Lev Kerbel(1917-2003)

Lev Kerbel is a renowned Soviet sculptor. Was born to a Russian Jewish family in the village of Semenovka in Chernigov Gubernia, Russian Republic (currently Ukraine), on the day that Winter Palace in Petrograd was stormed by the Bolsheviks. Lev Kerbel began sculpting as a child, at the age of 5. Once he did a small portrait of Lenin and won an award. During the World War II, Kerbel helped build the defenses for the Battle of Moscow, then served in the Northern Fleet, gaining renown as a military artist. After the war, Kerbel's career took off with a wide range of commissions. In 1950-1970s Kerbel sculpted lots of portraits of outstanding Soviet and foreign people: Yury Gagarin, writer Boris Lavrenyov and violinist David Oistrakh, Canadian clergyman James Gareth Endicott, Giacomo Manzù (sculptor) and Pietro Orgento (orchestra conductor) from Italy and many others. Another example of Lev Kerbel's sculptures is the Lenin Monument in the Parque Lenin area of Havana, Cuba. His bust of Karl Marx in Chemnitz is loved by people and referred to as 'The Head.' Among the monuments on the graves of the Soviet soldiers carefully preserved in Germany the sculptures in Berlin, and on Seelow Heights were carved by Lev Kerbel. One of the last works of Kerbel was the Memorial to the crew of the "Kursk" submarine, opened in Moscow on August 12, 2002. Kerbel's works in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow include The Labor Reserves (bronze, 1947), the reliefs The Victory Parade and Listening to Lenin (plaster of paris, 1948-49; State Prize of the USSR, 1950), and the portraits V. S. Petrov-Twice a Hero of the Soviet Union (marble, 1951), K. S. Mukhtarova-Hero of Socialist Labor (marble, 1954), and J. Endicott (bronze, 1957). Lev Kerbel has multiple awards.