Russian sculptor
Kerbel (left) together with fellow Soviet sculptor
Vladimir Tsigal
, 1945
Lev Kerbel's monumental bust of
Karl Marx
in
Chemnitz
,
Germany
The Lenin Monument in Parque Lenin, Havana, Cuba (1984, sculptor: Lev Kerbel; architect: A. Quintana)
Lev Yefimovich Kerbel
(
Russian
:
Лев Ефимович Кербель
; November 7 [
O.S.
October 25] 1917 ? 14 August 2003) was a Soviet and Russian sculptor of
socialist realist
works. Kerbel's creations included statues of
Karl Marx
,
Vladimir Lenin
,
Yuri Gagarin
, which were sent by Soviet Government as gifts to socialist and the
Third World
countries across the world.
[1]
Kerbel was born to a
Jewish
family in the village of
Semyonovka
in
Chernigov Governorate
,
Russian Republic
(currently Semenivka,
Chernihiv Oblast
,
Ukraine
), on the day that the
Winter Palace
in
Petrograd
was stormed by the
Bolsheviks
. Lev's family moved to the
Smolensk
region, where he began sculpting as a child. He continued to sculpt and in 1934 he won an award from the
Komsomol
(Young Communist League) for a plaque of Lenin.
During
World War II
, Kerbel helped build the defenses for the
Battle of Moscow
, then served in the
Northern Fleet
, gaining renown as a military artist.
After the war, Kerbel's career took off with a wide range of commissions. In 1958 he sculpted a statue in
Shanghai
that depicted a huge Soviet and an equally large Chinese worker hand in hand. When
Soviet-Chinese relations
foundered a few years later, the statue was torn down by a mob.
In the 1950s to 1970s Kerbel sculpted many portraits of Soviet and foreign intellectuals: writer
Boris Lavrenyov
and violinist
David Oistrakh
, Canadian clergyman
James Gareth Endicott
,
Giacomo Manzu
(sculptor) and Pietro Orgento (orchestral conductor) from Italy and many others.
[2]
Another example of Kerbel's sculptures is the Lenin Monument in the
Parque Lenin
area of
Havana
, Cuba. In 1976 the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
presented the Government of
Sri Lanka
the monument of
Solomon Bandaranaike
, the late Prime minister of the country, carved by Lev Kerbel.
[2]
While some people dismiss Kerbel's works as a form of flat Communist
propaganda
, Kerbel himself said that he was always more interested in art than politics. Many people now view his few remaining statues with nostalgia, particularly in
Chemnitz
, where
his bust of Karl Marx
is referred to as 'the head'. Among the monuments on the graves of the Soviet soldiers carefully preserved in Germany are Kerbel sculptures in
Berlin
and on
Seelow Heights
.
[1]
In the 1990s following the collapse of the socialist bloc many of his works of art were destroyed. However, his enormous
Karl Marx Monument
has been preserved as a cultural monument. One of Kerbel's last works was the memorial to the crew of the
Kursk
submarine
, inaugurated in Moscow on August 12, 2002.
[3]
Honours and awards
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Lew Kerbel
.
References
[
edit
]
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