The Russian Academy Of Arts

On June 16, 2012 in the town of St. Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in western France there was an unveiling ceremony for the monument to the distinguished Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) whose 120th birth anniversary is celebrated this year. The author of the sculpture is Zurab Tsereteli, People’s Artist of the USSR and Russian Federation, President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.

The ceremony was attended by the Mayor of St. Gilles-Croix-de-Vie Patrick Nayal, French officials and residents of the town, the author of the sculpture Zurab Tsereteli, members of the Russian Academy of Arts.

The bronze sculpture 2m tall is a centerpiece of the park on the embankment of the Vie river. Marina Tsvetaeva spent in St. GillesCroix-de-Vie in the Vandee Department the summer of 1926. The resort has been one of the favorite places of Russian celebrities, in various years it was visited by the composer Sergey Prokofiev, poet Constantine Balmont, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and others.

The proposal to create a monument to the poet Marina Tsvetaeva to be installed in France has been made by the French side. The idea of the monument has been inspired by Marina Tsvetaeva’s correspondence with the Russian poet, novelist and literary translator Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), that continued even in her immigration period in Europe. Marina Tsvetaeva has been depicted by the sculptor seated on the bench with a rose in her hand. A few books are lying on the bench near her. It is not the first sculptural portrait of Marina Tsvetaeva by Zurab Tsereteli. Another one executed in the high relief technique is included in Tsereteli’s series “My Contemporaries” devoted to the distinguished figures of the 20-21st century culture, which can be seen in Tsereteli Art Gallery in Moscow.

In France there are several works by Zurab Tsereteli: the author’s replica of the Birth of a New Man sculpture in honor of the 500th anniversary of the sail of Christopher Columbus to the shores of America (UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, 1994); sculptural composition “Honore de Balzac” (Agde, 2004); monument to the Pope John Paul II (Ploermel, 2006); Musketeers monument (Condom, 2010).

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