Эрьзя (Нефедов), Степан Дмитриевич

Sculptor

Born Baevo (Simbirsk), 9 October 1876

Died Moscow, 24 November 1959

Erzia, was born Stepan Nefëdov, and chose his pseudonym after his native ethnic group: the Erzya Mordvins. From 1893 to 1897 he studied at Kovalinskii's studio for icon painting in Kazan and attended the Kazan Art school. From 1902 to 1906 he studied at the Moscow School of painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From 1906 to 1914 he lived and worked in Italy and France. in 1914 he returned to Russia and lived in Ekaterinburg, Novorossiisk and Batumi, where he sculpted monumental portraits of Lenin, Marx and Engels. In 1923 he was send to Paris by the Soviet government to promote soviet monumental sculpting. In 1927 he moved to Buenos Aires where he worked until 1950 when he returned to the Soviet Union. he died in Moscow but was buried in Saransk, capital of Mordovia.

1936

1967