Photo credit: Zurab Tsereteli / Russian Club / freeze frame / youtube.com
Monumental artist, sculptor, and teacher Zurab Tsereteli celebrates his anniversary on Thursday, January 4, Smotrim reports. He turns 90 years old.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wished Tsereteli health and all the best. According to him, over the years of tireless creative search, Zurab Tsereteli fully realized his generous, original talent and achieved high professional recognition.
The future sculptor was born in 1934 in Tbilisi. He was educated at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, graduating from the Faculty of Painting. In the 1960s, he was responsible for the design of resort complexes in Pitsunda, Gagra, Borjomi, Sukhum, and the House of Cinema in Moscow. In 1980, he became the chief artist of the Olympic Games in Moscow.
Zurab Tsereteli has come a long way from a little-known painter to the president of the Russian Academy of Arts, a position he was elected to in 1994. Since 1992, he has been the permanent president of the Moscow International Fund for UNESCO. He also heads the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, which he founded in 1999 and where he donated his personal collection of works of art of the 20th century. He has received many awards both in Russia and abroad.
In the 1990s, he coordinated the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He supervised the construction of the sculptural part of the obelisk as part of the Victory Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Hill, which was opened on May 9, 1995. This is the tallest monument in Russia, its height exceeds 141 meters.
Another famous work of Tsereteli is the 98-meter monument to Peter the Great in Moscow, opened in 1997. It is unique in its engineering and technical solution.
Tsereteli's works can be seen in the US, Spain, Italy, France and other countries. The artist's personal exhibitions took place in Paris, Rome, Palermo, Ancona, Zurich, Verona, Cannes and other cities. A square in the French town of Ploermel is named after him.
Russkiy Mir
