English: all inclusive

The Summer Garden is a park ensemble and a monument of landscape art from the first third of the 18th century in St. Petersburg. It was laid out by order of Peter I in 1704. Today, the Summer Garden is a branch of the Russian Museum. Within the ensemble of the Summer Garden, alongside architectural structures, fountains, and garden plantings, decorative garden sculpture plays a significant role — freely standing marble statues and busts, comprising thirty-eight statues, five sculptural groups, forty-eight busts, and one herma. The majority of these works were created by Italian masters from the late 17th to early 18th centuries and were delivered to St. Petersburg shortly after its foundation. As part of the comprehensive restoration and reconstruction of the Summer Garden carried out between 2009 and 2011, the original sculptures were restored and moved to the halls of the Mikhailovsky Castle of the Russian Museum. Replicas made of artificial marble were installed in the garden. by Irina Savenko

«Woman with a Lyre. Allegory of Music». 1820s. Unknown Artist. Plaster. Dimensions: 80×48 cm. Tactile Model. Plastic. A rectangular slab with uneven edges bears a relief depiction of a young woman playing a lyre. The figure is shown in profile. Her head is slightly tilted downward, with her hair gathered in a style at the back of her head. With her left hand, she supports the lyre, while her right hand appears to glide over the strings. A long, flowing dress envelops her figure, its numerous folds emphasizing movement. A scarf billowing from her waist forms an oval loop above her head. The woman’s bare feet step in an elegant stride, as if she were floating in the air. This relief is a pair to the «Allegory of Dance,» hence sharing similar dimensions. The depiction of the lyre is symbolic—the woman playing the lyre represents Music itself. The lyre, a musical instrument, was played by Apollo, the god of the arts, according to ancient Greek myths. Reliefs with such themes adorned both music salons and concert halls, contributing to an atmosphere of elevated classical art. It must be acknowledged that they fulfilled this role admirably. by Irina Savenko

«The Wanderer». 1903. Anna Golubkina. Wood. Dimensions: 42×29×18 cm. Tactile model. Plastic. This intimate bust sculpture depicts a woman wrapped in a headscarf that covers her head, falling to her eyes and draping in folds over her shoulders. Her head is slightly lowered and turned to the side, shoulders raised, back hunched—as if some invisible burden weighs upon this fragile, slender figure. The folds of the scarf are rendered with broad, swift, sketch-like chisel strokes. Deep hollows replace her eyes, seemingly absent, leaving only darkness beneath brows raised and drawn toward the bridge of her nose. The uneven oval of her aged face, a prominent nose, compressed sunken lips, and a small chin complete the visage. The woman appears immersed in her thoughts, detached from her surroundings. The sculptural bust «The Wanderer» belongs to Anna Golubkina’s early works. The sculptor portrayed an elderly pious woman whom she encountered in Zaraysk and asked to pose for a portrait. Original dimensions: height 42 cm, width 29 cm, depth 18 cm. Golubkina masterfully employs the interplay of light and shadow by deeply carving these facial features into the wood. So deeply concealed is the gaze in this weary face… What does it conceal? How much has this wanderer endured, experienced, and borne in her life? Anna Semyonovna Golubkina (1864–1927) was the first Russian woman sculptor whose work became a symbol of the flourishing of Russian plastic arts in the first third of the 20th century. She stands as one of the leading masters of the Silver Age—a period in Russian culture marked by outstanding achievements in literature, music, and painting. In her sculptural works, Golubkina vividly conveyed the atmosphere of her time—its emotions, anxieties, and mystical premonitions. Anna Semyonovna transformed the classical approach to plasticity, material, and working from life. She possessed a subtle sensitivity to materials—marble, wood, clay—and their expressive potential and decorative qualities. Her work is often associated with Impressionism and Symbolism, the dominant artistic movements at the turn of the 20th century. Her interactions with the renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin and his guidance helped Golubkina realize her own artistic path. In her creative practice, Anna Golubkina was guided by the idea of selfless devotion to art: «One must forget everything, give everything.» by Irina Savenko

«Female Head.» 1902-1903. Anna Golubkina. Marble, limestone. Dimensions: 44×36×20 cm. Tactile model. Plastic. The sculpture consists of a stone block featuring a high-relief female head protruding from its surface. The rough, chisel-worked texture of the limestone contrasts with the smooth surface of the white marble face. The features include a high, clear forehead and delicate eyebrows. The gaze is calm beneath heavy eyelids, with a straight, sharp nose and firmly closed, slightly full lips. Anna Golubkina’s high-relief «Female Head» was created a decade before her sculpture «The Sleepers,» which partly echoes its general structural principle: in both works, the artist employs the technique of meticulously sculpting the face and head, which emerge from the «raw,» unworked stone as if from some natural or existential element. However, unlike the more complex and dynamic «three-part» sculpture, «Female Head» presents a static, strictly frontal compositional approach. A formal contrast is nevertheless present here as well. The carefully and smoothly detailed marble head of the model is set against a coarser, unpolished background of limestone, where the marks of the sculptor’s chisel are intentionally left visible. To reinterpret the metaphor of contrasting the human form with wild, untamed nature, one could say that the combination of different materials within a single composition emphasizes the spiritual quality of the female face: it seems to glow as it emerges from the surrounding «darkness.» In addition to the difference in stone textures, the variation in color contributes to this visual effect. by Irina Savenko

