The Russian Academy Of Arts

Moscow. January 4 /ITAR-TASS reporter Olga Svistunova/. The President of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of USSR Zurab Tsereteli is 75.  However, accepting congratulations from ITAR-TASS reporter, the artist has not disclosed where and how he is going to celebrate his jubilee.

“I am a Georgian” - said Zurab Tsereteli. “It is our custom to arrange a sumptuous feast in honor of such anniversaries. But for me, the greatest pleasure is to work, it is this holiday that is always with me” – affirms Tsereteli.   So, if the breadth of his nature, as he believes, comes from his ancestors, the  large scale of his creative work  is his personal achievement.  By the way, his father opposed the wish of his son to be an artist, he wanted him to be an engineer. However, Zurab had it his own way.

“When I enrolled for the painting department of the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi,  I found out that there were 120 more entrants” - recollects Tsereteli. “Only seven were admitted and I was among them”.

The fate was not always gracious to the future President of the Russian Academy of Arts. For instance, his diploma work was rejected almost on the eve of its defense. The high commission from Moscow banned a canvas executed in the impressionistic manner.  The future Soviet artists had to create exclusively in the spirit of Socialist realism.

However, later it is this unauthorized way of artistic thinking that has brought success and fame to Zurab Tsereteli who is a painter, sculptor, designer and architect. He brilliantly decorated a seaside resort complex in Pitsunda and children’s playgrounds in Adler, for which he was awarded a Lenin Prize. To Ulyanovsk, the home town of Lenin, instead of a monument to the leader of the world working class Tsereteli presented a wonderful mosaic water-pool appreciated by the State Prize.

Among Zurab Tsereteli’s numerous high awards are decorations of Russia and many other countries. The master’s works can be seen throughout the world, including Russia and Georgia, the United States and Spain, France and Italy, Japan and Israel. His solo exhibitions have been on display in 30 regions of Russia as well as in other countries. 

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