In March 2012, a book was published that represents an almost complete publication of the literary heritage of the great Soviet sculptor Sergei Merkurov (1881-1952), the author of the famous monuments to L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky and K. Timiryazev in Moscow, the creator of the monumental image of V.I. Lenin, the creator of the high relief “Execution of 26 Baku Commissars” and many other works. The book “Sergei Dmitrievich Merkurov. Memoirs, letters, articles, notes, judgments of contemporaries” was collected by the sculptor’s son, Georgy Sergeevich Merkurov and prepared for publication by his great-grandson, Anton Merkurov. For Ilyich’s birthday, we are publishing a fragment of this book: Sergei Merkurov talks about his meetings with Lenin.

32. Conversation with Ilyich
(Moscow, 1920)

Comrade Merkurov, Lunacharsky told me that you refused rations! Motives?!

Vladimir Ilyich! First: I can’t eat alone when all around me my professional comrades are dying of hunger!..

Second: my usual state is a half-starved existence: then I am angrier, more active, and work all the time. When I'm full, I'm kind, sleep more and work less.

Who gave you the right to feed me?!

And you raise a philosophical question about free will! It is not in the state, but there is the will of the organized majority - the proletariat. Kindly comply! You artists are petty-bourgeois anarchists!

Vladimir Ilyich, I said that I am not used to eating on the sly from others, especially from my comrades.

What do you want me to do for you? And why haven’t you come to me yet?

Vladimir Ilyich, two months ago I left Tverskaya Street to see you and only now have I reached you. Vladimir Ilyich, now times are very, very difficult. It would be good if we got off your neck and the neck of the state. After all, it is not difficult for each of us to produce our own rations: give everyone a piece of land, and he will produce for himself, and even for others.

So you want to settle down on earth?

At least that's it! Of course, part of the day will be spent cultivating the land, and part of the day will be spent on art. And I’m sure that in the fall I will bring you the Council of People’s Commissars’ rations.

The eye squints - a sharp look passes through you, a few steps around the office, hands are tucked into the slot of the vest under the armpits - Ilyich stops, thinks for a minute and says:

It’s interesting, but Lunacharsky suggested something else. Well, let's try - Black redistribution or something else! Interesting! - Ilyich laughs. - Going to the people! If your wish comes true, observe the public around you - the peasants. You can learn a lot of interesting things for yourself and for__ us. Maybe you will be a useful person for us there. Let's try! So, are you giving up rations?

Yes, Vladimir Ilyich!

You said that many of your comrades died of hunger and disease. Specifically, who is this “many”?

Artist Gugunava, sculptor Lensky, sculptor Kracht and others.

Besides rations, how could you help?

Work! One could order busts, figures, monuments!

Okay, let's think about it! So, a piece of land is a Black redistribution? Let's try! Farewell.

The next day, by order of Ilyich, the Gubsovnarkhoz sent me a list of 75 estates near Moscow - from 5 to 100 dessiatines with and without buildings. Even later, upon inspection, there were also houses with a large number of rooms, an estate bordering Mashkin.

A month later, I reported to Ilyich that nothing would do, since hired force is needed to cultivate the land - Ilyich wants to laugh (absurd - in the Soviet state), or organize a commune (which I proposed to the Union of Sculptors, but they refused, which is not the job of artists raise cabbage and rabbits), and that in the Izmailovsky menagerie, by chance, through the forester Mochalsky, I found a neglected dacha and nearby two empty dacha plots, only 1.5 acres.

By order of Ilyich, transmitted through V.D. Bonch-Bruevich, a warrant was issued to me to occupy the dacha and land. About the history of the dacha in the Izmailovsky Menagerie - someday later.

33. Secretary of the Izmailovsky Village Council
(Moscow, 1920)

Write! “On the occasion of the completion of field work, serve a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lady of Heaven, and also, through Merkulov, ask Vladimir Ilyich for a breeding bull.”

The chairman of the village council, Izmailova Zhukov, walks from corner to corner and dictates the Resolution of today's meeting. People are sitting here.

“Listen, Zhukov, you can’t put everything in one pile - both the Lady of Heaven and Ilyich. Let’s separate: about the prayer to the Lady at the beginning of the protocol, and the bull at the end - or first the request to Ilyich - and at the end to the Lady!”

