ANIKUSHIN, MIKHAIL KONSTANTINOVICH (1917–1997), artist, sculptor, one of the leaders of traditionalism in the Russian school of sculpture.
Born in Moscow on September 19 (October 2) 1917 in the family of a working-SUV. He studied at the Academy of Arts (Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (LINAS); 1937–1941, 1945–1947), where his mentors were V.A. Sinaisky and A.T. Matveev. Member of the Second World War (1941–1944). He lived in Leningrad / Petersburg.
Formed as a master in the process of working on memorial images of A.S. Pushkin (a sitting figure at the Pushkinskaya metro station in Leningrad, 1954; a monument in Tashkent, 1974; and others.). By right, the most popular among these works was the monument on the St. Petersburg Square of Arts (bronze, granite, 1949-1957; opened in 1957; Lenin Prize 1958) - its romantic pathos and compositional scope perfectly fit into the ancient architectural surroundings. He created one of the largest post-war monuments to V.I. Lenin - on Moscow Square in Leningrad (height with a pedestal about 16 m; bronze, granite; opened in 1970). He executed the sculptural decoration of the memorial to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad (architects V.A. Kamensky and S.B.Speransky; opened in 1975), however, in general, it is of little origin and repeating the standard standards of Soviet "monumental propaganda." He created many ceremonial portraits (cosmonaut G.S. Titov, bronze, 1961-1963, Tretyakov Gallery, and others) and a number of strictly academic tombstones in form (artists: Yu.M. Yuryev, bronze, granite, 1961; N.K. Cherkasova, 1975; both are the necropolis of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra).
He was chairman of the board of the Leningrad organization of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR (since 1962), showing himself as a semi-official ideologist, but at the same time as a skilled administrator and business executive. Hero of Socialist Labor (1977). He actively worked as a teacher: he taught at LINAS since 1947.
Anikushin died in St. Petersburg on May 18, 1997.
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