Anna Semyonovna Golubkina (russian: Анна Семёновна Голубкина; January 28, 1864 – September 7, 1927) was a
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
sculptor. As the first Russian sculptor to receive the
Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
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
Crater may refer to:
Landforms
*Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
*Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...
on
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
is named after her.
Biography
Golubkina was born in
Zaraysk
Zaraysk (russian: Зара́йск) is a town and the administrative center of Zaraysky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about southeast from Moscow. Population:
Geography
The town stands on the right bank of the Osyotr River, which i ...
,
Ryazan
Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census ...
gubernia
A governorate, gubernia, province, or government ( rus, губе́рния, p=ɡʊˈbʲɛrnʲɪjə, also romanized ; uk, губернія, huberniia), was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the empir ...
(currently
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
), Russia to a family of peasant
Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
. Her father died when Golubkina 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 local
Filippians
Filippians or Philippians () was a ''soglasiye'' (confession, literally, "agreement") of the Bespopovtsy (the "priestless") strain of Old Believers. They detached themselves from Pomortsy under the leadership of a "teacher" Filipp at the beginn ...
community.
Golubkina 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 Golubkina's older sister Alexandra later got a nurse (
feldsher
According to the World Health Organization, a feldsher (german: Feldscher, pl, Felczer, cs, Felčar, russian: фельдшер, sv, Fältskär, Finnish: ''Välskäri'') is a health care professional who provides various medical services limit ...
) diploma. Golubkina's talents in painting and sculpture were discovered by the local art teacher, who recommended that she go to Moscow 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 'Praying old woman'. He convinced them not only to admit Golubkina, but to waive her tuition as well.
The next year, the school closed due to bankruptcy. Anna entered the
where she studied from 1890 to 1894 under Professor Sergey Ivanov. One of her classmates was another famous sculptor
Sergey Konenkov
Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov (Сергей Тимофеевич Коненков) (also Sergei Konyonkov) (russian: Серге́й Тимофеевич Конёнков; – 9 December 1971) was a Russian and Soviet sculptor. He was often c ...
.
In 1894-1895 she studied at the
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in the studio of famous sculptor
Vladimir Beklemishev. According to researchers, Vladimir was the subject of Golubkina's tragic unrequited love, but never knew about it.
In 1895 she went to Paris where she studied at the
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...
(1895–1897). At that time Russian artists usually went abroad either having some sort of a stipend or sufficient independent income. Golubkina 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 'The Iron One'.
In 1897, she briefly returned to Russia, then became an assistant to
Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
(1897–1900) taking the position of
Camille Claudel
Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...
(she got an offer from
Mark Antokolski
Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский; 2 November 18409 July 1902) was a Russian Imperial sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
Biography
Mordukh Matysovich Antokolsky''Boris Schatz: The ...
as well). Rodin requested her work on the hands and legs of his sculptures. At that time, she also produced 'The Old Age', 'The Fire',
''The Mist'' and many other original sculptures. In ''The Old Age'' she employed a direct allusion with the work of Rodin himself. She used the same model, sitting in the same pose as Rodin's
The Thinker
''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...
which he created 14 years earlier.
In 1901, she returned to Moscow. Her
bas relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
''The Wave'' installed on the
facade of
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...
was considered a symbol of Russian
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
. She participated in the
Russian Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, 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 of
Andrei Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андре ...
,
Alexei Remizov
Aleksey Mikhailovich Remizov (russian: Алексе́й Миха́йлович Ре́мизов; in Moscow – 26 November 1957 in Paris) was a Russian modernist writer whose creative imagination veered to the fantastic and bizarre. Apart from ...
,
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
, and
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
.
Golubkina was initially very enthusiastic about the 1917
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, but refused to work with the Soviet Government (including the
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
's plan of ''Monumental propaganda'') after the execution of the former members of the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
. Eventually she agreed to teach in
VKhUTEMAS, where she would teach Tatar sculptor
Baqi Urmançe.
Anna Golubkina died in 1927, while working on the sculpture of
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
. She had surgery and was forbidden to handle heavy items. However, work on the large wooden sculpture required a lot of physical effort. Golubkina 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.
Golubkina's studio in Moscow became a museum in 1932. It was the first Russian museum of that type.
Selected works
Image:Golubkina Sidorova.JPG, L.I. Sidorova, 1906
Image:Golubkina Nikiforova Kirpichnikova.JPG, Sculptor E.D. Nikiforova-Kirpichnikova, 1908
Image:Golubkina Nosova Ryabushinskaya.JPG, E.P. Nosova-Ryabushinskaya, 1912
Image:Golubkina Sleepers.JPG, Sleepers, 1912
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golubkina, Anna
1864 births
1927 deaths
19th-century sculptors from the Russian Empire
19th-century women artists from the Russian Empire
20th-century Russian sculptors
20th-century Russian women artists
Académie Colarossi alumni
Russian women sculptors
Soviet sculptors
Vkhutemas faculty
Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni