stands, holding a sword in one hand, and leaning on a shield with the other. The figure is installed on a high granite pedestal with a wide multi-stage base, which ensures, on the one hand, the large-scale proportionality of the monument, and on the other, creates a visual support for the moral values that the image of the Grand Duchess personifies.
Looking at the portrait gallery of the rulers of Russia created by Zurab Tsereteli, in the semantic aspect a parallel arises with the monument “Millennium of Russia” by M.O. Mikeshin in Veliky Novgorod. The Mikeshin monument was intended to “evangelize to descendants about the heroic past of Russia” over the past millennium. In our case, the sculptor limited himself to the images of the country’s rulers, demonstrating his desire to acquaint his contemporaries with those whose deeds and destinies in different historical eras were not always assessed objectively, sometimes suppressed or distorted, but decided the destinies of their homeland.
2. Images of saints - a story about lost moral values
The issue of preserving moral values is one of those that worries many today. At one time, Mikhail Anikushin, reflecting on the sculptor’s work, noted: “There are eternal human values, there are noble traditions - we need to remind people of them tirelessly. This is the only way art can foster citizenship and high spirituality.”. A similar approach to creativity is also characteristic of Zurab Tsereteli. As if echoing the aesthetics of classicism, the master creates works imbued with a high moral ideal that improves a person, instilling in him civic virtues and devotion to his homeland. After all, in the end, the main task of the artist is to see what others could not see, and to tell about it so that others will pay attention to it.
From this point of view, two monuments by Zurab Tsereteli, installed in the village of Borisoglebsk, Yaroslavl region, are interesting. We are talking about monuments to two monks of the Boris and Gleb Monastery - St. Alexander Peresvet and St. Irinarch the Recluse. The first monument, erected in 2005, was created by a sculptor in honor of the 625th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo. Alexander Peresvet is a legendary warrior monk who received the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh himself to participate in the Battle of Kulikovo along with the soldiers of Dmitry Donskoy and fell in single combat with the Tatar hero Chelubey. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the monk Peresvet. The second monument, erected a year later, in 2006, is dedicated to Irinarch the Recluse, a monk of the Boris and Gleb Monastery, who blessed citizen K. Minin and Prince D. Pozharsky to lead the people’s militia for the liberation of Moscow in 1612. In Borisoglebsk the name of Saint Irinarch has been revered for a long time. At the age of 30, he took monastic vows at the Boris and Gleb Monastery, and the relics of the saint were subsequently laid to rest here.
These two monuments can well be called paired. As strange as it may seem for the creative method of Zurab Tsereteli, in this case the sculpture is united by the similarity of the plastic solution - the figures of saints in monastic robes are given in full growth, frontally to the viewer. Alexander Peresvet holds a spear in one hand and a cross in the other, as if conveying the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh to those living today, for whom he himself laid down his life on the battlefield. Saint Irinarchus is depicted with his head covered - a distinctive element of the attire of a reclusive monk, his right hand is raised for blessing. Each monument is 3.2 meters high, including the granite pedestal on which it is erected. In the plastic interpretation of the images of saints, the author’s passion for the play of chiaroscuro, created by the deep folds of clothing, is revealed, which enlivens the poses of the figures, giving them dynamics. But the main thing that unites these monuments is an idea. Both of them are dedicated to two important events in Russian history for the preservation of Russian statehood - the battle with the Tatar-Mongol army of Mamai in 1380 on the Kulikovo Field and the liberation of Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders by the forces of the people's militia in 1612. “I really want people to love their story” , says Tsereteli. In any case, thanks to such monuments we at least remember the history of our country.
Preserving historical memory is only one side of the tireless activity of the “silent preacher,” as Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) puts it. The second, no less important, is a conversation with the viewer about the heights of the human spirit through the images of ascetics, whose distinctive characteristics are high moral qualities, civic valor, true, and not leavened patriotism.