“Write as they tell you, it’s none of your business - you do what the community thinks and what they order you - it wasn’t us who started it, and it won’t end with us: without a prayer to the Lady of Heaven - Jerusalem, there will be no: that means, write as the community orders ! Write out a copy, receive it in your hands and act, since honoring without a bull is in no way possible.”

After dealing with art issues, as a curiosity, I give Vladimir Ilyich an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Izmailovo peasants.

Ilyich reads, laughs contagiously, and in his chesty voice, burrs, says:

Comrade Merkurov, let’s kill the Mother of God with a bull. The bull is more real. Here is a note to Comrade Taratuta, he is an expert on these matters.

The next day I have a warrant in my hands: “To hand over a Yaroslavl breed of bull - nickname Grozny.” And from the gates of the former bishop's dacha in Cherkizovo, the three of them led the huge, handsome Grozny to Izmailovo.

“You see, Merkulov, if we had not served the Lady a prayer of thanksgiving, Ilyich would not have given the bull!”

34. Death mask of V. I. Lenin
(Night from 21/1 to 22/1 1924)

Freezing. Blizzard. Izmailov Forest.

I work in a sheepskin coat. Cold. The wind is knocking on the large studio window. You can hear old pines groaning and knocking all around in the forest.

What are you doing?

Working.

So late?

How “late”, it’s only 8 o’clock.

Will you be in the workshop all the time?

What, are you going to tell me to go into the forest in such cold and snowstorm?

Sorry! Work.

An hour later the call came again.

Are you still working?

Sorry, we had an argument here in the Council, we want to check: please tell me what is needed to remove someone’s mask?

Four kilos of plaster, a little stearic lubricant, a meter of raw thread and the hands of a good craftsman.

Thank you. Sorry for the trouble. Will you keep working and not go anywhere?

No, I won't leave.

A blizzard is raging in the forest.

I close the shutters. The dog clings to the stove.

The phone rattles again.

Now there will be a car behind you. Come to the Council, you are needed.

An hour later there was a knock on the door. A car at the edge of the forest. We didn't get there.

Get dressed. Let's go. You are needed on business. You will find out from the Council. As if I was wearing a sheepskin coat, they went out. We reached the car. We arrived at the Moscow Council. Dead rooms. Unnatural silence. The lights are out. Dark. Here and there the emergency lights are on. In one of the corners of the large room are two comrades in all leather. There is a weapon in the belt. They are waiting for me.

So you will go with them.

And where it needs to go. Come and find out! The car has arrived. I say goodbye.

So, see you tomorrow!

In the car. On the sides are two comrades in leather. My short fur coat does little to protect me from the cold. The car is walking along Zamoskvorechye. We are at the Paveletsky railway station. We are met by about ten people in civilian coats. Under the coat I notice a military uniform. The thought flashes: if the question concerns me, then ten people are too many for me, they could get by with two or three. So, I'm falling away. Thoughts completely refuse to work.

They come up to me.

You will have to ride in a car for quite a long time. It will be cold. Put on this overcoat too.

I'm in a car. On both sides are two comrades in leather. Latest orders.

Everything comes full circle. Signal lights were waved; it whistled, buzzed, and we rushed into the darkness of the night. Only at stations and stops we were greeted with green lights, and we rushed on. Finally the red light. We stop. They offer to go out.

Platform. Night. Freezing. It's difficult to breathe. Mist.

Comrades, what now?

We are ordered to take you to this platform and await further orders. We don't know anything else. I walk along the platform. Mist. A quarter of an hour later, silhouettes of a sleigh emerge near the platform. They offer to sit in the sleigh. Let's move on. Illuminated gate. A sentry in a sheepskin coat. Lets us through. My thoughts are so confused and I am so far from everything that I don’t recognize Gorki. This morning I asked Sklyansky how Ilyich was doing? I received a reassuring answer: “They took me hunting!” Now I’m walking through the yard - I don’t recognize the yard. I'm already indoors. Someone in GPU uniform reports by phone:

Merkurov has arrived.

I am led into a dimly lit room and asked to sit down. I sit in the corner, in a deep chair. At this time, the door opens: in the gap there are two female silhouettes, heading towards other doors. They open the doors to a large room; there is a lot of light, and, to my horror, I see Vladimir Ilyich lying on the table... Someone is calling me.

Everything is so unexpected - so many shocks that I'm like in a dream.

