Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (1840 - 1902)

Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky

Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (Russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский) was a 19th century Russian sculptor and writer. He is known as a representative of the realistic style and as the first sculptor of Jewish origin to gain international fame.

Mark Antokolsky devoted most of his career to the depiction in marble, plaster and bronze of the real characters of Russian history and achieved wide recognition already at a young age. His works were highly appreciated not only in Russia but also abroad and the artist was elected a member of many European academies of arts.

Mark Antokolsky was also a very successful writer. He often wrote publicistic articles on the development of the visual arts, and shortly before his death he published a novel describing real-life events in the life of the Jews in the Russian Empire.

Although from the early 1870s Mark Antokolsky spent most of his time living in France, he never lost touch with Russia - he constantly carried out orders for the royal family and the Russian Academy of Arts, wrote articles for Russian magazines, and regularly held solo exhibitions of his works in St. Petersburg.