In the modern era of the absence of authorities, those who are commonly called the “conscience of the nation,” the images of saints turned out to be almost the only role models that are not subject to devaluation. Therefore, Tsereteli’s work naturally and logically included images of those who have long been called ascetics. Two monuments to one of the most revered saints in Rus' - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, created by the sculptor, were installed in the Italian city of Bari, 2003, and in the village of Haapsala, Vyborg region, 2002. The monument to Holy Prince Oleg of Ryazan was built in Ryazan, 2007. Monumental portraits of two patriarchs - His Holiness the Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy II and His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II in 2009 decorated the courtyard of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Russian Academy of Arts on Gogol Boulevard.
The monuments to Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, St. George the Victorious and Grand Duchess Olga were discussed above. In the summer of 2013, in the Greek city of Veria, where the Apostle Paul preached, a monument to the saint was unveiled. The sculpture, representing the figure of an apostle, thinned by labor and fasting, with bare feet, but with the gaze of a convinced righteous man, pressing the Holy Scriptures with both hands to his chest, does not leave anyone indifferent. The contrast between the inspired face of a man, confident in the gracious power of the teaching he preaches, and the frail, barefoot body, dressed in a loose chiton, creates emotional tension that makes the viewer stop. The deliberate simplicity in the interpretation of the image of one of the greatest missionaries of Christianity only brings the viewer closer to him. The Eternal Book pressed to the chest attracts attention. In the images of saints, the sculptor sees examples of spiritual greatness and, sensing the demand of the time, tells the viewer about them. At the same time, the author’s imagination and knowledge, as far as possible, of the life stories of the saints allowed him to create the illusion of close acquaintance with the characters depicted.
As M.A. Chegodaeva writes, “special attention should be paid to the fact that Tsereteli’s own religious works are neither stylistically nor plastically different from his “secular” works, and form a single artistic whole with them.”
One of the sculptor’s recent works, in which he refers to the image of saints, is a monument to Pope John Paul II, which was unveiled in Paris in October 2014. Our contemporary, repeatedly glorified for his deeds of goodness and charity, his incredible modesty, and peacemaking initiatives, Pope John Paul II was canonized by the Catholic Church. No matter how strange it may seem, the author of the first monument to Pope John Paul II in France was not a Catholic, but an Orthodox: the monument by Tsereteli was opened in the city of Ploermel in 2006.
“After the opening of the monument in Ploermel,” says the sculptor, “representatives of the Polish Catholic Church in France approached me with a request to create a monument to John Paul II for installation in Paris. The statue of John Paul II is installed in the courtyard of Notre Dame Cathedral. The figure rises on a granite base, the total height of the monument is 3.2 meters. No monument has ever been erected in this sacred place for the French. This is a great honor for me. The monument was donated by the Russian people, as indicated by the inscription on the base of the monument.”
The concepts of morality, duty, and dignity occupy a special, honorable place in Zurab Tsereteli’s worldview system. And this feature is one of those that allows us to speak not only about the historicism of the artist’s thinking, but about monumental historicism. Considering a person’s life from the perspective of eternity, the master clearly highlights the most important and significant for his prosperous existence on earth - the preservation of spirituality, adherence to centuries-old moral values. Therefore, in an effort to make his own thoughts more understandable to the viewer, the sculptor in his work moves from a portrait image to a symbolic one. In this case, the plastic metaphor of the designated topic is the monument “Russian Truth”, erected in 2001 in the city of Kogalym, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The sculptural composition is formed by a pillar of arrows. The title of each is clearly engraved on the spine: “The Great Chetya Menaion”, “The Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh” and “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”, “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, “Chronograph”, “The Legend of the Battle of the Novgorodians with the Suzdalians”, Nikonovskaya and the Trinity Chronicle, “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”, “Zadonshchina”, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”... At one time, each of these books represented a milestone in Russian history, but today only a narrow circle of specialists is familiar with most of them. And although these works are devoted to historical events, according to Z.K. Tsereteli, they serve not only as a source of information about what happened centuries ago. Over time, they were transformed into a handwritten set of moral postulates that helped the Russian people maintain state independence and build a great power.