Nadezhda Konstantinovna stands at the head of Vladimir Ilyich. It is attached. But immeasurable grief crushed her. On the opposite wall are half-open doors into a dark room. At the door, Maria Ilyinichna, frozen in grief.

In the room I find everything I need to remove the mask.

I approach Vladimir Ilyich, I want to straighten my head - tilt it a little to one side. I take it carefully from both sides: I put my fingers behind the ears, to the back of the head, so that it is more convenient to take it by the neck. The neck and back of the head are still warm. Ilyich lies on a mattress and pillow. But what is this?! The carotid arteries are pulsating! Can't be! The arteries are pulsating! I have terrible heart palpitations. I take my hands away. Please take Nadezhda Konstantinovna away.

I ask the comrade present who confirmed the death.

Do any of them exist now?

And what happened?

Call someone for me.

Comes.

Comrade, Vladimir Ilyich’s carotid artery is pulsating here, below his ear.

A friend is groping. Then he takes my hand, pulls back the edge of the mattress and places my fingers on the cold table. My fingers are throbbing strongly.

Comrade, you can’t worry so much - it’s not the carotid artery that’s pulsating, but your fingers. Keep calm. Now you are doing a very responsible job.

The words bring me back to reality.

The mask is a historical document of extreme importance. I must preserve and pass on to the centuries the features of Ilyich on his deathbed. I try to get my entire head into shape, which I almost succeed. Only a piece of the back of the head adjacent to the pillow remains unfilmed.

Maria Ilyinichna stands motionless in the dark doorway.

She didn't flinch during her work. I feel her frozen gaze.

The artist Carriere flashes in my head with his canvases in partial shade - in twilight.

Finally, at four o'clock in the morning, the work is ready.

They're rushing me. The professors arrived for the autopsy. One last farewell look. My thoughts flash: Switzerland, Zurich, Eitracht - Ilyich’s speeches. Then Moscow - the Kremlin - then Red Square. Ilyich speaks from the Execution Ground. His speech is simple. Yarka. Figurative. His burry “Comrades” thrown at the masses. The people's sea is raging all around. And now here, on the table... he is Lenin.

Sculpture "Dostoevsky", sculptor S.D. Merkurov, architect. I.A. Frenchman,granite, 1911-14.
Moscow, st. Dostoevsky, 4k1.

The sculpture of Dostoevsky was made by Merkurov in 1911-14. commissioned by millionaire Sharov, but conceived much earlier, in 1905. Then he sculpted about 20 busts of the writer before moving on to the material for the statue - Swedish granite. Even before working on the monument, Merkurov wrote: “It seems to me that I have discovered the laws that real works of art obey... In my theories, I caught the tip of the fourth dimension... I will do Dostoevsky consciously.” Later he defined his creation as a figure “about two axes and one center, and the center is outside the figure...”. The writer’s sculpture, when looked at from different angles, seems to be in constant, viscous and tragic movement.

The model for the statue of Dostoevsky was A. N. Vertinsky. “He was an excellent sitter,” Merkurov later recalled. - He understood my plan and took the correct pose. And how he held his amazing plastic hands!”

A.N. Vertinsky poses in the image of Dostoevsky.

Before the revolution, the figure was in Merkurov’s workshop. In 1918, work began on a monumental propaganda plan. On April 12, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree “On Monuments of the Republic,” and on July 30, 1918, it approved a list of names of historical figures whose monuments were supposed to be erected in Russian cities. Since the names of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were on the list, Merkurov successfully offered the Mossovet the ready-made statues of Dostoevsky (1914), Tolstoy (1912), and at the same time “Thought” (1913). A special commission headed by the People's Commissar of Education of the Republic A.V. Lunacharsky approved them on the recommendation of the assistant to the People's Commissar of Property of the Republic N.D. Vinogradova. On the first anniversary of the revolution, Dostoevsky and “Mysl” were installed and opened on Tsvetnoy Blvd., forming a kind of pair with each other. There was a hitch with Tolstoy, because it had already been previously acquired by the Tolstoy Society, which did not intend to renounce its rights to the sculpture.

