Ernst Neizvestny, Lithograph Screenprint Male Heroic Figures

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Ernst Iosifovich Neizvestny (Russian: Эрнст Ио́сифович Неизве́стный) (born 1925) is a Russian sculptor. He lives and works in New York … Read more Ernst Iosifovich Neizvestny (Russian: Эрнст Ио́сифович Неизве́стный) (born 1925) is a Russian sculptor. He lives and works in New York City. Non Conformist Post Soviet Avant Garde Neizvestny was born 9 April 1925 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). In 1942, at the age of 17, he joined the Red Army as a volunteer. At the close of World War II, he was heavily wounded and sustained a clinical death. Although he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and his mother received an official notification that her son had died, Neizvestny managed to survive. In 1947, Neizvestny was enrolled at the Art Academy of Latvia in Riga. He continued his education at the Surikov Moscow Art Institute and the Philosophy Department of the Moscow State University. His sculptures, often based on the forms of the human body, are noted for their expressionism and powerful plasticity. Although his preferred material is bronze, his larger, monumental installations are often executed in concrete. Most of his works are arranged in extensive cycles, the best known of which is The Tree of Life, a theme he has developed since 1956. Art career Although Nikita Khrushchev famously derided Neizvestny's works as "degenerate" art at the Moscow Manege exhibition of 1962 ("Why do you disfigure the faces of Soviet people?"), the sculptor was later approached by Khruschev's family to design a tomb for the former Soviet leader at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Other well-known works he created during the Soviet period are Prometheus in Artek (1966). During the 1980s, Neizvestny was a visiting lecturer at the University of Oregon and at UC Berkeley. He also worked with Magna Gallery in San Francisco, and had a number of shows which were well-attended in the mid 1980s. This gallery also asked him to create his "Man through the Wall" series to celebrate the end of Communism at the end of the 1980s. Magna Gallery closed at the end of 1992 In 1996, Neizvestny completed his Mask of Sorrow, a 15-meter tall monument to the victims of Soviet purges, situated in Magadan. The same year, he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation. Although he still lives in New York City and works at Columbia University, Neizvestny frequently visits Moscow and celebrated his 80th birthday there. A museum dedicated to his sculptures was established in Uttersberg, Sweden. Some of his crucifixion statues were acquired by John Paul II for the Vatican Museums. In 2004 Neizvestny became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Museum and Public Collections Museum of Modern Art, New York The Jewish Museum, New York Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina Museum of Art, University of California, Berkeley, California Jane Voohrees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey United Nations, New York The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow The State Pushkin Museum, Moscow Dostoevsky Museum, Moscow ART4.RU Contemporary Art Museum, Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, Kursk Museum of Fine Arts,Vologda Museum of Fine Arts,Volgograd Museum of Modern Ecclesiastical Art, Vatican, Rome Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden Tree of Life Museum, Uttersberg, Sweden Sven-Olov Anderson’s Torg, Koping, Sweden Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm, Sweden Oslo Municipal Art Collection, Norway Municipality of Oslo Art Collection, Norway Israel Museum, Jerusalem Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv Lvov Gallery, Lvov, Ukraine Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade, Serbia Yerevan Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia Monuments and Public Commissions Lotus Blossom, Aswan Dam, Egypt Tree of Life II, United Nations, New York Bust of Dmitri Shostakovich for the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. Tree of Life, Moscow Prometheus, 15m stainless steel sculpture for Electro-Expo 72 exhibition, Moscow Wings for the Institute of Light Alloys, Moscow Rebirth (Archangel Michael), Moscow Nikita Khrushchev’s tombstone at Novodevichiy Cemetery, Moscow Mask of Mourning, Memorial to the Victims of Stalinism, Magadan, Russia Exodus and Return, Monument to The Kalmykian Deportation, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia 970-meter decorative relief for Institute of Electronics and Technology, Zelenograd, Russia Monument to the Coal Miners, Kemerovo, Russia Monument to Sergei Diaghilev, Perm, Russia Monument to World’s Children, 150-meter decorative relief for Artek Pioneer Camp in the Crimea, Ukraine Golden Child, Odessa, Ukraine Great Centaur, United Nations, Geneva Centaur and Stone Tears, Belgrade, Serbia Mask of Grief, Tombstone for Centaur, Milan, Italy Fragment of Centaur, Vasteras, Sweden See less