Zurab Tsereteli

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Zurab Tsereteli (Russian: Зураб Константинович Церетели; Georgian: ზურაბ წერეთელი; born January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi) is a Russo-Georgian painter, sculptor and architect who graduated from the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, and, despite controversy, has in recent years retained the support of the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov. He is best known for the Victory monument at the Moscow War Memorial (often referred to by unappreciative Muscovites as 'the fly on a needle'), and the statue of Peter the Great in downtown Moscow which, at 141.8 and 94 meters respectively, are the second and third tallest statues in the world.

Tsereteli was appointed professor in the Russian Academy of Arts (of which he later was elected a president) and president of the Foundation for the Children's Park of Miracles in Moscow, Russia in 1988. Later he founded the Moscow International Foundation for Support to UNESCO.

Tsereteli created a sculpture using sections of scrapped US Pershing and Soviet SS-20 nuclear missiles. The sculpture, entitled 'Good Defeats Evil' is on the grounds of the UN building in New York City. The sculpture is a 39 foot high, 40 ton monumental bronze statue of St George fighting the dragon of nuclear war. It was donated to the UN by the Soviet Union in 1990.

In 1992 he attempted to donate to the USA a statue of Christopher Columbus to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his voyage, but this was declined. Other offers of statuary by Tsereteli rejected by intended recipients in recent years include a statue of Magellan (Uruguay), the Colossus of Rhodes (Greece), Franklin D. Roosevelt (New York) and Balzac (France).^[1]

He was appointed as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador 30 March 1996.

His 94 meter bronze monument to Peter the Great was installed on the Yakimanskaya embankment of Moscow. Some of Moscow’s art critics disdainfully refer to it as “Moscow’s Godzilla.” A group of protesters who apparently attempted to blow it up were arested in 1997.

He has also been involved with other works in Moscow, including the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Manege Square ensemble and the War Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Gora. His Tear of Grief (actually titled "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism") features a 40-foot teardrop suspended in the fissure of a 106-foot bronze rectangular tower. The monument will include the names of all the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, as well as the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. It was erected at the tip of the decommissioned Military Ocean Terminal, now rechristened The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, in Bayonne, New Jersey (after nearby Jersey City first accepted, then declined, the free monument) and was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2006. The artist, Bill Clinton, Michael Chertoff, New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, and a 9/11 widow all spoke at the dedication ceremony.

A recent project is The "Art Constitution", the Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation, uniting artists of different generations. More than 100 artists participated in the project of Ivan Kolesnikov, Sergei Denisov, and Petr Vois supported by the Moscow Museum of the Modern Art, S.Art Gallery, and the Kolodzei Art Foundation [1], Inc. The project, comprised entirely of works from the last 10 years, enables the viewer to trace the evolution and view the complete spectrum of contemporary Russian art through the illustration of each of the Constitution's Articles. The Art Constitution unites living artists who began their careers during Khrushchev’s Thaw and the artists who started their careers in the post-Soviet period, all of whom now enjoy the benefit and challenge of artistic freedom in the new Russia. It is important to note the individuality of each work, and of each artist, incorporated in this project. Almost all the artistic trends and movements of the second half of the 20th century are represented. These 137 illustrations represent different aspects of the Russian art and views of the Russian life.

On 25th September 2006, a further giant statue of Peter the Great by Tsereteli was installed, after some controversy, in St. Petersburg, in front of the Pribaltiiskaya Hotel. The sculptor had originally wished it to be placed in front of the historic Manezh in the city's historic centre, but this was turned down because of risk of damage ot the building.^[2]

Tsereteli is reportedly involved with the construction of Disneyland in Russia. He has also completed a life-size statue of Vladimir Putin, not currently on display.