Having created a metaphorical image of eternal categories, the master calls on his contemporaries to learn from the example of their great ancestors, including among them the wise rulers who assembled Russia bit by bit - appanage principalities and then fought tooth and nail for its unity; heroes who laid down their lives on the Kulikovo field against the hordes of Mamai; brave and courageous Novgorodians, who more than once repelled the attacks of the Suzdalians, who sought to subjugate the independent Veliky Novgorod. Among the examples of high morality and spirituality of the country, the artist includes all the saints whose lives are passed down from century to century in the “Cheti-Minea”, and first of all, the most revered among the people, Sergius of Radonezh and Alexander Nevsky. Let us repeat: the absence of the ideal of a highly moral contemporary, capable of uniting his fellow citizens, is a serious problem for Russia today. The artist feels this most acutely.
In search of metaphorical images of eternal values and highly moral principles, Zurab Tsereteli continues to turn to the past and creates another monumental composition dedicated to fidelity, duty, and love. In other words, the most important value guidelines of a person at all times, but representing a serious deficit today. We are talking about the sculptural work “Wives of the Decembrists. Gates of Destiny "(2008, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Russian Academy of Arts). A dozen female figures, some with children, stand in front of a tightly locked massive door with a tiny barred window. The heroine in the center of the composition, located closest to the treasured door, holds in her hands the icon of the Mother of God and Child. On the faces of graceful young women in beautiful dresses there is humility, wedded to the determination not to leave their beloved husbands, no matter what the cost, despite the living conditions of convicts, the harsh climate, etc. This is a monument to female sacrifice, determination to radically change your destiny for the sake of those you love. Until the “gates of fate” open, the heroines have the opportunity to change their minds, return from distant and cold Siberia to the familiar Petersburg, but it seems that there are no faint-hearted among them .
3. Gallery “My Contemporaries” - a plastic symphony about the height and strength of the human spirit
For Zurab Tsereteli, there are reference points in today's life, presented by him in the form of images, iconic for his time, representatives of art - writers and poets, musicians, dancers and singers, actors and directors, artists... A sculptural cycle with the traditional title “My Contemporaries” "was started in 2000 and continues to grow today, currently numbering almost fifty sculptures in bronze. Some of them are large high reliefs, some are full-scale portrait sculptures, including compositions that include monumental details made using the enamel technique. Paolo Trubetskoy, the creator of one of the strongest monuments to Emperor Alexander III in Russian art in terms of emotional impact in St. Petersburg, said: “Without portraiture there cannot be a monument, and without a symbol there cannot be a work of art.” This statement is echoed by the portrait gallery “My Contemporaries” in the interpretation of Zurab Tsereteli.
M.A. Burganova writes in her monograph on monumental sculpture in Russia of the 20th century: “In the 1970-1980s, both in easel and monumental sculpture, the portrait of a creative personality became one of the leading genres. The life of a writer, poet, artist, musician is interpreted as a phenomenon commensurate with history and even as a fact of history itself.” In 1990-2000, this trend not only continued, but also intensified, due to the lifting of bans on the names of many artists who were not loyal to the Soviet regime, and attracting increased public attention to them. Zurab Tsereteli did not stand aside, starting to create the plastic cycle “My Contemporaries”. A few words about who is included in the circle of those portrayed. The cycle opens with high relief portraits of poets and writers of the Silver Age - A. Akhmatova, M. Tsvetaeva, A. Blok, O. Mandelstam, I. Bunin...
This fact alone suggests that the sculptor’s concept from the very beginning envisaged the creation of a portrait gallery of famous artists, not only from the images of personal acquaintances and those living directly at the same time as the author, but much more broadly - a gallery of figures symbolizing Russian culture of the 20th century. That area in which Russia, perhaps, has made the greatest contribution to the global storehouse of civilization. With its representatives who lived and worked throughout one century of Russian history, the sculptor connects his deep thoughts about the fate of modern Russia, about the living roll call of so many different times within the same 20th century, about moral problems, in particular about the problem of the individual’s duty to his country. M. Anikushin had no doubt, repeating after V. Mukhina: “In the future, our era will be judged by modern works, and we have no right to forget about this.” Tsereteli, himself a representative of the era, could not allow the merciless time to erase in the memory of a rapidly changing world the names of outstanding personalities, his contemporaries in the 20th century. The sculptor himself admits: “I try to expand the “My Contemporaries” series as much as possible, preserving the impression of those whom I knew personally. The image of a great man, his inner state is very important for the artist...”
