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Russia Today
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Legendary Russian sculptor dies
Prominent Russian-Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who was the epitome of Russian sculpture, has died at the age of 91, his assistant has announced. According to Sergey Shagulashvili, Tsereteli suffered heart failure at 1:30am on Tuesday in Moscow. Later, his staff said that a farewell service would take place in the iconic Cathedral of Christ the Savior, but he would be buried in his native Georgia. Tsereteli, the president of the Russian Academy of Arts since 1997, was widely regarded as a defining figure in Soviet and Russian monumental art. Among his most recognized works is the towering Peter the Great statue in Moscow. Standing 98 meters (322 feet) tall, the monument was unveiled in 1997 to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy. It remains one of the tallest statues in the world. Internationally, Tsereteli is known for 'Good Defeats Evil', a bronze sculpture installed at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The artwork depicts St. George slaying a dragon crafted from fragments of dismantled Soviet and American nuclear-capable missiles, symbolizing the end of the Cold War and victory over the specter of the nuclear Armageddon. Another notable work is the 'Tear of Grief', (also known as 'To the Struggle Against World Terrorism') a 10-story monument in Bayonne, New Jersey, dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. The sculpture features a large stainless-steel teardrop suspended within a cracked tower. It was presented as a gift from Russia and unveiled in 2006. Throughout his career, Tsereteli created more than 5,000 art works that spanned beyond architecture to include paintings and frescoes. He received numerous honors, including the title of People's Artist of the USSR and the French Legion of Honor. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has offered her condolences, describing Tsereteli as 'an artist of international renown and a true public figure who knew no borders or barriers in the cause of peace and creativity.' '[He was] a true people's diplomat. He will live not only in our hearts but also in his works: in the stained glass and enamels decorating embassies, in monuments and sculptures placed around the world, in the lush flowers and bouquets that he painted with such passion. He knew how to love and how to give love,' she added.
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Zurab Tsereteli, whose monumental works won over Russian elites, dies aged 91
Zurab Tsereteli (File Photo) MOSCOW: Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli , a politically connected artist known for his monumental yet sometimes divisive works, has died aged 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday. He died at his home in Peredelkino, a village southwest of Moscow, "surrounded by his works", his assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told the RIA news agency. Born and trained in Tbilisi, Tsereteli rose to prominence designing resort complexes in then-Soviet Georgia during the 1960s. He became chief artist of the USSR's ministry of foreign affairs and later head of Russia's influential academy of arts, serving in the role from 1997 until his death. Popular with Russia's elite, Tsereteli's friendship with Moscow's mayor Yury Luzhkov in the 1990s gave him what critics called a "monopoly" on public art. He populated the Russian capital with his distinct brand of monumental architecture, earning the wrath of many Russian intellectuals in the process. His giant statue of Peter the Great on a ship on the Moscow River got a tongue-lashing in the press, while a 500-tonne monument to Christopher Columbus built in the early 1990s was rejected by several US cities as a monstrosity. Reverence for Putin Tsereteli is more fondly known for presiding over the reconstruction of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour , an Orthodox church meticulously rebuilt in the 1990s after it was demolished by Stalin. Tsereteli also enjoyed brief success in the West during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, unveiling works that embodied the fall of communism: "Break the Wall of Distrust" in London in 1989 and "Good Defeats Evil" in New York in 1990 -- made partly from the remnants of Soviet and American missiles. Encouraged by this success, he attempted to donate a monument dedicated to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to the city of New York, a giant 30-metre (100-foot) sculpture featuring a teardrop, but the authorities politely declined his offer. The work finally found a home in 2005 in Bayonne, a city of 60,000 in New Jersey, in view of downtown Manhattan across the water. Tsereteli revered President Vladimir Putin, unveiling a five-metre bronze statue of the Russian leader posing in judo gear in 2004. But the piece was so badly received by the Kremlin that a Russian media report quoted an anonymous official as saying it should "not be exhibited anywhere except in the courtyard of the sculptor's own home". "He of all people should know that President Putin has an extremely negative attitude towards such things," the official told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zurab Tsereteli, whose monumental works won over Russian elites, dies aged 91
Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, a politically connected artist known for his monumental yet sometimes divisive works, has died aged 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday. He died at his home in Peredelkino, a village southwest of Moscow, "surrounded by his works", his assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told the RIA news agency. Born and trained in Tbilisi, Tsereteli rose to prominence designing resort complexes in then-Soviet Georgia during the 1960s. He became chief artist of the USSR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later head of Russia's influential Academy of Arts, serving in the role from 1997 until his death. Popular with Russia's elite, Tsereteli's friendship with Moscow's mayor Yury Luzhkov in the 1990s gave him what critics called a "monopoly" on public art. He populated the Russian capital with his distinct brand of monumental architecture, earning the wrath of many Russian intellectuals in the process. His giant statue of Peter the Great on a ship on the Moscow River got a tongue-lashing in the press, while a 500-tonne monument to Christopher Columbus built in the early 1990s was rejected by several US cities as a monstrosity. - Reverence for Putin - Tsereteli is more fondly known for presiding over the reconstruction of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, an Orthodox church meticulously rebuilt in the 1990s after it was demolished by Stalin. Tsereteli also enjoyed brief success in the West during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, unveiling works that embodied the fall of communism: "Break the Wall of Distrust" in London in 1989 and "Good Defeats Evil" in New York in 1990 -- made partly from the remnants of Soviet and American missiles. Encouraged by this success, he attempted to donate a monument dedicated to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to the city of New York, a giant 30-metre (100-foot) sculpture featuring a teardrop, but the authorities politely declined his offer. The work finally found a home in 2005 in Bayonne, a city of 60,000 in New Jersey, in view of downtown Manhattan across the water. Tsereteli revered President Vladimir Putin, unveiling a five-metre bronze statue of the Russian leader posing in judo gear in 2004. But the piece was so badly received by the Kremlin that a Russian media report quoted an anonymous official as saying it should "not be exhibited anywhere except in the courtyard of the sculptor's own home". "He of all people should know that President Putin has an extremely negative attitude towards such things," the official told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid. bur/js
