Sergey Merkurov
| Sergey Merkurov | |
|---|---|
A 1981 Soviet stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of Sergey Merkurov's birth
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| Born |
7 November 1881 Alexandropol, Russian Empire (today Gyumri, Armenia) |
| Died | 8 June 1952 (aged 70) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian, Soviet |
| Style | Socialist realism |
Sergey Dmitrievich Merkurov (Russian: Серге́й Дми́триевич Мерку́ров, 7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1881 – 8 June 1952) was a prominent Soviet sculptor-monumentalist of Greek-Armenian descent. He was a People's Artist of the USSR, an academic at the Soviet Academy of Arts, and director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts from 1944 to 1949. Merkurov was considered the greatest Soviet master of post-mortem masks. He was the sculptor of the three biggest monuments of Joseph Stalin in the USSR.
He was the cousin of George Gurdjieff, a mystic and spiritual teacher.
Sergey Merkurov was born in Alexandrapol (modern Gyumri, Armenia). He left the Kiev Polytechnic Institute after a political scandal and moved to Switzerland, where he became a student of Adolf Mayer. He attended art college in Germany (1902–05) and then entered the Auguste Rodin studio in Paris.
Merkurov had met Vladimir Lenin when the revolutionary leader was living abroad, and listened to his speeches. Among many others, the statue of Lenin that stood in Lenin Square, Yerevan during Soviet times also was the work of Merkurov.
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