«Julia». 1925. Vera Mukhina. Tinted plaster. Dimensions: 180x54x53 cm. Tactile model. Plastic. A figure of a standing nude woman. The body is rendered somewhat conventionally, with a heavy, monumental quality, in a Cubist manner. The arms are absent. The head is turned to the left and downward. The torso is sharply twisted to the left, following the movement of the head, as if the woman is looking back. The hips and legs are large, with hypertrophied, emphasized muscles. The left leg is bent at the knee. The name of Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina (1889–1953) was a household name during the Soviet era and was considered the standard of Socialist Realism. However, the master’s path to fame was far from simple. Vera Mukhina was born in Riga into the family of a successful merchant from an old merchant lineage. She lived in Feodosia and then in Kursk. In 1909, she moved to Moscow, where she began studying painting. She studied in Paris. She traveled throughout France and Italy, where she studied monuments of classical art. Immediately after the start of the First World War, Mukhina completed courses for nurses and worked in military hospitals until the middle of 1918. Throughout this period, she did not abandon her artistic pursuits. After the October Revolution, Mukhina actively participated in the implementation of the monumental propaganda plan. In the 1920s, she worked on exhibition design, magazine graphics, and posters. From the second half of the 1920s, Mukhina engaged in teaching. Her early works show the sculptor’s path towards a strategy of openly using new visual means – a «new physicality» in easel works and gigantomania in the monumental sculpture of the 1930s. This new physicality was intended to form the image of a person of the new world – strong and beautiful. The boldness of Mukhina’s discoveries, especially in the use of new materials such as glass and stainless steel, and the radical nature of many of her plastic solutions, set a vector moving forward, towards the future. The heroes of Mukhina’s works – whether monumental monuments or easel sculptures, specific characters or typological images – are, first and foremost, those who purposefully create, passionately struggle, and inspirationally conquer the natural elements and the peaks of scientific thought. The title of the work is connected with the name of the ballerina Podgurskaya, who served as the model for the author’s complex artistic concept. However, the refined grace of the ballerina yielded in this work to the sturdiness of consciously weighted forms, which allowed for the birth of an image of a beautiful woman, a kind of standard of a healthy, energetic, and harmoniously built body. Despite its small size, the sculpture possesses a monumental appearance. by Irina Savenko

«Portrait of E.V. Derviz, Daughter of Artist V.D. Derviz». 1906-1910. Ivan Efimov. Porcelain. Dimensions: 25×27 cm. Tactile model. Plastic. A low sculptural relief depicting a female profile facing right. The contour of the face is clear and well-defined, with a distinct nose featuring a slight bridge. The eyes are set deep beneath the brows, with a direct gaze. The young woman’s hairstyle is traditional: her hair is swept upward from the forehead, partly braided into a plait at the back of the head, and gathered into a bun. The creative work of the renowned sculptor, graphic artist, illustrator, animalier, theater artist, reformer of puppet theater, and professor Ivan Semyonovich Efimov (1878–1959) belongs to the Soviet period. The artist’s creative interests were broad. Works by I.S. Efimov adorn stations of the Moscow Metro, the Yaroslavl and Leningrad railway stations in Moscow, the Khimki River Terminal, sanatoriums in Morozovka near Moscow, in Tskhaltubo (Georgia) and Sochi, as well as interiors of the Pushkin House in St. Petersburg. Ivan Efimov’s work is primarily dedicated to the animalistic genre. However, his extensive legacy also includes portraits of contemporaries, such as the presented portraits of E. Derviz and A. Bely. These portraits were created during the early period of the artist’s career, in the 1900s. At that time, he worked in «Abramtsevo,» the pottery workshop of Savva Mamontov, a famous theater director and patron of the arts. The presented portraits share several similarities (time of creation, material—both are made of porcelain—and their small format). However, they differ in their interpretation of the subjects. The modeling of the girl’s face appears classically concise and severe, yet the author succeeded in conveying the model’s character. It is worth noting that the portrait of E. Derviz, like that of A. Bely, is an intimate chamber work, almost private in nature. Such sculptural portraits were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries and were intended for domestic interiors. by Irina Savenko

«Portrait of the Writer Andrei Bely». 1907. Ivan Efimov. Porcelain. Dimensions: 22×26 cm. Tactile model. Plastic. This relief portrait depicts a male profile facing left, executed in a free-flowing style. The facial features are somewhat softened: the gentle line of the nose and forehead, the faint mustache above the upper lip, and the loosely swept-back hair convey the liveliness and impetuous character of the subject. The barely suggested collar of the garment and the uneven, textured background indicate the preparatory stage of the relief’s execution. The combination of this irregular background with the delicate, subtle rendering of the young writer’s face creates a striking contrast, emphasizing the rebellious spirit of the subject. Executed in a highly unrestrained manner, the relief demonstrates the high professional skill of the sculptor I. Efimov, who managed to capture a convincing and memorable image even in a small format. This depiction of a young man in profile represents Andrei Bely as he appeared at the time. His face is oriented as if facing E.V. Derviz, and the relief shares the same dimensions and is likewise made of porcelain. Thus, these two reliefs form a pair. However, the portrait of Andrei Bely differs entirely in its interpretation and modeling: his profile lacks clear contours, and the sculpting manner is freely impressionistic, «unfinished,» as if the artist made a swift sketch from life. by Irina Savenko