15.08.1861 — 21.12.1919

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Beklemishev is a Russian sculptor from the Beklemishev family, rector of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

V.A. Beklemishev received his primary art education in Kharkov, where he visited the studio of the artist E. Shreider and studied at the Drawing School of M.D. Rayevskaya-Ivanova. In 1878, Beklemishev became an auditor, and a year later a student of the sculpture department of the Petersburg Academy of Arts, after which he received the title of a class artist of the 1st degree and the right to overseas retirement.
In 1888, after visiting Paris, Vladimir Alexandrovich settled in Rome, where he worked until 1891. Returning to his homeland, the author showed Italian works at an exhibition in 1892 and was awarded the title of academician for them. The small bronze statue “How good, how fresh the roses were” (1892), made based on the poem in IS Turgenev’s prose, attracted universal attention. Literary narrative with a touch of sentimentalism was a characteristic trend in the fine arts of those years. The work of the sculptor created in the same vein was repeatedly repeated in various materials

In 1894, V.A. Beklemishev becomes professor-head of the sculptural studio of the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts. Active pedagogical activity during all subsequent years was an important part of his life.

VA Beklemishev served in the Academy until the autumn of 1918, leaving the institution for illness. Unlike his students, he did not take part in the “Leninist plan of monumental propaganda”, which greatly affected his financial situation. In the autumn of 1919, the sculptor was arrested by the Bolsheviks on charges of involvement in the Cadet Party. He was released completely sick by the efforts of the students and the intervention of M. Gorky. He left for Novorzhev in the Pskov region, where he died on December 21, 1919. His grave was lost. According to some reports, a few years later, one of the daughters transported his father’s ashes to Petrograd, but until now no evidence of this information has been found.

In the museums of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia, many works of the sculptor are kept.