Mikhail Anikushin

Sculptor, teacher. Born in the family of a floor-layer called Konstantin Anikushin in Moscow (1917). Studied under Gavriil Schultz at the Leningrad Secondary School of Art (1936–37) and under Victor Sinaisky and Alexander Matveyev at the Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad (1937–41, 1945–47). Member of the Union of Artists (1947). Taught sculpture at the Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1947–51, 1958–97). Designed the statue of Alexander Pushkin on Arts Square in Leningrad (1957). Chairman of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Artists (1962–73, 1987–89). Full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1962), People’s Artist of the USSR (1963), winner of the Ilya Repin Prize (1966). Died in St Petersburg and buried at the Volkovo Cemetery (1997). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1947), including Times of Change: Art in the Soviet Union (1960–85) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006).