N.D. Vinogradov says in his memoirs: “Monument to F.M. Dostoevsky, the work of the sculptor S.D. Merkurov was opened on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. This monument was made by sculptor S.D. Merkurov even before the Great October Revolution and was in his workshop on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, 9. Since the Dostoevsky monument was on the list of new monuments, Merkurov offered the Moscow Soviet to purchase a ready-made statue from him. A commission was formed consisting of comrades A.V. Lunacharsky, V.M. Fritsche and me. When examining the figure of Dostoevsky, which was considered quite acceptable, two more figures were scheduled for acquisition: Leo Tolstoy (which now stands in Novodevichy Square) made of red granite and a figure of a thoughtful man (made of black granite), which the author called “Thought”. The author refused to pay for the figure of Leo Tolstoy, saying that it had long been paid for by the famous philanthropist N.A. Shakhov, but was not staged, being prohibited from production by the tsarist authorities. The figure of Dostoevsky, which is a huge granite block three meters high, was moved from the workshop to the place of production - near the fountain on Tsvetnoy Boulevard - in a way that was used in Ancient Egypt. It was laid on two logs tied together in the shape of a sleigh. Rollers were placed under the logs, along which the “sleigh” rolled with the help of a gate that was strengthened along the path of the statue’s movement. This entire operation was carried out by three workers together with the author himself. The movement of the statue attracted large crowds of spectators. The monument was installed on a temporary brick plinth, on which it stood until it was moved to the hospital park. Dostoevsky on Staraya Bozhedomka. The “Thought” statue stood at the entrance to Tsvetnoy Boulevard from Trubnaya Square.”(“Art”. 1939. No. 1. P. 37-38).

There were different opinions about Merkurov's monuments. Sergei Gorodetsky, for example, wrote: “All the lines of Dostoevsky’s statue run from within. These lines give the impression of searching, eternal restlessness, painful anxiety. Nervous hands joined on the chest. The head stretches somewhere to the side, as if a great seer is peering into the last abysses of the human spirit.” And Demyan Bedny expressed himself in poetry:

“Deeper and lower, towards a steep rise,
where it is given with a bouquet in hand
Trubnaya Square, Tsvetnoy Boulevard,
where Dostoevsky froze in tetanus..."

In 1936, when on Tsvetnoy Blvd. tram rails were laid, Dostoevsky was moved to the courtyard of the Mariinsky Hospital on Staraya Bozhedomka, where he remains to this day. For twenty years the sculpture stood directly on the ground; in 1956, arch. I.A. The Frenchman built for her a low pedestal of dark granite, which blends harmoniously with her.

Dostoevsky on Tsvetnoy Blvd.

Dostoevsky in the courtyard of the Mariinsky Hospital.

It is customary to treat with disdain, but one must take into account the time in which the years of his creativity fell. The majestic monuments of Merkurov perfectly reflected that harsh era, from which now only memories remain.

Soviet sculptor Sergei Dmitrievich Merkurov holds a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. It is impossible to even approximately determine how many monuments and busts were produced in his workshop, where a whole team of molders and stone carvers worked. We only know that these monuments number in the hundreds.

Meanwhile, in 1908 - 1909, the sculptor worked in Yalta. Why are there no monuments to him in this city? Or do they exist, but we don’t know about them?

Under the howling of wolves

Sergei Merkurov was born in November 1881 in the city of Alexandropol (now Gyumri in Armenia) into the family of a wealthy businessman. In 1901, he graduated from a real school in Tiflis and entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, but was soon expelled for participating in political demonstrations. In the fall of 1902, Merkurov continued his education at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zurich. He soon became interested in sculpting and entered the Munich Academy of Arts. Since 1905, Sergei Dmitrievich lived and worked in Paris, where he met Auguste Rodin, who played a big role in the development of the young sculptor.

In 1907, Merkurov, full of hopes and plans, returned to his homeland, but everything did not turn out quite as he expected. In October, the Catholicos (patriarch) of the Armenian Gregorian Apostolic Church, Mkrtich I Khrimyan, died, and Merkurov was asked to make his death mask. The sculptor’s memoirs of how this happened cannot be read without shuddering: “The bishops locked the doors behind me. I found myself alone with the dead man. Behind the walls of the monastery there is a soul-breaking howl of a wolf. To this music I approached the patriarch’s bed. I open the sheet: in front of me is an old man in a red sweatshirt, torn at the elbows. Big beard. Roman nose. The head is thrown back. It is impossible to remove the mask in this position. I take the dead man under the arms and make him sit down. I fill my entire head with plaster. I'm waiting for the plaster to get stronger. Only now I notice that I forgot to put a thread to cut the mold into two pieces. You can't take off your uniform that way. You have to break the back of the mold with a chisel and hammer into pieces right here on the head. Finally released. From excitement, I also stained my beard - the uniform separated from my face and hung on my beard. And suddenly... The dull gaze of two wide open eyes looks at me reproachfully. My legs became weak from horror. I sat on the dead man's lap. I hold the uniform hanging from my beard and look into his eyes. Only later did I realize that the plaster warms up from crystallization; under the warm cast, the frozen face thawed and the eyes opened. When I came to my senses, it turned out that my legs were paralyzed from nervous shock.”

