- Anna Golubkina
Anna Semyonovna Golubkina ( _ru. Анна Семёновна Голубкина;
January 16 1864 -September 7 1927 ) was aRussia nimpressionist sculptor. As the first Russian sculptor to receive theParis Salon prize, she is regarded as the first female Russian sculptor of note. Golubkina also had an exhibition at the prestigious Alexander III Museum. A crater onVenus is named after her.Biography
Anna was born in
Zaraysk ,Ryazan gubernia (currentlyMoscow Oblast ), Russia to a family of peasantOld Believers . Her father died when Anna was only two years old. She was raised by her grandfather, Policarp Sidorovich Golubkin, who was a profitable vegetable farmer and probably the head of the localFilippians community.Anna did not receive even a primary school education until the age of 25. Despite their total lack of formal schooling, all the children in Golubkin's family were literate and Anna's older sister Alexandra later got a nurse (
feldsher ) diploma. Anna's talents in painting and sculpture were discovered by the local art teacher, who recommended that she go toMoscow to study art.In 1889 she took entrance exams for "Otto Gunst's Classes for Elegant Arts", an architecture school. Having no formal education, she failed some exams; but an examiner, sculptor Sergey Volnukhin, challenged other examiners to name a sculptor able to produce anything like her [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/photo/c6.htm "Praying old woman"] . He convinced them not only to admit Anna, but to waive her tuition as well.
The next year, the school closed due to bankruptcy. Anna entered the
Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where she studied from 1890-1894 under Professor Sergey Ivanov. One of her classmates was another famous sculptorSergey Konenkov .In 1894-1895 she studied at the
Imperial Academy of Arts inSaint Petersburg in the studio of famous sculptorVladimir Beklemishev . According to researchers, Vladimir was the subject of Anna's tragic unrequited love, but never knew about it.In 1895 she went to
Paris where she studied at theAcadémie Colarossi (1895-1897). At that time Russian artists usually went abroad either having some sort of a stipend or sufficient independent income. Anna was one of the first of those who came to Paris having almost no money. She literally starved but managed to produce significant sculptures including [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/photo/b8.htm "The Iron One"] .In 1897, she briefly returned to Russia, then became an assistant to
Auguste Rodin (1897-1900) taking the position ofCamille Claudel (she got an offer fromMark Antokolski as well). Rodin requested her work on the hands and legs of his sculptures. At that time, she also produced [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/photo/d1.htm "The Old Age"] , [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/photo/c8.htm "The Fire"] , which he created 14 years earlier.In 1901, she returned to Moscow. Her
bas relief "The Wave" installed on thefacade ofMoscow Art Theatre was considered a symbol of RussianModernism . She participated in theRussian Revolution of 1905 , was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison for distribution of leaflets and was freed due to her bad health. She also produced a number of sculptural portraits, including portraits ofAndrei Bely ,Alexei Remizov ,Leo Tolstoy , andKarl Marx .Golubkina was initially very enthusiastic about the 1917
October Revolution , but refused to work with the Soviet Government (including theLenin 's plan of "Monumental propaganda") after the execution of the former members of theState Duma . Eventually she agreed to teach inVKhUTEMAS , where she would Tatar sculptorBaqi Urmançe .Anna Golubkina died in 1927, while working on the sculpture of
Alexander Blok . She had surgery and was forbidden to handle heavy items. However, work on the large wooden sculpture required a lot of physical effort. Anna felt quite ill and went to Zaraysk to her sister, Alexandra Golubkina, expecting Alexandra to help her. She died a few days after arriving there.Anna's studio in Zaraysk became a museum in 1932. It was the first Russian museum of that type.
elected works
External links
* [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/works.html Works of Golubkina]
References
*ru icon [http://www.tonnel.ru/?l=gzl&uid=358 Biography]
*ru icon [http://www.krugosvet.ru/articles/82/1008291/1008291a1.htm another Biography]
*ru icon [http://www.golubkina.nm.ru/ Site devoted to Golubkina]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.