Unforgotten Names. Mikhail Belashov and Georgy Kranz
Authors: Dobrolyubov Peter V. 
Published: December 2022

The article “Unforgotten Names. Mikhail Belashov and Georgy Kranz” is the first in the cycle “VKHUTEIN, VKHUTEMAS. Sculptors. Teachers and Students”, dedicated to the unique creative and educational project, VKHUTEMAS - VKHUTEIN, which laid the foundation and within the framework of which a galaxy of outstanding Russian sculptors, who brought fame to our Fatherland in the fine arts immediately after the end of the Civil War in the country, was prepared. The author analyzes the work of outstanding sculptors. These masters of plastic art had a profound positive impact on the development of Russian and Soviet sculpture both through their creativity and their purposeful teaching activities. A start was made by some sculptors who were then students still studying at the Russe Studio in Paris in 1909. The VKHUTEMAS and VKHUTEIN sculptors-teachers’ pedagogical range was measured by the highest level of knowledge, teaching methods, laid down by the Russian Imperial Academy by taking into account relevant at that time new trends in art, sometimes extremely radical. Fortunately, this basic, main fundamental practice of studying sculptural craft was not interrupted but only improved. The invisible connection of generations of sculptural craft masters did not dissapear completely; it moved forward. The students who studied with the VKHUTEMAS and VKHUTEIN artist-teacher developed the methodology with their followers and students; in their own creative search, they addressed their teacher for advice in moments of artistic searches and doubts. The author of the article points out that such bright teachers-sculptors were the founders of the Russian, Soviet school of sculpture. They were masters and teachers of a whole galaxy of remarkable Russian sculptors who, by their example, their method and creativity, made a huge impact on the development of modern Russian plastic art not only in the USSR but throughout the world. They were organizers and ideological inspirers, active participants in many creative associations of the first third of the 20th century. The author notes that the works of sculptors-teachers and their talented students give us the opportunity to get an idea of their views, worldview, attitude to the creative process and, in general, to the profession of an artist-sculptor. This article presents the dialogues with teachers preserved in the notes and memoirs of students, their statements, which the Author believes is of exceptional relevance not only to the tasks of teaching in the field of sculptural craft, but also to the formation of the worldview of master sculptors and the concept of the school. The author analyzes and convincingly proves by concrete examples that the school of Vkhutein and Vkhutemas is a logically competently built pedagogical system based on the experience and skill of previous generations of artists, going from antiquity and Byzantium and related to classicism to Western European aesthetics and traditions and foundations of the Russian plastic school, its basic foundations and principles, ascending to the geniuses of the Quatrechento era. In this work, the author highlights the creative and pedagogical activities of these teachers and students of I.Efimov, S.Bulakovskiy, B.Korolev, V.Favorskiy, I.Tchaikov, V.Mukhina, N.Nisse-Goldman, M.Aisenstadt, N.Slobodinskaya, D.Schwartz, M.Belashov, A.Zelenskiy, E.Herzenstein, A.Grigoriev, G.Krantz, E.Belashova, I.Slonim, L.Pisarevskiy, A.Arendt, E.Abalakov. The author analyzes the learning processes of teachers-sculptors, names the main dates of their work, reveals the details of sculptural craft, talks about the variety of moves in plastic methods and principles of work in sculpture, shows the attitude of students to their teachers, and highlights the whole course of historical milestones in the creative biography of the sculptor. Today, the article is dedicated to two remarkable sculptors, classmates, peers, sculptors Mikhail Belashov and Georgy Krantz who went missing in the war.