The synthesizing principle characteristic of the master’s work was clearly manifested in the construction of high-relief images. Here the sculptor combines a portrait image of the model with a symbol, uses attributes associated with her professional activity, actively uses the plastic capabilities of the high relief background, even changing the texture of its surface, which also turns this background into a symbol. The author often combines this technique with elements of letrism (which is also typical for his monuments in the urban environment) and includes fragments of specific literary works, sometimes statements of heroes in the background of high relief. These texts play a big role in the perception of the image, instantly reminding the viewer of the creativity and even the fate of the model. The category of fate in the context of considering the characters chosen by the sculptor is extremely important. This applies to representatives of the Silver Age, and to the author’s immediate contemporaries - A. Voznesensky, R. Nuriev, M. Plisetskaya, E. Svetlanov... These people with world fame and glory had to endure a lot for the right to find, defend and preserve their individuality as artist and as a person. In our opinion, first of all, Zurab Tsereteli is talking about this - about loyalty to one’s talent despite the circumstances - about the spiritual fortitude and moral courage of brilliant people.
At the same time, each portrait of the cycle is perceived as a generalization of the distinctive features, moral and social content of the time to which the hero belongs. The sculptor awakens the historical memory of the viewer, forcing him to think about the reason for choosing this or that character for his work, although he was simply friends or is friends with many of them. After all, the stories of the life and work of Tsereteli’s heroes, and therefore their portraits, contain a real lesson for our time. The sculptor turns to such representatives of the 20th century, whose life experience can tell a lot to a person today, answering his innermost questions and spiritual quests. At the same time, the cycle “My Contemporaries” can also be considered as the author’s confession - a frank story about how the master imagines the fate of the artist, what he thinks about his ability to sacrifice himself in the name of talent, about the ability to maintain devotion to his calling without losing his creative self. The general feeling of all the works in the cycle can be described in one word – inspiration. It is the inspiration that comes from the thoughtfully sad S. Yesenin, the wise E. Svetlanov, the indulgent Yu. Lyubimov, the artistically calm A. Voznesensky, the ironic O. Tabakov, the excited A. Blok... So the cycle “My Contemporaries” is read by the viewer with Tsereteli’s plastic poem about inspiration, while at the same time instilling pride in belonging to a nation that has given the world a constellation of celebrities who have enriched world culture in a variety of fields.
Tsereteli himself belongs to the stellar generation of creative people who entered the domestic art scene in the 1960s, which is why he includes his bas-relief self-portrait in the “My Contemporaries” series. Thanks to this, the works included in the series are composed not only of the sculptor’s historical knowledge, but also of involvement in the era, primarily in its culture and art. Expanding the circle of those depicted to representatives of Russian culture of the early 20th century, Zurab Tsereteli proclaims the continuity of Russian art throughout the past century right up to the present, declaring himself, among other things, the successor of this greatest cultural heritage. The viewer is presented with an image of the era, characterized by authenticity and historical accuracy. I would like to especially note that the sculptor turned to images of representatives of all types of art - fine, musical, literature, architecture, theater and cinema..., which says a lot about the interests of the author, about the nourishing sources of his work.
