Konstantin Simun (6 April 1934 – 4 September 2019)
was a Russian
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
living and working in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. He was born 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 ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
in 1934. He is most well known for his large-scale monuments, including "Broken Ring", a monument to the "Road of Life" on
Lake Ladoga, near Saint Petersburg, and "Totem America," exhibited for a decade at
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park
The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is a 30-acre sculpture park and contemporary art museum on the shore of Flint's Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts, 20 miles northwest of Boston. It was established in 1950. It is the largest park of its kind ...
. He was a recipient of awards from the International Dyagilev Prize "For Devotion to Art", the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and the Pollack-Krasner Foundation.
Biography
Konstantin Simun was born in Leningrad, USSR, in 1934. He studied sculpture at the secondary school of arts at the I.Repin Art Institute (Leningrad), then at the Tallinn Art Institute (Estonia), and from 1953 to 1957 at the I. Repin institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
In 1958 he became a member of the Artists' Union of the USSR.
From 1988 until his death in 2019 he lived in the US.
Simun created numerous works which were widely exhibited throughout Russia and the United States. He was the creator of the 1966 monument "Broken Ring" on
Lake Ladoga (near St. Petersburg, Russia), which brought him international recognition, and is acknowledged as one of the most significant memorials of World War II.
Simun's works are in the permanent collections of Russia's largest museums, such as the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Perm Gallery in Perm, as well as in private collections.
His work "Totem: America" was exhibited at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, from 1993 to 2002, and brought him great popularity in the US.
He was the creator of the memorial to puppeteer I. Fokin installed in
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2001.
See also
* Collections of the
Russian State Museum
*
Harvard Square
*
Leningrad Blockade
References
External links
Official website of Konstantin SimunWebsite about Konstantin by a friend*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120623203412/http://ann.spb.ru/ "Avant-garde on the Neva" series about contemporary artists from St. Petersburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simun, Konstantin
Russian male sculptors
Soviet sculptors
Lenin Peace Prize recipients
1934 births
2019 deaths
20th-century sculptors