The Presidential Library’s materials tell about the famous sculptor Mikhail Anikushin

September 19, 2022 marks the 105th anniversary since the birth of the Soviet Russian sculptor Mikhail Anikushin (1917–1997), a master whose creative work has greatly contributed to the formation of the contemporary look of our city. For many Petersburg residents and guests, his works have already become an integral part of Leningrad – Petersburg. People set up meetings near Pushkin at the Arts Square, while excursions and concerts take place near the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on the Victory Square…

People’s Artist of the USSR, full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, winner of the Lenin Award, Chairman of the Administration of the Leningrad Department of the Artists Union of the RSFSR Anikushin lived and worked in Leningrad – St. Petersburg. The Presidential Library’s portal features a unique archive – collection of materials Mikhail Anikushin (1917-1997) that includes a handwritten creative autobiography, photographs from the family archives capturing the sculptor with his close friends and colleagues “in the creative field” Georgy Sviridov, Georgy Tovstonogov and others.

The Presidential Library’s collections contain memories of the sculptor’s peers. Soviet and Russian art critic Anatoly Dmitrenko said about Anikushin: “As for his great and well-deserved titles of the master, he regarded it with absolute calm. He was never consumed by vanity. He was natural, nice and friendly with people. Such atmosphere prevailed in his home in the big workshop, in communication with students, with everyone who fell into the orbit of this bright, fascinating, temperamental talent of Anikushin”.

Mikhail Anikushin was born in a family of a parquet master Konstantin Filippovich, who spent his whole life working at constructions in Moscow. In the autobiography, he tells about his childhood – he attended the modeling studio and participated in every children’s exhibition. After graduating from school, he left to Leningrad to “study sculpture”.

In 1937, Mikhail Konstantinovich Anikushin became a first-year student of the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the Leningrad Academy of Arts. Unfortunately, his studies were interrupted by war… From its first days the artist joined the militia and in November, 1941 – the Red Army. He was awarded the medals “For Battle Merit”, “For the Defence of Leningrad”, “For the Victory over Germany”. After the war, he returned to his studies and graduated from the Academy with honors in 1947. At that point, it was clear that he was an incredibly talented master of his craft. Perhaps Anikushin’s war experiences helped him in a way – his graduation work “The Victorious Warrior” got him a diploma with honors.

Anikushin’s special author’s signature began to form – every work of his reflected an entire persona or epoch. The sculptor couldn’t avoid the theme of war. According to Anatoly Dmitrenko, they met with Mikhail Konstantinovich after the opening of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on May 10, 1975. “It was a sunny day. Thousands of people, a sea of flowers, a never-ending human flow… Mikhail Konstantinovich’s eyes were full of tears. He understood that the monument he created, heroic and tragic, has already become a part of the history and the people’s memory. Even before that, an absolutely unforgettable scene happened, when figures of the monument were being transported along Moskovsky Avenue to their final destination. It was a parade of memory, its unforgettable steps.”

Another famous and beloved work of Anikushin is the monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin on the Arts Square in front of the building of the Russian Museum. Many think that the monument has been installed much earlier, during the reign of the tzar, as it reflects the “Pushkin’s era” so accurately and effortlessly. Nevertheless, it might be hard to believe, but the monument has been created by our contemporary Mikhail Anikushin. Just graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Arts, he applied for the All-Union Competition for the Creation of a Monument to Pushkin, and it was his project that won, even though many famous and experienced sculptors participated in the competition as well.

This monument made the young sculptor famous, and he received the Lenin Award for it in 1958.

During his entire creative career, Mikhail Anikushin created numerous monuments to Pushkin that are now located on the territory of the former Soviet Union and abroad (lists of sculptures and cities are available in the collection on the Presidential Library’s portal). Here are also featured photographs of the monuments for A. S. Pushkin, their midway variants and unrealized projects that reflect the changes in the poet’s image in the creative mind of M. K. Anikushin.

“Overall, I’ve created over ten sculptural images of the poet. They can be seen in the Moscow State University, at the stations of the St. Petersburg Metropolitan – “Pushkinskaya” and “Chyornaya rechka”, in the poet’s museum in the capital, in Pyatigorsk and Kaliningrad, and even much further away – in Havana and Delhi. I basically dedicated my whole life to Pushkin”, – the sculptor wrote.

It was Anikushin who produced such well-known monuments as the Monument to Chekhov (Moscow), to Kutuzov (Kaliningrad), to the ballerina Ulanova (Moskovsky Victory Park in St. Petersburg), sculptural portrait of Sviridov and many others. “It wasn’t accidental how well Anikushin created the images of great people – Pushkin, Bekhterev, Sviridov, – his friend, art critic Anatoly Dmitrenko wrote. – He had the gift of intimate insight, which made it possible to understand the essence and talent of a great man”.