Nikolai Vasilyevich Tomsky (; , – 22 November 1984) was a much-decorated Soviet sculptor, designer of many well-known ceremonial monuments of the Socialist Realism era.
Biography
Born in the village of Staro Ramushevo in Novgorod province, into a blacksmith's family, Tomsky studied in Leningrad. In 1927, graduated from the Arts and Crafts College.
The sculptor first came to attention with his memorial to Sergey Kirov, a heroic bronze with friezes around the base, for which he won the 1941 Stalin Prize. Thereafter his career developed in an official direction; he would be eventually tasked to re-design Lenin's own sarcophagus, produce Stalin's bust at Stalin's grave, and produce at least five major statues of Lenin throughout the Soviet Union. His distinctive red-granite Lenin stood in the Leninplatz of East Berlin from 1970 to 1992.
Tomsky became a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1949, and president from 1968 to 1983), member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, the Hero of Socialist Labor (1970), five Stalin Prize laureate (1941, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952), the winner of the Lenin Prize (1972) and the USSR State Prize (1979), holder of three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Karl Marx (GDR). He taught at MGAHIS (1948-1982), as Professor and as Rector of the Academy (1964-1970).
Work
monument to Sergey Kirov, Kirovskaya Square, St. Peterburg, 1937, with architect Noi Trotsky major frieze called Defense, Labor and Rest at the House of Soviets, St. Petersburg, 1936-1941, for architect Noi Trotsky Lenin, Varshavsky Rail Terminal, St. Petersburg, 1947, removed 2001 bas-reliefs at the Novokuznetskaya Moscow metro station, 1943 Victory Bridge, Moscow, with architect Dmitry Chechulin, 1943 Stalin at the Kurskaya (Koltsevaya Line) Moscow metro station, 1950, removed 1961 monument to Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Vilnius, 1950, relocated to Voronezh in 1993 monument to Nikolai Gogol on Gogolevsky Boulevard, Moscow (replacing the controversial monument by sculptor Nikolay Andreyev), 1952 bust of Stalin at his grave, Kremlin Wall Necropolis, 1953 monument to Mikhail Lomonosov, Moscow University, 1954 monument to Pavel Nakhimov, Sevastopol, 1959 work at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Moscow), 1967 Lenin at Leninplatz, former East Berlin, 1970, removed and buried in 1992 re-designed sarcophagus at Lenin's Tomb, Moscow, 1973 equestrian statue of Field Marshal Kutuzov in the Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Moscow, 1973