Sergey Konenkov
Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov (Сергей Тимофеевич Коненков) (also Sergei Konyonkov) (; – 9 December 1971) was a Russian and Soviet sculptor. He was often called "the Russian Rodin". Early life Konenkov was born in a peasant family, in a village of Karakovichi in Smolensk province. Sergey studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, graduating in 1897, and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. His diploma work at the Academy - a huge clay statue of Samson tearing the chains - broke most existing laws of academic art and put him at odds with his teachers, who apparently destroyed the work with hammers. 1900-1922 period He travelled to Italy, France, Egypt, Greece, and Germany. During the Russian revolution of 1905 Konenkov was with the workers on the barricades, soon after creating portraits of the heroes of the rebellion in Moscow. When Konenkov visited the house of the art collector Ivan Morozov, an eye-witness account says he was very dismissive: He claimed that the works by Maurice Denis, Manet, Degas and Aristide Maillol were rubbish. Morozov replied that he just loved Konenkov, who replied that he did not care. When Morozov showed Konenkov works by Vrubel and Victor Borisov-Musatov,