Over the course of his entire life, Merkurov made about three hundred death masks, but he could never get used to the sight of a dead person. “All my life, death stood before me in menacing grandeur,” he wrote, “everything ended in it: beauty, ugliness, talent, and mediocrity; the most terrible mystery, before which I woke up at night in a cold sweat as a boy.”

However, it so happened that Merkurov was initially forced to devote himself to memorial sculpture - the creation of artistic tombstones, cherishing the dream of someday building monuments similar to Rodin’s.

For some time, Merkurov lived in Tiflis, and then moved to Yalta in the hope that in this city he would be able to come closer to realizing his dream. But even in Crimea, Merkurov had to sculpt only tombstones, including the grave of the composer V. Kalinnikov.

In April 1909, a monument was unveiled in Moscow, on Prechistensky Boulevard Gogol, performed by sculptor N. Andreev. He literally split the public - some were shocked by the genius of the image, others were disappointed by the bent figure of the sick writer. Merkurov was delighted with the monument, this is exactly how he saw it, as he put it Ilya Repin, “martyr for the sins of Russia.”

In the fall of 1910, the sculptor moved to Moscow, hoping to create a monument Dostoevsky, but fate seemed to deliberately return him to the past. On November 7 he was invited to make a death mask Lev Tolstoy. Merkurov recalled: “The first thing that attracted my attention: a half-open right eye and a thick, angry raised eyebrow. A stern, frowning face."

Horses shied away from Bakunin

In June 1912, the Kopeyka newspaper informed readers: “Sculptor S. Merkurov sculpted a grandiose model of the statue of Leo Tolstoy from plaster. The statue depicts the writer in life size - 1 meter 66 centimeters. He stands dressed in a work blouse, with his head bowed, deep in thought, his crossed legs slightly bent, his back hunched and both hands tucked into his belt. Relatives do not like Tolstoy’s bent legs, but Merkurov is firmly convinced that this is how it should be and does not intend to correct it. The statue will be carved from red granite from Finland. It weighs at least 600 pounds. With the help of three craftsmen, Merkurov hopes to complete the work in December. It will first be exhibited in Moscow and then sent abroad.” Merkurov eventually covered Tolstoy’s legs with a stone, but failed to obtain permission to erect a monument to the sculptor. The same fate awaited the statue of Dostoevsky, as well as the wonderful monument called “Thought,” the idea of ​​which was clearly inspired by “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin.

Sergei Dmitrievich was already thinking about leaving Russia, but the revolution happened. On April 12, 1918, the famous decree of the Council of People's Commissars “On Monuments of the Republic” appeared, which ordered the urgent elimination of “old regime” monuments, replacing them with monuments in honor of fiery revolutionaries. In Moscow alone, it was planned to erect 67 monuments, and the name of Leo Tolstoy was first on the list of writers to be immortalized. Moscow began to be covered with precocious idols with amazing speed, but many of the statues caused consternation. When, for example, part of the scaffolding was removed from the monument to Bakunin, made in an abstract futuristic manner (they never decided to open it completely), then, according to Lunacharsky, the horses of Moscow cab drivers began to shy away from it. Merkurov, who presented monuments to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to the commission headed by Lunacharsky, looked against this background as a Russian Rodin who had gone over to the side of the revolution.

In 1921, Merkurov created a granite monument Karl Marx, and installed it not just anywhere, but in Simbirsk, thanks to which he achieved the special favor of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. “By order of Ilyich,” Merkurov recalled, “a list of 75 estates near Moscow was sent to me. I reported to Ilyich that none of them were suitable and that in the Izmailovsky forest I accidentally found a neglected dacha and nearby two empty dacha plots, totaling 1.5 dessiatines. By order of Ilyich, transmitted through V. Bonch-Bruevich, a warrant was issued to me to occupy the dacha and land.” Having set up his workshop, Merkurov set to work with enthusiasm. In 1923, on Tverskoy Boulevard he erected a monument to K. Timiryazev, and in his workshop, sketches of monuments to outstanding scientists, writers and artists of the past were waiting in the wings.

