Putin bust to be presented to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This is not the first time that Alexander Chernoshchekov from St Petersburg, an animalist who retrained as a sculptor, has cast a bust of a Russian leader for the personal collection of Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He already has busts of Lenin and Stalin, and now wants a bust of Putin.
The bust has been sculpted in clay, and now will be cast in bronze. In March it will be presented to Schwarzenegger at the opening ceremony for a bodybuilding tournament. Moskovsky Komsomolets contacted the sculptor to find out the latest details.
...What did it start with?
In 1991 members of the Federation of Bodybuilding set off for Schwarzenegger's place taking along the first Chernoshchekov's sculpture, meant as a present for him. It was the 40 cm of Arnold. They planned to present it at a news conference after the tournament, but it was cancelled because Arnold was late for a meeting with voters. Vladimir Dubinin, the president of the federation, was smart enough to beckon Arnold by shaking the figure above his head. The governor never made it to the meeting that day, and spent two hours talking with the Russian athletes instead. They probably discussed sports. Maybe not. The main thing is that Schwarzenegger liked his bust so much that he decided to order the busts of the whole pantheon of Soviet leaders and their successors for his museum of sculpture and graphics in California.
Chernoshchekov immersed himself in this work, and soon Lenin and Stalin departed for the other side of the ocean. Putin is next. The first attempt to cast his bust was made by another sculptor but was not successful. Just looking at the bust pierced his conscience to the point that he decided to destroy it, a very rare occasion.
This is how a bust by Chernoshchekov, 50, prevails over other alternatives. Chernoshchekov is known for sculpting the floating full length figure of the famous conductor Temirkanov without a baton, while still alive.
"Did you use photos in sculpting Putin's likeness?" I asked.
"Sure. I needed 32 photos showing him from all sides, his ears, nose, and also a view from below. I got the pictures from my friend, a photographer, who has access to official meetings. The most difficult part was to find profile photos of the prime minister with a minimum of emotions on his face."
"So you needed 32 images of the head from the left and the right to see all details..."
"Yes, I do. Every detail is unique. I need images from all angles. First I sculpt from modeling clay, which allows me to portray more nuances than other clay. It's a very sophisticated sculpting technique. I will soon get to Medvedev. It's more difficult to sculpt him – Putin has a more expressive face."
"So Medvedev has very crisp manners?"
"Yes. I'll have to accent his peculiar facial expressions: a piercing glance, frowning... The biggest problem is that I'll have to make the bust a bit bigger than life-size, a quarter bigger. If the proportion is 1:1, the head will seem small. Also, because of the material's peculiarities, I have to distort some of the details deliberately to make the portrayal recognizable."
"Are his eyes open?"
"Of course. The biggest problem is to breathe life into bronze. My Putin is very personable, with a slight squint, and he sort of looks into the future. In March I'll take it to Columbus, meet with Schwarzenegger, make my connections..."
"Did any plainclothes men come to you to make sure this image is politically correct?"
"No, but I submitted an invitation to my studio on Putin's site. There has been no reply yet. By the way, my studio is not far from where he lived previously, on the other side of the street."
* * *
Apropos
Another ingenious master Dmitry Kolesnikov took it even further than Chernoshchekov by making Putin saltcellar busts. They are affordable and salt drops from the prime minister's eyes.
Yan Smirnitsky