Alexander Matveyev

"Alexander Matveev (1878-1960) was one of the leading Russian sculptors of his generation"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Matveyev

"Matveyev, Alexander (1878–1960). Russian sculptor. He was born in Saratov and had his main training at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, 1899–1902. One of his teachers there was Trubetskoy, whose impressionistic handling influenced his early work. Matveyev was also influenced by Art Nouveau (he was a member of the World of Art group) and by Symbolism (he took part in the Blue Rose exhibitions). He was a friend of the Symbolist painter Borisov-Musatov (a fellow native of Saratov) and one of his most famous works is Borisov-Musatov's funerary memorial (1910–12) at Tarusa, near Moscow. Beautifully carved in granite, it captures the delicate, melancholy spirit of the painter's work, showing ‘the figure of a boy … sunk in a dream … The theme of luminous calm is in accord with the substance and meaning of the monument and also with the general character of Borisov-Musatov's work’ ( Dmitri Sarabianov, Russian Art, 1990). After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Matveyev's style became more heroic, in line with the ideals of Socialist Realism, but he always retained independence of spirit, resisting the empty rhetoric that characterized so much Soviet art in Stalin's time; in 1949 he was officially censured for the deadly sin of formalism. An exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth was held in the Russian Museum, Leningrad, in 1978."

IAN CHILVERS. "Matveyev, Alexander." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (February 14, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-MatveyevAlexander.html