But it was as if the sculptor was destined to sculpt tombstones.

In January 1924, Merkurov received a call: “What is needed to remove the death mask?” He replied: “Four kilograms of plaster, a little stearic lubricant, a meter of harsh thread and the hands of a good craftsman.” Soon he found himself in Gorki near the lifeless body of the leader of the world proletariat, from whose face he made a death mask. I had to drop everything and hastily work on the monument to Lenin. “At this time, the country began to demand busts of Lenin and monuments,” Merkurov recalled. - It was impossible to lock yourself in the workshop and remain deaf to this demand. We had to give away some of the busts (partially experimental ones), as well as sketches and statues for distribution.”

“Then your heads will roll too”

Of course, Merkurov could not portray the leader as he remembered him - agile and energetic. He complained that by that time the people had already formed an idea of ​​the leader as a great man striving for a bright future for liberated humanity. In addition, immediately after Lenin’s death, the idea arose to honor his memory by erecting a giant statue either on Red Square or on Sparrow Hills. The embodiment of this idea was the project of a hundred-meter monument to Lenin on the pedestal of the Palace of Soviets. The construction of the Cyclopean statue on a pedestal 320 meters high was entrusted to Merkurov. It is clear that there could be no talk of any artistic study of the leader’s character, his active and tragic nature. It was necessary, as Merkurov wrote, “to achieve a clear silhouette of the statue, extreme expressiveness and clarity of its outline.”

To prepare for the project, Merkurov decided to erect a 15-meter statue of Lenin on the Moscow-Volga canal. By April 1937, the production of templates was completed, as well as all molding and molding work. After this, the transfer of the created elements into granite began. This work was carried out by a team of 12 people under the leadership of stonemason Yakov Bulkin, whom Merkurov met back in Yalta.

Before Merkulov had time to create a monument to Lenin, an order was received to erect a monument to Stalin on the other side of the canal. Unlike the Lenin monument, which was made of blocks perfectly fitted to each other, Stalin’s head had to be entirely carved out of the rock due to lack of time. To lift the monolith weighing 22 tons to a height of 25 meters, a special lift was required. Those who had to place their head on their shoulders expressed fear that it would fall. “Then your heads will roll,” assured the head of canal construction, Matvey Berman. Fortunately, the leader's head was safely replaced. The heads of Merkurov and his assistants also survived, but Berman was unlucky - in 1939 he was shot as an enemy of the people.

By this time, Merkurov had to sculpt new monuments to the leaders - this time for the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in New York. Subsequently, the monument to Lenin, which visited America, was erected in Kyiv, and the monument to Stalin in Moscow, near the Tretyakov Gallery. In addition, Merkurov constantly had to remove death masks from dying party and government figures (Sverdlov, Frunze, Dzerzhinsky, Kalinin, Zhdanov, etc.), sculpt their busts, monuments and tombstones. There was no time left for anything else, although Merkurov still managed to create several wonderful monuments, including a monument to Pushkin. They say that he intended to install it on the Yalta embankment, but for some reason this was not possible, and the monument remained in Zheleznovodsk. And with the monuments to the leaders, not everything was smooth.

For Stalin's 70th birthday, Merkurov, as expected, sculpted a majestic monument to the leader from forged copper, but made a mistake by indicating in the accompanying letter how much it cost. Stalin replied: “I cannot accept such an expensive gift.” Clouds hung over Merkurov's head; it probably cost him several years of his life. Only two years later the monument was erected in Yerevan, and Merkurov received the Stalin Prize of the first degree for it. This was the last creation of the great sculptor.

On June 8, 1952, Sergei Dmitrievich died. As a tombstone, his statue “Thought” was installed on the sculptor’s grave.

In an article published in 1939 in the magazine Smena, Merkurov wrote: “Each era created its own idea of ​​the ideal of man. We are only pioneers in creating images of the two greatest people of our time - Lenin and Stalin. I think that the generations following us will finish our work.” Whether Merkulov really thought so is unknown; there is every reason to assume that he exaggerated his colors somewhat, but, be that as it may, his assumption was not justified. After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, monuments to Stalin began to be destroyed throughout the country. In 1961, the turn came to the monument installed on the bank of the Moscow-Volga canal. They hooked him with a cable and dragged him with bulldozers, but the granite giant did not give in: they only managed to tear off his head. Then it was decided to blow up the monument.

