Sculptor, President of the International Foundation for Slavic Literature and Culture, State Prize of the USSR (1982), People’s Artist of the Russian Federation (1999) Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov was born on October 19, 1939 in the village of Marmyzhi , Kursk region, in a simple peasant family.
RIA Novosti/Yuriy Cover
Vyacheslav Klykov while working on the Zhukov monument. 1994
Since childhood, the young man discovered a desire for drawing, but he did not yet realize that he would connect his entire life with art. After graduating from high school, Klykov entered the Kursk Assembly (Construction) School, graduated in 1959 and got a job at a plant. Admittedly, this did not last long. A year later, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich entered the Kursk State Pedagogical Institute in artistic and graphic direction. And two years later, he submitted documents to the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after VI Surikov (MGAHI) to the Faculty of Sculpture. Here the future popular artist studied until 1968 and graduated as a monumental sculptor.
Unlike many university graduates, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich longed to work in his profession. He already understood that this was his vocation and, to gain professional experience, he participated in various exhibitions on an urban, all-Union, republican and international scale. Since 1969 he became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Klykov’s works were exhibited in both the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum.
But the sculptor gained real fame after designing the N. Sats Children’s Musical Theater in Moscow, on Vernadsky Avenue, in 1978-79. For the theater, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich created: the sculpture “The Trumpeter Boy”, the pool “Reeds” and the fountains “Four Muses”, “Running on the Waves”, “The Birth of Music”, as well as the famous emblem of the theater – “Blue Bird”.
His second famous work was the sculpture of the god of commerce Mercury at the World Trade Center, installed in Moscow in 1982. The monument depicts a nearly two-meter bronze figure of a god running towards the Moscow River. The statue is situated on a 12-meter tall column and rests on a single point: the foot of the ancient Roman deity. In his hand, Mercury holds a caduceus – a special rod of reconciliation, which, according to legend, is a symbol of the key to secret knowledge.
Klykov also worked on the monument to Konstantin Batyushkov. The bronze monument was erected in 1987 on the occasion of the bicentenary of the poet’s birth on the Kremlin Square in Vologda, next to the Alexander Nevsky Church, on the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. For this sculpture, Vyacheslav Klykov received the State Prize named after IE Repina.
In the second half of the 1980s, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich addressed the patriotic-Orthodox theme. A great event was the creation of a monument to Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Later, the sculptor admitted that to create this composition he was inspired by a painting by the artist Mikhail Nesterov entitled “Vision to Young Bartholomew” (1889-1890), Nesterov’s most important work from the cycle dedicated to the abbot of the Russian Church. , the wonderworker Sergius of Radonezh. The monument was finally inaugurated in May 1988 in the village of Gorodok (old name, Radonezhye), next to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The International Public Foundation for Slavic Literature and Culture was officially registered in 1989, and since 1990, Vyacheslav Klykov became the permanent director of this foundation. The main goals of the organization were: to introduce Slavic peoples to spiritual life, to strengthen cooperation between Slavic peoples and to revive Slavic family and community customs of folk life. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich performed all tasks related to the foundation’s activities with pride and a sense of true patriotism. And all his subsequent work was aimed at glorifying the history, culture, customs and traditions of Russian Orthodoxy. Vyacheslav Klykov’s sculptures and monuments were more than just works of monumental art. They always had a certain civic orientation and had an educational function.
Klykov working on the monument to the writer Ivan Bunin. 1994 Photo: RIA Novosti/Yuri Kaver
In the fall of 1996, the sculptor became the leader of the All-Russian Council Movement. At the same time, he also served on the editorial board of the newspaper Den and was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Derzhava.
Vyacheslav Klykov considered the work of popularizing the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture, a holiday celebrated annually on May 24, a day in memory of the creators of Slavic writing, the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, equal to the apostles, was fundamentally important. In one of the interviews, the sculptor noted: “Enormous potential is accumulating that, sooner or later, will make a qualitative leap in Russian and Slavic consciousness. Perhaps we do not yet see bright external manifestations of this, but we only see defeats. both in the Slavic and Russian worlds, but these forces are latently accumulating and this, I believe, is the great merit of the movement for promoting this holiday.” All efforts were not in vain, because today this day has become a holiday.
Therefore, it is quite logical that the sculptor’s hand also belongs to the monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius, erected on May 24, 1992, not far from Slavyanskaya Square in the center of Moscow.
One of the iconic monuments created by Klykov was the bell tower on the Prokhorovsky field, erected in memory of the tank battle on the Kursk Bulge and inaugurated in 1995, on the day of the 50th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. At the Prokhorovsky camp, the Victory Complex was created as Russia’s third military camp, in the image and likeness of the Kulikov and Borodino camps. And the main monument of the memorial complex was the 59-meter bell tower, a white marble structure, inside which there is an alarm bell weighing 3.5 tons. It rings three times an hour: the first bell is dedicated to the heroes of the Kulikovo battle, the second in honor of the soldiers of the Borodino field, and the third in memory of the victory in the Prokhorov battle.
In the workshop of the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov. 2004 Photo: ITAR-TASS/Viktor Velikzhanin
Klykov’s sculptural heritage is truly impressive. He became the author of numerous monuments throughout Russia. Among them: monuments to Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov near the building of the Historical Museum in Moscow, to Emperor Peter I in Lipetsk, to Emperor Nicholas II in the village of Taininskoye in the Moscow Region, to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia The empire of Pyotr Stolypin in Saratov, Prince Vladimir in Saratov, Prince Dmitry Donskoy in Dzerzhinsk, near Moscow, and even one of the main heroes of the ancient Russian epic, Ilya Muromets, in Murom.
The last work of the sculptor was a monument to the elderly Archimandrite Hippolytus of All Russia, whom Klykov knew personally. The monument was erected in 2005 on the territory of the Maryino sanatorium, the former estate of the Baryatinsky princes in the Rylsky district of the Kursk region.
Klykov reverently loved Russia, our history and culture and was never afraid to call himself “Russian.” This is the key to understanding his work.
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov died on June 2, 2006 in Moscow. The sculptor was buried in his native village of Marmyzhi.
