MERKUROV Sergey Dmitrievich

October 26, 1881 (Alexandropol, Armenia) — June 8, 1952 (Moscow)

Sculptor, graphic artist

Sergey Merkurov was born to family of entrepreneur; he also was a cousin of philosopher and mystic George Gurdjieff. Merkurov finished non-classical secondary school in Tiflis. He studied at Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1901–1902, later he attended the faculty of philosophy at Zurich University (1902) and at the same time studio of sculptor Adolf Meyer. In 1902–1903 Merkurov studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under the guidance of sculptor Wilghelm von Ruman. In 1903 he visited Italy, in 1905–1907 he worked in Paris, met Auguste Rodin. Merkurov was under the influence of symbolism and sculptural antiquity (Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt).

In 1907 Merkurov returned to Alexandropol, later he moved to Tiflis; in 1908–1909 he lived in Yalta, since 1910 — in Moscow. The artist was engaged in monumental, easel and memorial sculpture.

According to the plan of monumental propaganda, Merkurov executed the monuments of F. M. Dostoevsky (1911–1913, installed in 1918), K. A. Timiryazev (1922–1923) in Moscow, K. Marx (1921) in Simbirsk. He also made death masks of statesmen, scientists and cultural workers. In 1924 Merkurov made death mask of Vladimir Lenin, and began working on sculptural group Death of the Leader (1949).

In late 1930s Merkurov worked on enormous statue of Lenin for the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow. The artist created monuments of Lenin for the hall of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in Moscow (1939, the State Stalin Prize 1941), in Volgograd, Magnitogorsk, Ulyanovsk and other cities. The sculptor executed monuments of Joseph Stalin near Moscow Canal (1937), at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV; 1939) in Moscow and in Yerevan (1950, the State Stalin Prize 1951); all monuments were demounted in the period of the Ottepel (“the Thaw”).

Merkurov also executed the monuments of S. G. Shaumyan in Yerevan (1931), F. E. Dzerzhinsky in Volgograd (1935), M. V. Lomonosov in Moscow (1945), the 26 Baku Commissars in Baku (1924–1946); gravestones of V. A. Gilyarovsky (1937–1941), marshal P. S. Rybalko (1946), aircraft designer N. N. Polikarpov (Icarus, 1947), the statue Thought (1913, mounted on the artist’s grave).

The sculptor was a member of the society Svobodnoye Iskusstvo (“Free Art”), the Association of the artists of Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR) — the Association of the artists of the Revolution (AKhR) since 1925.

In 1944–1950 Merkurov headed the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. He was conferred title of the People’s Artist of the USSR in 1943; he became member of the USSR Academy of Arts in 1947.

Merkurov published book Notes of a Sculptor (Moscow, 1959).

The artist was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Works by Sergey Merkurov are in many museum collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery.