Biography of the sculptor of guardianship

Alexander could not even occur to her parents of Alexander that their son, the fortress of the landowner Irina Vasilievna Olkhina, fate has prepared to become one of the greatest sculptors of the world, to glorify Russia with her name. The Yaroslavl province belonged to those provinces where climatic conditions did not favored agriculture, and therefore art crafts were greatly developed here.

Svechkino and the village of Rybnitsa, next to him, where the family of guardians settled, were famous for their petals who passed their art from generation to generation. Among the glorious names of masters-players, the family of serf guardians also enjoyed fame. The head of the family Mikhail Evdokimovich was not only a talented petal, but also a self-taught sculptor. From the infantry years, he taught his son to the birth crafts.

When Alexander was 12 years old, his father decided to take him to St. Petersburg, to give him to his studies. The guardian managed to arrange his son in the drawing school of the Society for the Promotion of Arts. The boy quickly mastered the technique of drawing, found outstanding abilities in drawing gypsum ornaments, statues, human figures and successfully, in two years instead of three, graduated from school.

Soon he entered the workshop of the famous sculptor A. Young Opecushin in practice acquired the basics of professional skill, knowledge and skills that helped him later become a famous sculptor. The master appreciated the giftedness of the student, managed to achieve permission for him to study at the Academy of Arts. With the assistance of his teacher, the guardian received a free, became a free person.

He embodied all his skill, professional skill in the first significant work, performed on the topic given to him by the Academy, - the bas -relief “Angels announcing the Christmas of Christ”. For this work, he was awarded a small silver medal of the Russian Academy of Arts. He received not only a reward, but also an invitation to participate in the creation of the grandiose monument “Millennium of Russia”, built in Novgorod according to the project of artist M., he was entrusted with the implementation of the figure of Peter I on the bas -relief.

The novice sculptor perfectly coped with his task. One of his successes was the creation of a monument to Admiral A. Greig in Nikolaev in the year. This year was the most intense in the work of sculptors. At the same time, he and Mikeshin worked on the monument to Catherine II. He worked with inspiration, for the first time he got a large -scale task: to create nine huge statues, to convey nine different characters in the sculpture.

And here, with great force, the skill of an artist-realist, seeking to combine truthfulness, the accuracy of the image with penetration into the character, was manifested. For work on the monument to Catherine II in St. Petersburg, the guardian was awarded the title of artist of the first degree. By the beginning of the seventies, the interest of Russian artists in the topics of national history is especially deepening.

The guardian interested the personality and activity of Peter I. He decided to convey the image of the converter of Russia in stone and bronze, created a series of his portraits and the statue, for which the honorary title of academician was awarded to the son of a serf peasant. A year later, a significant event took place: the monument committee by A. Pushkin announced the competition, inviting all Russian scuilles to take part in it.

The competition ended with the victory of the guardian. For several years he devoted guardianship to this work. About a dozen albums he had to fill in Pushkin’s images, make more than thirty design of the monument from clay and plasticine before starting his main life work. Pushkin guardian to genius is simple and classically clear. On the pedestal, the words from the Pushkin “monument”: “In front of him stood Turgenev and Dostoevsky, Repin and Kramskoy.

They saw and approved the creation of A. shortly after the completion of the work on the monument to Pushkin, the sculptor began his other cherished work - he could express a deep feeling to one of his favorite poets in it. The most difficult thing for the sculptor was the question of Lermontov’s appearance, whose image he had to represent in bronze. If, in the performance of the busts and statues of Pushkin, the sculptor could see the poet’s mask and a number of excellent portraits, then this time he did not have such an opportunity.

Lermontov’s portraits were very contradictory and caused debate among those who knew him personally. Turgenev was remembered by the poet’s expressive face: “In the appearance of Lermontov, there was something ominous and tragic, some kind of gloomy and unkind power blew from his dark face, from his large and motionless eyes.” The famous writer and fiction writer I.

Panaev describes Lermontov as follows: “He was small, dense addition, had a big head, large facial features, wide and large foreheads, deep smart, penetrating eyes, involuntarily producing the embarrassment of the one he looked at for a long time.” According to Opecushin, the self -portrait of G. Palen after Valerik’s battle in the Baron L. tent is of particular attention, working on the monument to M.Lermontov, guardian sought to convey in him not only portrait resemblance, but also create an artistic image of a poet in love with the Caucasus.

He managed to resolve one of the most difficult tasks of monumental sculpture: organically tie the figure of the poet with the surrounding landscape. A statue of 2, 35 meters tall at the Moran factory in St. Petersburg, and in July was exhibited in the courtyard of the foundry. She depicts Lermontov sitting on a wreckage of a cliff, in a thoughtful pose, the overcoat is draped with folds on the side, which is an important decorative and compositional link connecting the figure and a pedestal into a single whole.

A revealed book lies at the poet's feet. On the person, the seal of deep thought, the gaze is directed into the distance. The guardian specially arrived in Pyatigorsk with St. Petersburg masters to personally follow the installation of the statue. The monument to Lermontov, built with folk money, has been inseparable from Pyatigorsk for more than a hundred years.

The sculptor spent the last years of his life in his native places, in the village of Rybnitsa. Time is not imperious over the creations of A. Our people gratefully remembers the author of the best monuments to the geniuses of the land of Russian A. Pushkin and M. The Old Sculptor at the sunset of his days became a witness to the fall of tsarism and the achievement of the socialist revolution.

The last years of his life were especially difficult: illness, poverty, poor material conditions finally undermined his health. On March of March, he died of pneumonia. He was buried in the village of Rybnitsa near the graves of his parents and brother. In the beginning of the 10s, a plate with the inscription was installed on his grave: “Sculptor Academician Opecushin Alexander Mikhailovich.

We will never forget the guardian, because Bronze Pushkin and Lermontov are alive.