No. 1, 2008

Oil of Russia talks to Academician Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Academy of Arts

Q: The celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Arts, held in 2007, received broad publicity both in Russia and abroad. What is your assessment of the progress made by your Academy?

A: It should be stressed first of all that the Russian Academy of Arts gained a second wind in its jubilee year. Anxious about the future of Russian artistic culture, it strives to preserve and enrich the educational principles of the Russian artistic school and bring together everything which is the most talented and significant in Russian art.

Much of what was lost after the

collapse of the USSR is being

consistently restored, new creative plans are being realized, and a new concept of art education is being implemented to ensure the competitiveness of Russian art and its teaching system.

The regional branches of the Russian Academy of Arts in the Urals, Siberia, the Russia’s Far East and the Volga Area are working actively. The Academy management spare no effort to help Russian artists acquaint themselves with famous works by Western masters and visit world cultural centers.

Q: The Russian Academy of Arts and you personally focus increasingly on developing Russian artistic education. What was done in this sphere last year?

A: The Academy focused on organizing and improving the system of art education. The Academy has initiated the establishment of provincial art schools and colleges complete with their own museums. Our graduates work there as instructors. New art schools in various regions of Russia are being opened under the auspices of our Academy of Arts. In the first place, the very conditions in which art students were studying had to be changed. As transpired during the first inspections, the Surikov Institute – a famous Moscow art education institution, the successor of the renowned Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture – had been dragging a rather miserable existence for quite a long time: an old building with dark and dirty interiors, with parquet flooring in the studios and corridors bulging in some places and chipped in others, a squalid dormitory where hot water supply was lacking on half the floors, and so on and so forth. Things were no better at another, equally prestigious art education institution, the Repin Institute in St. Petersburg. This architectural monument on Universitetskaya Embankment, which housed the Imperial Academy of Arts at one time, had not been repaired for the last 80 years. Within just a few years, we were able to transform the gloomy reality and thus show that a lot can be done if you start doing something. In 2003, the students and teachers of the Surikov Institute began classes in a completely overhauled building with new large windows and interiors renovated beyond recognition. Repairs at the student dormitory were completed even earlier. Today, the project for reconstruction of the Institute provides for covering its courtyard with a glass roof, which will add another 200 m² for students to take classes. Recently, clergymen from the Moscow Patriarchate consecrated the foundation stone laid for a chapel dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Sts. Florus and Laurus, Stonecutters, which is to be put up in front of the institute building.

Within the framework of preparations for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the historical seat of the Academy of Arts, the vast architectural complex of the Repin Institute underwent substantial improvements as well. A total of 45,000 m² of building facades and 25,000 m² of roof area have been renovated and the interiors of the entrance hall, the grand enfilade, the Catherine, Titian and Raphael Halls, and the round Conference Hall, the Academy’s main formal room, have been restored. The Foundry Yard center in St. Petersburg, which is part of the Academy, was rehabilitated to offer the students an opportunity to master new technologies and embed their ideas in material. This is only a small fraction of the great amount of work being done by the Academy to develop art education in Russia.

Q: Your sculptures and paintings are on display in many countries of the world, and many of your works presented to quite a number of states have become an integral part of world culture. What, then, is the impetus behind your continued interest in various international cultural and social projects?

A: I have been honored to be a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, an Associate of the French Academy of Fine Arts (Paris) and the Spanish San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Madrid), a Professor of Brockport University of Fine Arts (Brockport, New York), a Full Member of the Academy of Arts of Kyrgyzstan, and a Full Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Georgia. My personal exhibitions are held in various parts of the world. My sculptural composition The Good Defeats the Evil has been installed in front of the UN Headquarters in New York City and my monuments Happiness to Children of the World and Science and Education to the World, in Brockport, New York. In 1995, a monumental composition devoted to Christopher Columbus was installed in Seville, Spain, and a monument to the great Russian writer Nikolay Gogol was put up in Rome. In addition, a bronze statue of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker was made for the city of Bari, Italy.

I have listed all of this not to demonstrate my successes and recognition once again but to show that a Russian artist may be appreciated by and interesting to a foreign audience. I can explain the interest in my creative work quite simply: the language of true art does not need translating.

At present, I am continuing my work on a large-scale project dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust – a monumental sculptural work which, hopefully, will be installed in the city of Denver in the United States, if I win an international competition.

Q: You are well known as a public figure and young talents supporter. What, in your view, is the government doing to support culture in Russia? What is the role of art sponsorship in this area?

A: Today, as never before, a Russian artist can work freely. The person’s creativity is not restricted by ideological shackles. And the authorities do not impede the free development of one’s abilities. Moreover, government support for cultural workers has of late been growing. One should be aware, however, that the government cannot afford full maintenance of every

talented individual. We ourselves are making some headway in this direction, actively and fruitfully working along these lines.

On November 25, 2007, I was reelected to the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. It includes quite a few prominent figures of culture and art, business people, political scientists, journalists, and members of national diasporas. The Chamber is to ensure interaction between the citizens of Russia and central and local governments and to exercise public control over the activity of government agencies. Its decisions are of a recommendatory nature. I can say that the members of the Public Chamber are making a substantial contribution to supporting culture and art workers, their organizations and creative associations.

Yet, the funds allocated by the government for culture are still not enough for everyone, and therefore art sponsorship has recently been stepped up in Russia, which is a revival of the country’s finest traditions. I believe that now the ball is in the court of talented artists and sculptors who are to prove their talents and win grants provided both by the government and by major Russian companies.

Q: Your active stand on the establishment of the Russian National Foundation for the Nobel Family Heritage is well known. What do you see as its mission in Russia?

A: It is gratifying that the Russian National Foundation for the Nobel Family Heritage and its chairman, RAS member Yevgeny Velikhov, are trying to revive the Nobel traditions and principles of civilized, constructive and socially oriented business practices, increase the competitiveness of Russian products in domestic and foreign markets, promote science and culture, and enhance Russia’s international prestige. An important aspect of the Nobel Foundation’s activity is, in my opinion, reconstruction of the actual history of the Russian oil and gas industry as an integral part of the past of our Motherland. In the present situation, where, to much regret, historical events are sometimes misrepresented, I regard the Nobel Foundation’s activity not only as timely but also as essential both for the workers of the oil and gas complex and for all the enthusiasts of Russian history. For my part, I am ready to provide every support for this good initiative.

Q: You are the author of several sculptures presented to LUKOIL. How do you evaluate the Company’s activity at the current stage of Russia’s development?

A: I set great store by LUKOIL whose many-thousand-strong team has for years been working for the good of Russia. I am sure that the Company’s successes are directly associated with the efforts of its gifted president, Vagit Alekperov. I am particularly pleased to have left a trace in LUKOIL’s history with my creative works. The monument Chronicle of Russia in the town of Kogalym is my modest gift to the oil industry workers of Western Siberia for the 10th anniversary of LUKOIL. I do hope that together with my other sculpture, A Drop of Life, it has become an organic part of Kogalym’s townscape. As for my further collaboration with the Company, I have a number of interesting creative ideas, which I hope to put into life in the future.