Opekushin, Aleksandr Mikhailovich

Born Nov. 16 (28), 1838, in the village of Svechkino, in what is now Yaroslavl Oblast; died Mar. 4, 1923, in the village of Rybnitsa, in what is now Yaroslavl Oblast. Russian sculptor.

The son of a serf, Opekushin studied at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Promotion of Arts and in the sculptural studio of D. I. Iensen in St. Petersburg. He became a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1895. One of the sculptors who worked on the monument Russia’s Millennium, which was designed by M. O. Mikeshin and unveiled in Novgorod in 1862, he also worked on the monument To Catherine II, which was unveiled in St. Petersburg in 1873. His most important work is his monument To A. S. Pushkin, done in an elated manner and, at the same time, distinguished by an authentic portrayal of the character; unveiled in Moscow in 1880 (bronze and granite). He also created the monuments To A. S. Pushkin in St. Petersburg (unveiled 1884), To K. M. Baer in Tartu (unveiled 1886), and To M. Iu. Lermontov in Piatigorsk (unveiled 1889); all three monuments are done in bronze and granite.