Matveev A.T., (1878-1960), sculptor

Categories / Art/Fine Arts/Personalia
MATVEEV Alexander Terentievich (1878-1960), sculptor, honoured Worker of Art of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1931), doctor of art criticism (1939). Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (1899-1902) under S.M. Volnukhin and P.P. Trubetskoy, as well as in private studios in Paris (1906-07). Lived in St. Petersburg from 1907. In 1918-20 he headed the Sculpture Department of the Central School of Technical Drawing, teaching at the Academy of Arts from 1918 until 1948, and becoming director in 1932-34. He participated in The Blue Rose exhibition (Moscow, 1907), was a member of the World of Art union (1910-24), and the Society of Russian Sculptors (1925-32). In his monuments and mounted plastic works he tended towards a classical clarity of image, creating poetic works full of symbolism. His works include Pensiveness (stone, 1906) and Wakening (gypsum, 1907), both in the State Russian Museum; and the gravestone of V.E. Borisov-Musatov in Tarusa (granite, 1910), sketches of which are in the State Russian Museum). He created a monument to K. Marx at Smolny (1918; not preserved) and the October Group (1927; installed in 1967 in front of the Octyabrsky Big Concert Hall), both made according to the Monument Propaganda Plan. In the 1920s he created statuettes for the Petrograd Porcelain Factory. From 1923 he lived at 29 Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment (memorial plaque installed). In 1941 he moved to Moscow.

References: Бассехес А. И. Александр Терентьевич Матвеев. М., 1960: Мантурова Т. Б. Александр Матвеев. М., 1974.

O. L. Leikind, D.Y. Severyukhin. Borisov-Musatov Viktor Elpidiforovich
Marx Karl
Matveev Alexander Terentievich
Trubetskoy Pavel (Paolo) Petrovich, Duke
Volnukhin Sergey Mikhailovich
Leitenanta Schmidta Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 29
Бассехес А. И. Александр Терентьевич Матвеев. М., 1960
Мантурова Т. Б. Александр Матвеев. М., 1974 Stieglitz Central Technical Drawing School
Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
World of Art, Association
Smolny Institute
Lomonosov Porcelain Factory