Boris Danilovich Korolyov (russian: Борис Данилович Королёв; 1884/85–1963) was a Soviet sculptor-monumentalist, teacher and public figure.
Biography
As an artist Korolyov stood at the origins of the
Soviet school of sculpture, its mainstream, but he also was one of the leading figures in the avant-garde movement. In the 1920s he played a prime role in the realization of Lenin's plan of
monumental propaganda Lenin's Plan of "Monumental Propaganda" – is a strategy proposed by Vladimir Lenin of employing visual monumental art (revolutionary slogans and monumental sculpture) as an important means for propagating revolutionary and communist ideas. "The p ...
. In his sculptural works Korolyov combined
Realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
with elements of
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
and
Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
.
Born in Moscow and educated at the
under
Sergei Volnukhin
Sergei Mikhailovich Volnukhin (1859–1921) was a Russian sculptor, best known for his instruction to a generation of Russian artists at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, teaching alongside Prince Paolo Troubetzkoy. ...
, Korolyov was a committed revolutionary, deported twice for his political activity, and a leading figure of avant-garde sculpture in revolutionary Russia.
He was an active participant in the execution of
Lenin's Monumental Propaganda Plan of April 1918, which encouraged the destruction of Tsarist monuments and the rapid production of Soviet-themed sculptures and bas-reliefs. However, Korolyov's rapidly produced 1919 concrete statue of
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
, done in a
Cubo-Futurist
Cubo-Futurism (also called Russian Futurism or Kubo-Futurizm) was an art movement that arose in early 20th century Russian Empire, defined by its amalgamation of the artistic elements found in Italian Futurism and French Analytical Cubism. Cubo- ...
style and set up in Moscow, proved to be deeply unpopular and was dismantled within weeks.
Despite changing tastes, Korolyov continued working in
Cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
style into the 1920s, and became professor of sculpture at the Soviet state art school,
Vkhutemas. In 2009 he was the subject of a major retrospective at the
Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery (russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, ''Gosudarstvennaya Tretyâkovskaya Galereya''; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered th ...
.
Korolyov is buried in
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...
.
Significant works
His work includes:
* the granite ''Fighters of the Revolution'' in
Saratov
Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...
, completed in 1925, with a cubist base
* bronze and granite figure of
Nikolay Bauman
Nikolay Ernestovich Bauman () ( – ) was a Russian revolutionary of the Bolshevik Party.
His death in a struggle with a royalist upon his release from Taganka Prison in 1905 made him one of the first martyrs of the Revolution, and later o ...
, Moscow, 1931
* a number of statues of Lenin, including a bronze of Lenin in Independence Square of
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
, completed in 1936 and replaced in 1991
Gallery
File:Female figure, Dancer by Boris Korolev (1916, Tretyakov gallery) 01 by shakko.JPG, Women's figure (1916)
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10076, Berlin, Ausstellung moderner russischer Kunst.jpg, Vladimir 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 marble portrait (1923)
References
External links
Online biography (in Russian)* ''Bol'shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediia (the Great Soviet encyclopedia)'' (3d ed., vol. 13). (1973). Moscow.: Izdatel'stvo "Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya".
* Grabar. (Ed.). (1957). ''Istoriya Russkogo Iskusstva (The History of Russian Art)'' (Vol. XI). Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences.
* Latushkin (1986). ''Pam'yatnik N.E. Baumanu (Monument to N. Bauman in Moscow)''. Moscow: Moskovskiy rabochiy.
* Fomina, Yakhont (1989). ''Korolyov, B.D. Iz literaturnogo naslediya. Perepiska. Sovremenniki o skul'ptore (Korolyóv, B.D. Excerpts from archives and published literary works. Correspondence. Contemporaries on the sculptor''. Moscow: Sovetskiy khudozhnik.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korolyov, Boris
1880s births
1963 deaths
Academic staff of Vkhutemas
Russian avant-garde
Cubist artists
People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts)
Russian male sculptors
Soviet sculptors
Socialist realist artists
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
20th-century sculptors
Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni