Stepan Erzia

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Stepan Dmitrievich Erzia (Nefyodov) (Russian: Степа́н Дми́триевич Э́рьзя (Нефёдов); 1876-1959) was a Mordvin sculptor who lived in Russia and Argentina. Erzia choose his pseudonym after the native ethnic group, the Erzya Mordvins.

He was born October 27, 1876 in the village Bayevo, Alatyrsky Uyezd, Simbirsk Governorate of Russian Empire. In 1892 his family moved to Alatyr, Stepan became an apprentice of various icon-painting studios. In 1893-1897 he lived in Kazan, previously at the joiner's shop, later he worked at P. A. Kovalinski's icon-painting studio in Kazan. That time Stepan decorated churches in the various cities and villages of the Volga area and attended Kazan Art School.^[1]

In 1902-1906 he studied at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, participating in the exhibitions of the School's students. In 1906-1914 he lived in Italy and France. He took part in the exhibitions in Venice and Milan in 1909, in Paris in 1912.

Stepan Erzia Moses

In 1914 he returned to Russia and in 1918 he moved to Yekaterinburg where he created his monumental works of art. In 1921 he moved to Novorossiysk, then to Batumi. Living there, he created portraits of Lenin, Marx and Engels, many cultural workers of Georgia. In 1923 he lived in Baku, where he created in monumental genre.

In 1926 the Soviet government took a decision to send Stepan Erzia abroad "to spread the knowledge of the Soviet art". He came to Paris again. Again his one-man shows were sponsored followed by positive response in the Western press. ^[2]

In 1927-1950 he worked in Buenos Aires, creating there portraits of Lenin, Moses, Leo Tolstoy, Beethoven.

There Erzia, a representative of a minor and browbeaten nation, developed a project of transforming entire mountains in the Andes into monuments to the heroes of the war for independence. The local authorities approved his plan, but failed to finance its implementation. ^[3]

While in Argentina, Erzia invented a method of processing some locally grown, extra-hard types of wood: algarrobo and quebracho.

In 1950 he returned to Soviet Union. In 1957 he was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Stepan Erzya died in 1959 in Moscow and was buried in Saransk, the capital of Mordovia.^[4]

Stepan Erzia Leda

On 26 June 1958 Mordovian Erzya Museum of Visual Arts (Russian: Мордовский республиканский музей изобразительных искусств им. С.Д.Эрьзи) was openned in the Mordovian capital Saransk. The museum has the most complete collection of Erzia works (204 works) ^[5]

[edit] Major works

Horror, Despair, Courage, A Chilean Lady, A Parisian Lady in a Hat, Head of a Mordvin Woman, Lev Tolstoy, Beethoven, Moses and Christ.