It is worth emphasizing that the sculptural poem “My Contemporaries” is a portrait, many of the models, according to the author, posed for him, for example, Voznesensky, Bashmet, Dementyev, Spivakov, Aitmatov, Volchek... From someone, before starting sculpting, the sculptor I made sketches during performances, as, for example, with Rostropovich, Solzhenitsyn... and then these sessions were not sessions in the usual sense of the word. So, in addition to M. Rostropovich’s concert performances, Zurab Tsereteli made sketches of the musician during UNESCO meetings, which were attended by both the model and the artist with the rank of Goodwill Ambassadors of this organization. An excellent visual memory also came to the rescue: the sculptor still remembers with gratitude Joseph Charlemagne, one of his teachers at the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, who taught students to draw from memory. Of course, we also had to use iconographic materials.
When asked whose portraits were most difficult to create, the artist answers: “It was difficult to create almost all the portraits. I wanted to convey the inner state of these people - I don’t like to redraw. I create portraits of those whose work resonates with me and whom I love. For example, my close friends are Voznesensky, Yevtushenko, Aitmatov, Dementyev... I can only express my attitude towards them through art, so I created their images.”
In each sculptural portrait, the viewer sees, first of all, a portrait resemblance to the person being portrayed. In addition, the author necessarily includes in the image certain details that are characteristic only of a particular model, which make the portrait brighter and deeper. At the same time, the sculptor leaves space for the viewer to participate in the perception of the image. This dialogue is always different - depending on the degree of “savvy” of the viewer, but it is always present. M.A. Chegodaeva draws attention to the features of the realism of Zurab Tsereteli’s sculptures: “Just like life, they are devoid of any traces of naturalism - they are not present either in the sculptural image of the Apostle Paul, or in the monuments to the Pope and Patriarch, just as they are not in the sculptural portraits of artists, writers, politicians. Their “naturalness” is a kind of “super-realism”, what in the 1920s Tairov, Voloshin, Zamyatin called “neorealism”, “mystical”, “fantastic” realism. The heroes of Zurab Tsereteli, both now living and those who have passed away - some just recently, some centuries ago, reside in some kind of imperishable time space; they are immortal, resurrected by the power of art.”
Speaking about the plastic means of creating an image in the portrait cycle, it is interesting to note the following detail. One of the elements of the high relief is sometimes the image of the sculptor’s hometown - Tbilisi. Thus, this technique is used in high reliefs dedicated to the poets of the late 20th century - B. Akhmadulina and B. Okudzhava. In the first case, for the poet, who has repeatedly praised the beauty of Tbilisi, the pedestal is formed by a column, almost immersed in the relief, made up of typical Georgian houses piled on top of each other. In the second, a series of houses descend like an avalanche along a steep mountain ridge, surrounding the poet, who was born in Tbilisi. This technique used by the sculptor reflects the long-standing close relationship between the literary circles of Georgia and Russia. Remembering Tbilisi in the 1920s (then Tiflis), L. Gudiashvili wrote: “Tbilisi is a city with great poetic traditions. True, poetry cafes have lost much of their former flavor, but life here was still interesting and intense. Debates, evenings, and meetings continued, in which both Georgian and Russian writers took part. After all, many Russian poets received their first baptism in Tbilisi and now they were drawn here like a magnet.” .
The names of S. Yesenin, V. Mayakovsky, O. Mandelstam, K. Balmont, B. Pasternak, N. Zabolotsky, N. Tikhonov and other Russian poets turned out to be forever associated with Tbilisi, with Georgia, in which they found new sources of inspiration, and the subsequent generation of writers preserved this tradition. And Zurab Tsereteli, who repeatedly glorified his beloved city in his art, could not help but turn to its image even in a portrait cycle, when appropriate. Such plastic diversity undoubtedly expands the possibilities of representing the person being portrayed and activates the viewer’s historical memory.
Some of the high reliefs mentioned above served as the basis for the birth of the portrait statues of the “My Contemporaries” series. Thus, the images of V. Vysotsky, I. Brodsky, R. Nuriev, M. Tsvetaeva were created first in high relief, and then reworked on an enlarged scale, turning in the full sense of the word into monumental sculptures, which the viewer has the opportunity to walk around and examine from all sides . Some of them are installed in a real environment: the monument to M. Tsvetaeva now adorns the esplanade of the French town of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (2012), the monument to V. Vysotsky was built in the city of Pokachi, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (2012). Other statues included in the cycle were created as independent works. These are statues of M. Rostropovich, O. Tabakov, N. Mikhalkov, V. Gergiev, A. Solzhenitsyn.
