Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky
(1843 - 1902) |
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Monuments, Religious Subjects, Historic Subjects Art Work
| Name: |
Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Russia |
| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1843 |
| Death: |
1902 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Monuments, Religious Subjects, Historic Subjects |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
Realism |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Sculptor
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Biography
| Antokolsky was most famous Russian sculptor of the second half of the nineteenth century, Mark Antokolsky, was born into a large Jewish family of modest means in 1843. From his childhood his favorite occupation was molding or cutting out little figures. He was sent to work as an apprentice with a woodcutter. In 1862 he became an external student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In the capital Antokolsky mixed with the leading representatives of Russian culture and later met famous Russian artist and art instuctor I.Repin and became his good friend. He studied in N. S. Pimenov's class, and after his death under the engraver and sculptor I. I. Reimers. His first high relief's Jewish Tailor (1864, RM) and Jewish Miser (1865, RM) which were awarded with second-class and first-class silver medals respectively, already displayed the artist's tendency towards realism. One of the most important among his first major landmarks among Antokolsky's work was the statue Ivan the Terrible, which was shown at the First Peredvizhniki Exhibition. The work had a tremendous impact. The Academy awarded the sculptor the title of academician, and he was spoken of as a master whose spectacular arrival in the sphere of Russian art was 'a consequence not of great talent alone.In 1871, after graduating from the Academy, Antokolsky's ill health forced him to go abroad, to Rome and Paris, and from then on he only occasionally returned home. On his arrival in Rome Antokolsky began work on a statue of Peter the Great which he had planned while still in Russia. For all the works he created, all been diverse and different in characters, most of Antokolsky's heroes share a common striving for truth, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. Antokolsky always was facinated and intrigued by portraiture. Inspired by Russian famous poets like Lermontovand Pushkin, especially the image of Pushkin's Pimen, he produced the statue Nestor the Chronicler (1889, marble, RM). In 1893 the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts arranged a wide-ranging personal exhibition of Antokolsky's works. But many of them remained misunderstood and he was subjected to blatant attacks by critics and the press. |
Samples of Work
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