Stepan Dmitrievich Erzia (Nefyodov) (russian: Степа́н Дми́триевич Э́рьзя (Нефёдов); – 24 November 1959) was a

Mordvin The Mordvins (also Unified Mordvin people, Mordvinians, Mordovians; russian: мордва, Mordva, Mordvins (no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya)) is an obsolete but official term used in the Russian Federation to refer both to Erzyas and Moksh ...

sculptor who lived in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Erzia chose his pseudonym after the native ethnic group, the

Erzya Mordvins Erzyas or Erzya people ( myv, Эрзят, ''Erźat'') are one of the Mordvin peoples. Famous people of Erzya descent * Purgaz * Stepan Erzia, Russian sculptor * Nadezhda Kadysheva, Russian singer * Vasily Chapayev, Bolsheviks, Bolshevik command ...

Biography

He was born October 27, 1876 in the village Bayevo,

Alatyrsky Uyezd Alatyrsky Uyezd (''Алатырский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Simbirsk Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Alatyr. Demographics At the t ...

Simbirsk Governorate Simbirsk Governorate (russian: link=no, Симбирская губерния, ''Simbirskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 to 1928. Its administra ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. In 1892 his family moved to Alatyr; Stepan became an apprentice of various icon-painting studios. In 1893–1897 he lived in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, previously at the joiner's shop, later he worked at P. A. Kovalinski's icon-painting studio in

. That time Erzia decorated churches in the various cities and villages of the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

area and attended

Kazan Art School The Kazan Art School is a state autonomous education institution in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan. It's one of the oldest art schools in Russia, with a continuous history of more than 100 years. History The school was founded in 1895 as a bra ...

. In 1902–1906 he studied at

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (russian: Московское училище живописи, ваяния и зодчества, МУЖВЗ) also known by the acronym MUZHZV, was one of the largest educational insti ...

, participating in the exhibitions of the School's students. In 1906-1914 he lived in Italy and France. He took part in the exhibitions in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1909, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1912. In 1914 he returned to

and in 1918 he moved to

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

where he created his monumental works of art. In 1921 he moved to

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

, then to

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

. Living there, he created portraits of

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 ...

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 p ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In 1923 he lived in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, where he created in monumental genre. In 1926 the Soviet government took a decision to send Stepan Erzia abroad "to spread the knowledge of the Soviet art". He came to Paris again. Again his one-man shows were sponsored followed by positive response in the Western press. In 1927–1950 he worked in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, creating portraits there of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

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

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

. There Erzia, a representative of a minor and browbeaten nation, developed a project of transforming entire mountains in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

into monuments to the heroes of the war for independence. The local authorities approved his plan, but failed to finance its implementation. While in Argentina, Erzia invented a method of processing some locally grown, extra-hard types of wood: algarrobo and quebracho. In 1950 he returned to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1956 he was awarded with the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

. Stepan Erzia died in 1959 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and was buried in

Saransk Saransk (russian: Саранск, p=sɐˈransk; mdf, Саранск ошсь, Saransk oš; myv, Саран ош, Saran oš) is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located i ...

, the capital of

Mordovia The Republic of Mordovia (russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, r=Respublika Mordoviya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə mɐrˈdovʲɪjə; mdf, Мордовия Республиксь, ''Mordovija Respublikś''; myv, Мордовия Рес ...

. On 26 June 1958 '' Mordovian Erzia Museum of Visual Arts'' (russian: Мордовский республиканский музей изобразительных искусств им. С.Д.Эрьзи) was opened in the Mordovian capital Saransk. The museum has the most complete collection of Erzia works (204 works).Site of Erzia Museum
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Major works

''Horror'', ''Despair'', ''Courage'', ''A Chilean Lady'', ''A Parisian Lady in a Hat'', ''Head of a Mordvin Woman'', ''Lev Tolstoy'', ''Beethoven'', ''

'' and ''Christ''.

Citation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erzia, Stepan 1876 births 1959 deaths People from Mordovia People from Alatyrsky Uyezd Mordvin people Russian male sculptors Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Argentina Soviet sculptors 20th-century Argentine sculptors Male sculptors 20th-century Argentine male artists Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni

Biography

Major works

Citation

See also

References