As already noted, the sculptor widely uses attributes and symbols in the portrait gallery that enhance the psychological characteristics of the person being portrayed and refer the viewer either to the work of the model or to her fate. According to A. Zolotov, this is due to the peculiarities of the artist’s perception of the model: “The poetry of perception of reality inherent in the works of Zurab Tsereteli and in himself as an artist directs the chosen object of the image towards the symbol and can “lead” it from the sphere of artistic admiration into another sphere - a psychologically convincing “recognition” of the human essence of the hero.”
Much has been written, for example, about the monument to V. Vysotsky: a poet with a guitar, which he never parted with in his life, from behind whose back images of golden-domed temples and horses from the artist’s most popular songs “peek out.” Or about the monument to I. Brodsky, half of whose figure the sculptor presented in the clothes of a prisoner, and the second in the clothes of a Nobel laureate. Consider the high relief dedicated to Vladimir Spivakov, who appears with a “butterfly” on his naked torso with muscular arms and an incredibly inspired face, and the work itself is perceived as a hymn to the “hard labor” of the musician! The author speaks about the portrait of V. Spivakov as follows: “This is a unique musician. He plays sports! The people should know about this. Therefore, I made a portrait of him with a naked torso, but with a “butterfly” as a sign of belonging to the artistic world.” Such capacious details and characteristics say an incredible amount to anyone who is familiar with the life history of these outstanding personalities.
The monument to A. Solzhenitsyn is special, unlike others. There are no trappings associated with his work as a writer, or a human rights activist, or a historian. It lacks metaphors and allegories that would lead the viewer to certain parallels and associations with the life and work of this unique person. This monument itself is a symbol - a symbol of eternal pain for our native country. This is exactly how, in our opinion, Zurab Tsereteli understood and conveyed the life of Alexander Isaevich through plastic arts, raising the image of a real personality to the meaning of a symbol.
At the end of his “Autobiography”, presented at the request of the Nobel Committee in 1970, A. Solzhenitsyn wrote: “Even events that have already happened to us, we almost never can evaluate and understand immediately, in their wake, the more unpredictable and surprising the course of future events turns out to be for us.” These words, first of all, refer to Alexander Solzhenitsyn himself, to what his appearance in Russian philosophy, history, literature, morality means for our country, and simply to his appearance as a courageous and integral person. In the sculptural portrait by Zurab Tsereteli, A. Solzhenitsyn is depicted in a funeral shroud. His earthly life hung in the balance of death too many times; he repeatedly became a victim of various circumstances, including History itself. A long shirt with a closed collar, falling from the shoulders, creates an image of the greatest humility, concentration and silence with colossal internal tension - the life of the spirit, as if “matter and body did not remind of themselves.” Hands play a big role in a portrait. As the sculptor says, “I tried very hard to capture his character - the way he spoke with his hands. Every person of art has some special detail... inherent only to him alone.”
The almost connected, but never closed fingers of A. Solzhenitsyn aggravate the feeling of intense internal work, a deep wrinkle on the forehead is a sign of enduring pain for his homeland.
“This is the figure of an Artist – an artist-preacher, an artist-thinker, an artist of a spiritual nature”
. The feeling that this great man continues to care for the fate of the country even beyond the line of life and death... The statue is filled with the deepest inner content, the sculptor’s emotional approach to the fate of the model is clearly visible in it.
In an effort to create the most comprehensive portrait of the hero - not only his inner essence, the life of his soul, but also characterizing his creative activity, especially when it comes to his colleagues in the professional workshop, the sculptor freely experiments in the field of the latest techniques and technologies, saturating the synthesizing method with new elements of your creativity. The master’s interest in the technique of enamel, in which Tsereteli has been working since the late 1970s, is well known, and his search in the field of which is developing in the following directions: increasing the number of color tones, combining the art of enamel jewelry with monumental form, the transition from flatness to volumetric-spatial structures and the exit enamel work into a real environment.
