Nikolai Vasilyevich Tomsky (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич То́мский; 19December [O.S. 6December] 1900–22 November 1984) was a much-decorated Soviet sculptor, designer of many well-known ceremonial monuments of the Socialist Realism era. The sculptor first came to attention with his memorial to Sergei Kirov, a heroic bronze with friezes around the base, for which he won the 1941 Stalin Prize. Thereafter his career developed in an official direction; he would be eventually tasked to re-design Lenin's own sarcophagus, produce Stalin's bust at Stalin's grave at the Moscow Kremlin Wall, and produce at least five major statues of Lenin throughout the Soviet Union. His distinctive red-granite Lenin stood in the Leninplatz of East Berlin from 1970 to 1992.
Tomsky designed sculptures of Vladimir Lenin in Sevastopol, Crimea (1923) and Mogilev, Belarus (1933) with Vasily Kozlov. He first exhibited in 1925 at the Leningrad Museum of the Revolution, during an exhibition dedicated to his memory. In the 1920s and 1930s, he participated in the restoration of monumental and decorative sculpture in Leningrad, studying the traditions of the 19th-century Russian school of sculpture, which influenced his artistic style, combining the individual and the typical, a characteristic gesture with carefully modeled forms, finishing, and the creation of images imbued with pathos and heroic fervor. At this time, the artist was working on a monument to Sergeyi Kirov (in 1935, an all-Union competition for monument designs on Kirov Square near the Kirov District Council[ru] in Leningrad was announced; the winning entry was by sculptor Tomsky and architect Noi Trotsky). The monument was unveiled on December 6, 1938. The pedestal bears bas-reliefs dedicated to the themes of the civil war and labor. (Bronze and granite. This work was awarded the USSR Stalin Prize—the sculptor's first state award). In 1937, the sculptor created the statue of Aleksandr Busygin[ru] (plaster).
After the war, the sculptor worked in Moscow. In the late 1940s, he sculpted and cast in bronze, and carved in stone, a number of portraits and full-length figures. The portrait gallery created by the sculptor during this time includes military leaders and heroes of the Great Patriotic War: Ivan Chernyakhovsky (marble, 1947); Musa Gareyev (basalt, 1947),Pyotr Pokryshev (marble, 1948), Aleksey Smirnov (marble, 1948) — all in the State Tretyakov Gallery; Ivan Kozhedub (sketch, bronze, 1948; Russian Museum, Leningrad; A bust was also installed in the village park of Obrazhiyevka village, Shostka Raion; architect Lev Golubovsky[ru]; bronze, marble. 1949). Monument to Iosif Apanasenko (Belgorod; bronze, 1944-49). The sculptor was awarded several State Prizes for his portrait series, the monument to Apanasenko, and monumental reliefs on historical and revolutionary themes (with co-authors; plaster, 1949), as well as the portrait of Kirov (marble, 1949; Tretyakov Gallery).
He led teams of sculptors who created monumental figures for the Seven Sisters in Moscow and worked on the design of the Moscow Metro. His collaborators in these groups included Mikhail Baburin[ru], Pavel Bondarenko, N. I. Rudko, Mikhail Smirnov[ru], Robert Taurit[ru], Andrei Faidysh-Krandievsky[ru], Dmitry Schwartz[ru], Gavriil Schultz[ru], and others. Since the mid-1950s, the sculptor's portraits have deepened the individual characterization of the sitter, and his sculpting style has become more fluid; the imagery acquires a meaningful and expressive psychological structure. The sculptor's nude works are distinguished by lyricism and a keen understanding of nature. He drew portraits of politicians, scientists, and cultural figures, created from sketches or during his foreign travels, when the sculptor remained creatively active. These include portraits of Józef Lyaskovsky, the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1956-1957), the Polish revolutionary W. Shopski (1957), the Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov (1957), the President of the GDRWilhelm Pieck (1956), and General E. P. Petit (1957). The sculptor's female portraits are also meaningful, revealing the character of their models—a consonance between harmonious appearance and charm, inner beauty (Female Portrait, 1964).
Tomsky became a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1949, and president from 1968 to 1983), member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, the Hero of Socialist Labor (1970), five Stalin Prize laureate (1941, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952), the winner of the Lenin Prize (1972) and the USSR State Prize (1979), holder of three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Karl Marx (GDR). He taught at MGAHIS (1948–1982), as Professor and as Rector of the Academy (1964–1970).
12Sopotsinsky, Oleg, ed. (1977). Art in the Soviet Union: Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Arts. Leningrad: Aurora Art Publishers. p.483. He cooperated with the sculptor V. Kozlov in designing the monuments to Lenin in Sevastopol (1923) and in Mogiliov (1933).
12Популярная художественная энциклопедия. М.: Советская энциклопедия. 1986
↑Страницы памяти. Справочно-мемориальный сборник — 1941—1945: художники Ленинградского Союза Художников, погибшие в годы Великой Отечественной войны и в блокаду Ленинграда / Комитет по культуре мэрии СПб, СПб СХ, Центральный выставочный зал. — СПб., 2010. ISBN 978-5-9676-0265-8