A year later, the monument in Yerevan was dismantled. But the matter did not end there. Merkurov was accused of glorifying the “cult of personality,” which had a detrimental effect on his works - the monument to Dostoevsky, in retaliation, was dragged to the courtyard of the Mariinsky Hospital on Bozhedomka, where the great writer was born, and the monument to Tolstoy to the courtyard of the museum on Prechistenka. It’s good that they didn’t destroy it under a hot hand.

MIKHAIL VOLODIN
First Crimean N 462, FEBRUARY 15/FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Sergei Dmitrievich Merkurov (sometimes Merkulov) - Russian artist and sculptor - was born in Alexandropol (now Gyumri, Armenia) on October 26 (November 7), 1881 in the family of an entrepreneur. He studied at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute (1901–1902), then at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zurich, while simultaneously learning the art of sculpting in the workshop of the sculptor A. Meyer; later studied at the Munich Academy of Arts (1902–1905). Worked in Paris; was greatly influenced by the art of symbolism, as well as sculptural archaism (Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt). Returning to Russia (1909), he lived in Moscow. Was a member of the AHRR.

S.D. Merkurov at work on the statue of L. Tolstoy

In his mature manner, he adhered to a kind of “academic” modernism, not embarking on risky experiments, but retaining the characteristic features of this style: the cult of “eternal themes,” especially the theme of death, the dramatic contrast of figure and material (stone block). Intending to become a philosopher, Merkurov introduced the motif of heavy, painful thought into his early images (the statue of F.M. Dostoevsky, 1911–1913, erected as a monument as part of the “monumental propaganda” plan in 1918; the personification figure of Thought, 1913, now at the grave author at the Novodevichy Cemetery; both monuments are granite).

He removed death masks many times, including from famous writers and politicians (L.N. Tolstoy, V.I. Lenin, A. Bely and others). Among his post-revolutionary works, the majestic and stern monument to K.A. Timiryazev (1922–1923) is widely known.

However, the greatest fame was brought to him by the monuments of leaders, also majestically and sternly (the funeral group Death of a Leader, granite, 1927, Central Lenin Museum, Lenin Hills; the statue of Lenin that adorned the meeting room of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR before its perestroika, marble, 1939, Kremlin; monuments to Lenin in Volgograd, Magnitogorsk, Ulyanovsk and a number of other cities).

According to Merkurov’s sketches, three of the largest monuments to I.V. Stalin on the territory of the USSR were created: the first largest was the monument in Yerevan, the other two stood at the entrance to the Moscow Canal and at VDNH).

In 1937, which became a symbol of repression in the minds of many, on the channel named after. In Moscow, according to Merkurov’s design, two granite monumental sculptures of Lenin and Stalin were installed. Their construction required about twenty trainloads of coarse-grained gray-pink granite, with individual blocks weighing up to one hundred tons. 670 granite workers and about five thousand workers were employed at work. Most of the builders were prisoners.

In 1939, a marble sculpture of Stalin designed by Merkurov adorned the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

After the war, Merkurov created another statue of the leader, this time from forged copper, for the memorial in Yerevan (height 49 m including pedestal; 1951). The crude “Assyrian-Babylonian” power of these images (all of them were dismantled during the “Thaw”) in its own way accurately and frankly expressed the “superhuman” cruel spirit of the Stalin era, which recognized only one Hero. For “Lenin” for the Kremlin and “Stalins” for VDNH and Yerevan, the sculptor was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 and 1951.

But Merkurov’s main concern in the last decades of his life was the numerous, sometimes gigantic, statues of Lenin and Stalin. Most often, these are also powerful granite blocks, retaining their ponderous indivisibility, polished to a mirror gloss and competing with the monuments of ancient Eastern rulers with their superhuman pathos.

Merkurov’s works predetermined the style of the official Soviet tombstone (granite busts-herms of Y.M. Sverdlov, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, M.V. Frunze, M.I. Kalinin, A.A. Zhdanov on Red Square near the Kremlin wall, late 1940 -x – early 1950s).