It is symbolic that for the first time the sculptor included monumental paintings using the cloisonné enamel technique in sculptural compositions dedicated to the avant-garde artists of the 20th century - Kazimir Malevich (2013) and Wassily Kandinsky (2013). In both of them, fragments of iconic works of these legendary artists are executed using the enamel technique. The presence of enamel monumental parts in the bronze composition emphasizes the artistic individuality of the author and the breadth of his creative aspirations. In essence, the master combined a portrait image and a decorative principle, which is of great importance in monumental sculpture, while simultaneously turning these works into symbols due to the generalizing power contained in them.
Summing up the consideration of three extensive plastic cycles of Zurab Tsereteli - the history of Russian statehood, images of saints and the gallery “My Contemporaries”, it can be argued that the origins of their creation lie in the sculptor’s response to the needs of modern society. They reflected the atmosphere of the current turning point in the country, which is characterized by people’s enormous interest in their historical past, increased attention to traditions that, for well-known reasons, have been interrupted for decades, a moral crisis, and a lack of authorities among contemporaries capable of uniting disunited and disappointed people. In his “Notes on Art,” one of the brightest sculptors of his time, Ivan Shadr, wrote that “The most important thing for an artist is to reflect the spiritual essence of the era.”
Years later, in continuation of this thought, the sculptor Mikhail Anikushin emphasized: “Art always requires experience, comprehension; superficial topicality does not give a true image of today. Fine art is “photo fixation”, it is akin to philosophy, its field is not fussy crafts, but a realistic picture, the image of Time.”. Zurab Tsereteli was able to clearly grasp the mood of modernity at the turn of two centuries and, according to his worldview, provided answers to questions that concern society, creating a plastic image of his era.
On January 4, sculptor Zurab Tsereteli turns 82 years old. The master celebrates his birthday at the construction site. On the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Puerto Rico, where the final stage of construction of the tallest monument to man on Earth begins. The world has yet to hear about this monument, but we decided to recall the 10 most famous works of Zurab Konstantinovich.
1. Monument “Friendship of Peoples”
In 1983, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the reunification of Georgia with Russia, a “paired” monument was erected in Moscow - the “Friendship of Peoples” monument. This is one of Tsereteli’s most famous early works.
2. Monument “Good conquers Evil”
The sculpture was installed in front of the UN building in New York in 1990 and symbolizes the end of the Cold War.
3. Victory Monument
This stele was erected as part of the memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, opened in 1995. The height of the obelisk is 141.8 meters - 1 decimeter for each day of the war.
4. Statue of St. George the Victorious on Poklonnaya Hill
At the foot of the Victory Monument there is another work by Zurab Tsereteli - the statue of St. George the Victorious, one of the important symbols in the sculptor’s work.
In the city of Seville in 1995, one of the most famous works of Tsereteli in the world was installed - the monument “The Birth of a New Man”, reaching a height of 45 meters. A smaller copy of this sculpture is located in Paris.
6. Monument to Peter I
Erected in 1997 by order of the Moscow Government on an artificial island at the fork of the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal. The total height of the monument is 98 meters.
7. “Saint George the Victorious”
This sculpture is installed on a 30-meter column on Freedom Square in Tbilisi - St. George is the patron saint of Georgia. The monument was opened in April 2006.
8. "Tear of Sorrow"
On September 11, 2006, the “Tear of Sorrow” monument was unveiled in the United States - a gift to the American people in memory of the victims of September 11. The opening ceremony was attended by US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2010, at the intersection of Solyanka Street and Podkokolny Lane, a monument was erected in honor of those killed during the siege of a school in Beslan in 2004.
Installed near the Tbilisi Sea. The composition consists of three rows of 35-meter columns, on which Georgian kings and poets are depicted in the form of bas-reliefs. Work on it continues.
