Georgi Markelov

1929–2014 · Estonian sculptor (1929-2014)
Eesti Ajaloomuuseum; Eesti Kunstimuuseum; Eesti Teatri- ja Muusikamuuseum; Tartu Kunstimuuseum

trained at Estonian Academy of Arts

The sculptor Georgi Markelov (19 May 1929 – 15 January 2014) was born in Narva as the son of a construction entrepreneur and studied in 1937–1943 at Narva Primary School No. 6. Georgi Markelov's paternal home was also destroyed in wartime air raids. His father was deported to Siberia at the beginning of the Soviet occupation. After post-war studies at Väike-Maarja Secondary School, he entered the Estonian State Art Institute in 1950, graduating in 1956 in the field of sculpture. From that same year Markelov worked as a freelance artist in Tallinn; in 1959 he was accepted as a member of the Artists' Union, and in 1979 he was given the honorary title of Meritorious Artist by the government of the time. Georgi Markelov has cultivated portrait sculpture in a realistic manner, but he has also created the series "Never Again War" ["Ei iialgi enam sõda"], consisting of 14 wooden sculptures, several examples of which are held in the sculpture collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. In the 1970s–1980s he carved larger-than-life-size oak portraits of V. I. Lenin, which were mostly acquired by official institutions. In turbulent times, some of these portrait examples also ended up in museum storerooms. The older generation of artists and art enthusiasts probably recalls precisely these masterfully carved heads from the exhibitions of the Tallinn Art Hall's survey shows of that era. In 1975 the artist received the Kristjan Raud Prize for exactly one such portrait. As a masterful carver he also loved to create more lyrical small sculptures, flowers and birds, and wooden masks. In the summer of 2010 Markelov surprised both colleagues and the art public with a solo exhibition at the gallery of the House of Monumental Art on Raja Street. He presented an installation filling the entire gallery space, "Flowers for Mother" ["Lilled emale"], where the floor was covered with more than 6,000 virtuosically cut flower blossoms of various kinds made of mahogany, oak, ash, linden, etc. It was, as it were, a kind of summation of the activity and stance of one sculptor, and also of one person who had lived through various eras, regarding his place in the present day. (machine translation of the holder's Estonian text, unedited)

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Similar artists — same period, media and subjects: Juhan Paberit · Lembit Tolli · Robert Rannast · Linda Rosin · Arseni Mölder · Endel Bergmann

Also trained at Estonian Academy of Arts: Eduard Wiiralt · Evald Okas · Andrus Johani · Johann Naha · Leonhard Lapin

Contemporaries in Eesti Kunstimuuseum: Leili Muuga · Ülo Teder · Benita Vomm · Albert Eskel · Juta Eskel

By decade: 1950s · 1960s · 1970s
By medium: Sculpture
Where the works are: Art Museum of Estonia · Tartu Art Museum · Estonian History Museum · Estonian Theatre and Music Museum

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Museum records from MuIS and the EKM Digital Collection; gallery stock from the galleries' own catalogues; auction results as Haus Galerii, Vernissage, Allee galerii, Vaal galerii, E-Kunstisalong, Eesti Kunsti Oksjonid and Kunstikoda published them, and the lots Osta Noort Kunsti offered (it publishes no results). Full catalogue · Corrections, removals, questions: info@museaal.ee · Privacy