"Thought". Gobbro, porphyry. 1911-13. In 1955 it was installed on the grave of S. D. Merkurov at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

In 1953 his “Notes of a Sculptor” were published. His museum was opened in the master’s hometown (1984).

After the master’s death, the high relief monument “Execution of 26 Baku Commissars” was erected in Baku, on the creation of which he worked for many years (1924-1946).

Monument-high relief of S. Merkurov "Execution of 26 tank commissars." Granite. Installed in 1958, dismantled in the mid-1990s.

Sergey Dmitrievich Merkurov(Armenian), (1881-1952) - Soviet (Armenian) monumental sculptor. Director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in 1944-1949.

Academician of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). People's Artist of the USSR (1943). Winner of two Stalin Prizes of the first degree (1941, 1951). Member of the CPSU(b) since 1945.

The author of numerous monuments to J.V. Stalin (including the three largest on the territory of the USSR - in Yerevan (1950), at the entrance to the Moscow Canal (1937) and at VDNH (1939)) and V.I. Lenin. He brought the technique of death mask to a high art...

Cousin of George Gurdjieff.

Biography

early years

Sergei Merkurov was born on October 26 (November 7), 1881 in the city of Alexandropol (now Gyumri in Armenia) in the family of an Armenian Chalcedonian entrepreneur.

In 1901 he graduated from a real school in Tiflis and entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, but was soon expelled for participating in political unrest. In the fall of 1902, Merkurov continued his education in Switzerland at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zurich. At the same time, for the first time, I attended political debates with the participation of V.I. Lenin. Continuing to study philosophy, Merkurov became a student of the Swiss sculptor Adolf Mayer. Soon, on the advice of the latter, Merkurov entered the Munich Academy of Arts, where he studied until 1905 with Professor Wilhelm von Ruman. From the autumn of 1905 to 1907, Merkurov lived and worked in Paris. During this period, Merkurov became acquainted with the sculptural works of the Frenchman O. Rodin and the Belgian C. Meunier, which was reflected in his own works.

Russia

In 1907, already a sculptor, Merkurov returned to Russia. He lived in Tiflis and Yalta, in the fall of 1910 he moved to Moscow and on November 7 he was invited to make the death mask of L. N. Tolstoy.

Figure “Thought” (1913, later installed on the sculptor’s grave)

Monument to Leo Tolstoy (1913)

Plan for "monumental propaganda"

On April 12, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree “On Monuments of the Republic,” and on July 30, 1918, it approved a list of names of historical figures whose monuments were to be erected in Russian cities. By this time, Merkurov’s workshop already had two finished granite statues from this list - F. M. Dostoevsky, made in 1914 by order of millionaire Sharov, and L. N. Tolstoy, made in 1912. The sculpture of Dostoevsky was conceived by Merkurov in 1905, when he sculpted about 20 busts of the writer before moving on to the material for the statue - Swedish granite. The model for the statue of Dostoevsky was A. N. Vertinsky. This is evidenced by the statue’s hands clasped together in passionate impotence, like Piero Vertinsky’s. Merkurov proposed these ready-made statues to the Moscow Soviet and a special commission, headed by A.V. Lunacharsky, approved them on the proposal of the assistant people's commissar of property of the republic N. Vinogradov. This was Merkurov's first great success under the new government.

Some contemporaries perceived the monument to F. M. Dostoevsky critically:

Deeper and lower, to the steep ascent, where Trubnaya Square, with a bouquet in hand, echoes to Tsvetnoy Boulevard, where Dostoevsky froze in tetanus...

wrote the poet Ivan Pribludny, the prototype of the famous character of “The Master and Margarita” - Ivan Bezdomny.

Sergei Merkurov in the 1920s was a member of the Masonic lodge “United Labor Brotherhood”.

Period of the cult of personality

Merkurov became one of the first monumental sculptors who regularly received government orders for statues of Lenin and Stalin. He created a huge number of these monuments. He took the lead in creating the three most gigantic in size: a monument in Yerevan 49 meters high along with a pedestal; in Dubna there are monuments to Lenin and Stalin on both sides of the entrance to the Moscow Canal; and at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow. Art historians of the era respectfully noted the “Assyrian-Babylonian” power of these monuments. But from the mid-1940s, sculptural images of leaders gave way to the works of other authors - Tomsky, Vuchetich and others. In 1952, during the reconstruction of the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow, the self-collapsing monument to Stalin was dismantled.