Shemyakin Mihail "The Carnival", bronze sculpture Print

Height: 50 cm (19.6")​. Signature and security sign on the pedestal. Condition: excellent​. Free shipping worldwide. Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from the gallery. This sculpture was once purchased by a collector from Mikhail Shemyakin himself for $20,000 (see photo of receipt). The most outstanding series by the internationally renowned artist, Mikhail Shemyakin. Brazil hosts the world-famous carnivals in Rio de Janeiro and Venice hosts carnivals in bizarre masks. Therefore, the artist has created the Carnival in St Petersburg series, in which he depicts a mixture of styles, plots, traditions, mythical characters, heroes and bizarre figures. It is from the artist's explanation that the carnival tradition has its roots in the history of ancient Russia. It begins with the skomorokh, street dancers and jesters. The tradition had its peak in the times of Peter the Great, with his marching troops, jester processions and festivities, and developed further at fairs and, of course, at circuses. "You can meet many different people and nationalities in Russia. They have different customs and habits, but they live side by side. In my Carnivals you may meet a pig-faced Mongol dancing alongside a fiery red Cossack. And next to them there is a thin-legged Frenchman who looks in amazement at the ugly creature spinning on his belly, which I borrowed from the Kunstkammer of Peter the Great", says Mikhail Shemyakin about his "Carnivals". Studying closely the grotesque masks from Australia, Oceania and Ancient Mexico I often noticed that their noses, faces and grimaces were strikingly reminiscent of the characters from the Commedia del Arte as well as the characters from old Russian luboks. And the study of amphibians, beetles, and frogs led me to the idea of their resemblance to unusual human types. The study of Granville's drawings also helped. From this, in the whirlwind of my carnivals there are Tartars and Cossacks, Australian Aborigines and Russian Petrushka, Butterflies and Spiders... Add to this our crazy youth, our surreal life and you will find the sources of my carnival series. The "Carnivals of St. Petersburg" series has received worldwide recognition and has been exhibited many times in museums and galleries all over the world, for example at the Venice Galleria del Leone (1994) and at an exhibition in Tokyo (1980). SHEMYAKIN Mikhail (or Chemiakin Mihail, Russian: Михаил Шемякин, born 4 May 1943) is a Russian painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the nonconformist art tradition of St. Petersburg. In 1957, he was accepted into the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where he studied from 1957 to 1961. In 1962, Shemyakin's first exhibition opened in the premises of Zvezda magazine. In 1967, he founded the Petersburg group of artists. He emigrated from the USSR in 1971: after numerous arrests of exhibitions, confiscations of his works and forced treatment in psychiatric hospitals, the authorities deported Shemyakin from the USSR to France in 1971, under threat of criminal prosecution. According to Mikhail Shemyakin, the initiator of the persecution was often not the KGB, but the Union of Artists of the USSR. He moved to New York in 1981. His investigations into the art of all times and peoples, initiated in the 1960s, grew into a collection of millions of images structured according to technical, historical and philosophical categories, for which the artist was awarded five honorary doctorates. This collection served as the basis for the creation of the Institute of Philosophy and Psychology of Creativity (France). There are three monuments by Shemyakin in St Petersburg: 1) Peter the Great, 2) victims of political repression, 3) the architects-pioneers of St Petersburg. There is also a copy of the monument to Peter the Great in the town of Loche, in the Centre region of France, on the banks of the River Endre. In 2001, a monument created by Michael was unveiled in London to mark the tercentenary of Peter the Great's visit to London, and in Moscow a sculptural composition entitled Children - Victims of the Vices of Adults was unveiled. In 2007, Chemiakin returned to France, where he settled near the town of Châteauroux. The range in which Mikhail Shemyakin works is very wide: from drawing to monumental sculpture, theatre and cinema. His subject matter is also varied: from the theatrical grotesque to metaphysical images. His work can be found all over the world, both in private collections and simply on the streets of big cities (New York, London, San Francisco, Moscow, St Petersburg).