Vera Mukhina

Mukhina Vera Ignatievna (1889-1953) - Soviet sculptor-muralist.

On Christmas Day of 1912, when Vera Mukhina was in an uncle's estate in the Smolensk province, she had an accident: while riding from a mountain on a sled, she crashed into a tree, a knot of which cut her nose. The nose was sewn in the Smolensk hospital, but the scars (despite eight subsequent plastic surgeries) remained on Vera Mukhina's face for life. In addition, the girl's face, restored by French surgeons, became different: a manly big, rude and very strong-willed. After that, the balls Vera loved so much had to be forgotten.

In 1912-1914 she lived in Paris, where she studied at the private studio of Colarossi and at the same time attended the Grand Chaumiere Academy, where she studied with the French sculptor-muralist Bourdelle. Later traveled to Italy, studying sculptures and paintings of the Renaissance.

Vera Mukhina returned to Moscow in the summer of 1914, and two weeks later the First World War began. After graduating from nursing courses, Vera began working in a military hospital.

Here in the same 1914 she met a young military doctor Alexei Zamkov.

In 1918, Vera Ignatievna married Alexei Zamkov. After the victory of the October Revolution in Russia, the "Lenin Plan of Monumental Propaganda" was adopted, in which the sculptors received orders from the state to create city monuments.

Mukhina in 1918 completed the design of the monument to the educator and publicist Novikov. The project was approved by the People's Commissariat for Education, but the model of the monument, made of clay and stored in an unheated workshop, cracked from the cold, so the project remained unrealized.

In addition, as part of the work on monumental propaganda, Mukhina created sketches of the sculptures "Liberated Labor" and "Revolution" (1919), as well as monuments to Zagorsky (1921) and Sverdlov (also known as "Flame of the Revolution", 1923).

In 1923, Vera Mukhina, together with Exter, designed the Izvestia newspaper pavilion at the first All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Exhibition in Moscow.

In 1925, together with fashion designer Lamanova, she received a grand prix at an exhibition in Paris for a collection of elegant women's clothing made from cheap rough materials - weaving cloth, calico, canvas and bumazei, hats made of matting, belts were decorated with colored peas, and buttons were turned from wood. The dresses were decorated with an original ornament, including the "cockerel pattern" invented by Mukhina.

In the years 1926-1927. V. I.

Mukhina taught in the modeling class of the Art and Industrial College at the Toy Museum, in 1927-1930 - at the Higher Art and Technical Institute (VKHUTEIN).

In 1927, the sculpture "Peasant Woman" created by Mukhina was awarded the 1st prize at an exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution; later the sculpture was bought by the Trieste Museum, and after World War II became the property of the Vatican Museum in Rome.

The most famous composition of Vera Mukhina was the 24-meter monument "Worker and Collective Farm Girl", which was installed in Paris at the 1937 World's Fair. Vera Mukhina's composition was crowned by the Soviet pavilion, designed by architect Iofan. As conceived by Mukhina, the sun frontally illuminated the monument, creating the effect of radiance; both figures, for all their massiveness, seemed flying. The feeling of flying was enhanced by the long waving scarf introduced by Mukhina into the composition; as a result, the sculptural group was distinguished by its unusual expression and energy, symbolizing the Soviet Union, striving for new victories. The monument was assessed by the French press as "the greatest work of sculpture of the 20th century," and Pablo Picasso wrote: "How beautiful Soviet giants are in the background of the lilac Parisian sky.

" After the exhibition closed, the disassembled monument was moved to Moscow and in 1939 installed near the northern entrance to the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNH), however, Mukhina's design decision was destroyed: the sculpture was placed on a low pedestal and its back to the sun, so that the feeling of flying disappeared (Mukhina commented on the metamorphosis that happened with the monument as follows: "The statue is crawling on the ground").

Laureate of five Stalin Prizes (1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1952). In her honor is named Mukhin Crater on the planet Venus. In Moscow, Vera Mukhina studied painting at the studios of Yuon, Dudin and Mashkov.

People's Artist of the USSR (1943).

From 1947 to 1953 - member of the Presidium of the Academy of Arts of the USSR.

Academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947).

Nevertheless, the monument became one of the symbols of the new Moscow, and since 1947 this sculpture has been the emblem of the Mosfilm film studio.