This was a big epic monument, a sybmol of Russian sculpture.
It was made in 1937 by a woman sculptor.
More than 60 ft (20 metres) tall, made of steel.
It was also used in “Mosfilm” movie leading Soviet making company.
These days it stands disassembled.
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That’s a great shame. Someone should fix it up.
The guy who posed for this statue had obviously just cut his fingernails, considering the 4th picture. Or was he a nail-biter?
It may have been impressive, but it was a symbol of far left Communism. Good riddens to bad news.
Nope, more like a symbol of far-right Communism.
Anyone know what city this broken monument is in? Dare I say Moscow?
Judging from the clock tower it’s Moscow, unless the Mosfilm logo was shopped back in the day.
Anyway, that’s pretty sad. I hope they have plans to fix it up and reassemble it sometime in the future. Or are they just going to let the pieces sit there indefinitely?
This is “Рабочий и Колхозница” (Labourer and Kolkhoz Woman), it was built for 1937 International Exhibition in Paris.
It was dismantled in 2004 (photos are 3 years old) because of detoriation of internal iron frame and supporting monument. The future of this sculpture is uncertain for now, it is planned to rebuild it with new hull as part of main building of new exhibition complex – with design comparable to one of Paris 1937 exhibition, with sculpture raised to 60 meters from ground. The project scheduled date of completion is 2010.
I confirm. Happy to learn that it was brought back to Russia and will find it’s original position & aspect. something).
http://lartnouveau.com/art_deco/expo_1937/pavillons_allemagne_urss.htm
http://lartnouveau.com/art_deco/expo_internationale_1937.htm
o_o xD
So it was disassembled for a good reason…to repair or at least prevent the destruction of the Statue due to crumbling internal frame.
It is a remarkable piece of work…I’d hate to see it lost forever. Best Wishes, Traveller
I guess it wasn’t steel but bronze. but correct me if I’m wrong. Normally statues are not made of steel…
this is one of the greatest monuments from 20th century regardless of its political background. it looks so grandiose . i know it is totally different time and idea, but somehow it reminds me of old antic greek sculptures.
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That is amazing.
Soviet scupture all seemed similar– note the similarity to the Motherland (Rodina) statue in Volgograd (which is a much better piece of art, in my opinion). “Neo-classicism” is the idea, trying to harken back to some golden age of scupture, personally I think the other styles of Soviet scupture were more distinctive– the “chiseled” look of some of the World War 2 monuments.
The only problem (albeit a major one) with “far left communism” was that it never lived up to it’s own ideals– remember, communism was supposed to be a democratic movement (it was the communist East Germany who’s name was “DEMOCRATIC Republic of Germany”, for example– if only they had stayed true to their name). On paper communism has much in common with the words of Christ: “it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven” and “I was hungry and ye fed me not. . . that which ye do unto the least of these my bretheren ye do unto me.” Marx was a fool to dismiss religion as an “opiate of the people.”
@bogesz
It’s probably at type of stainless steel. Stainless steel doesn’t corrode or rust. It doesn’t look like bronze to me.
I guess these were taken down as much for damage as for the fact that they are holding a hammer and sickle– maybe reinstall them with tennis raquets instead.
Far leftism is not something that bothers me at all
illich you are quite spot on in your analysis. However, the words of Christ, do not neccesserily have that much to do with the modern Christian churches, which all of course fiercly opposed any worker control of production, believing that countries are best run by those ‘appointed by god’ (kings, emporers, etc…). The later is what Marx was refering to.
With monuments like this, who needs a magnetron oven? Or a full set of wheels.
-jcp-
Nice pictures. Impressive monument. Should be restored ASAP.
The nasty / chilly climate is illustrated by the womans erect nipples, I guess… ?
Long fingernails are a sign of decadence of course. That’s why people grow their nails long, to show others that they don’t have to do manual labour.
I don’t know much on the subject but this form of art is directly a result of Stalinist ideaology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism
“It demands of the artist the truthful, historically concrete representation of reality in its revolutionary development.”
Lovely photos, I’d love to see the real thing up close.
Cheers,
jon.
Regardless of politics and the symbols of politics – this is one of the world’s great works of art and I look forward to its restoration
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[...] Source: English Russia [...]
[...] This epic monument of Mosfilm (Russian Motion Picture) now apparently lies in ruins. It was a very tall (22 meter) monument. It’s a shame Russians couldn’t protect this heritage of theirs. During my childhood I watched lots of movies produced by Mosfilm. [...]
To quote:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: — Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
This is a wonderful piece of art, regardless of the political symbols. As Nietzche said, ‘only strength can join itself to strength’ and this work of art certainly achieves greatness in that respect. It is so sad to see it disassembled. I hope the Russian authorities reassemble it in its former glory. Perhaps someone could tell me the name of the woman sculptress who made it?
This is a wonderful piece of art, regardless of the political symbols. As Nietzche said, ‘only strength can join itself to strength’ and this work of art certainly achieves greatness in that respect. It is so sad to see it disassembled. I hope the Russian authorities reassemble it to its former glory. Perhaps someone could tell me the name of the woman sculptress who made it?
i would like to use some of these images in a non-profit context and was wondering if anyone knew who i would have to approach to get copyright permissions from?
mosfilm made some interesting movies, I want to find a torrent of “The Bright Path” but it doesn’t seem to be available
orignal staue – sold by city major to west investorunder really weird disguise.
I am amazed at how hard it was for me to find these pictures,
and even when I did the right search, how many pages I had to
wade through to get the right hit. I would appear that power
today wants to eliminate the history of power yesterday, like
Winston Smith in 1984. So, it appears Capitalism is willing,
just like Communism, to erase the past and claim it is always
like it is now, always has been, but always it will be better
and better and better, like pie in the sky. Remember when it
was always being said how booming the US economy was, but the
people on the street were always saying, “Where’s my share?”
I am not a Communist, or Socialist, or Capitalist, or any
of those things, and I don’t know why this little editor
just tore all my nice neat margins all to hell. Oh well.
esplendida, gigantesca, linda
A mate urged me to look at this site, nice post, interesting read… keep up the good work!
[...] The monument has been restored and returned to its place at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow. Images from the monument under reconstruction can ve visited here. All images in this post taken from EnglishRussia [...]
YES!!! It HAS been restored, returned to its rightful place, and shines over those driving into town. Am so glad that wiser minds did not destroy the artwork for political reasons, and is restoring it for history and arts sake.