Lev Efimovich Kerbel is a renowned sculptor of Soviet realist

Socialist realism

Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...

 works. Kerbel's creations included statues of Marx, Lenin and Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

, which were sent to socialist countries across the world. Many of his works of art were destroyed in the years following the collapse of the socialist block, but his enormous Karl Marx monument in Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

, formerly "Karl Marx Stadt", has been preserved as a cultural monument.

Kerbel was born to a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Jewish family in the village of Semenovka in Chernigov Gubernia, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 (currently Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

), on the day that Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

's Winter Palace

Winter Palace

The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...

 was stormed by the Bolsheviks. Lev's family moved to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

's Smolensk

Smolensk

Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...

 region there he began sculpting as a child. He continued to sculpt and in 1934 he won an award from the Komsomol

Komsomol

The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...

 (Young Communist League) for a plaque of Lenin.

During the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Kerbel helped build the defenses for the Battle of Moscow

Battle of Moscow

The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...

, then served in the Northern Fleet, gaining renown as a military artist.

After the war, Kerbel's career took off with a wide range of commissions. In 1958 he sculpted a statue in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 that depicted a huge Soviet and an equally large Chinese worker hand in hand. When Soviet-Chinese relations

Sino-Soviet split

In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...

 foundered a few years later, the statue was torn down by a mob.

Kerbel's work is dismissed by many as simply Communist propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

, however Kerbel claims that he was always more interested in art than politics. Many people now view his few remaining statues with nostalgia, particularly in Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

, where his bust of Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

 is referred to as 'the head.'

Another example of Lev Kerbel's sculptures is the Lenin Monument in the Parque Lenin area of Havana, Cuba.

Honours and awards

• Hero of Socialist Labour (1985)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland
  Order of Merit for the Fatherland
  The Order of Merit for the Fatherland was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree. The statutes describe it as a decoration for merit, not an order of knights....
  
  , 3rd class (5 November 1997) - for services to the state and personal contribution to the development of the national fine arts
• Order of Friendship of Peoples
  Order of Friendship of Peoples
  The Order of Friendship of Peoples was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons , organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in strengthening of inter-ethnic and international friendship and cooperation, for...
  
   (6 May 1993) - for the great achievements in art, to strengthen international cultural relations and fruitful pedagogical activity
• Order of Lenin
  Order of Lenin
  The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
  
  
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
  
  
• Order of the Patriotic War
  Order of the Patriotic War
  The Order of the Patriotic War is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.- History :The Order was...
  
  , 2nd class
• Order of the Red Star
  Order of the Red Star
  Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
  
  
• Lenin Prize
  Lenin Prize
  The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
  
   (1962) - a monument to Karl Marx Square named after Sverdlov, in Moscow (1961)
• Stalin Prize, 1st class (1950) - sculptural reliefs "C. Lenin and Stalin - oskovateli and leaders of the Soviet state"
• People's Artist of USSR (1977)
• People's Artist of RSFSR (1967)
• Order of Karl Marx
  Order of Karl Marx
  The Order of Karl Marx was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic . Award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks....
  
   (East Germany)
• Goethe Prize
  Goethe Prize
  The Goethe Prize of Frankfurt-am-Main is a German literary award of high prestige named after Johann Wolfgang Goethe. It was initially an annual award, but became triennial...
  
   winner (Germany)
• Medal for the Defence of Moscow
  Medal for the Defence of Moscow
  The Medal for the Defence of Moscow was established on May 1, 1944. It was designed to commemorate the deeds of all the soldiers and civilians who had actively fought in the defence of Moscow from the Germans, in the Battle of Moscow....
  
  
• Medal "For defence of the Soviet Arctic"
• Medal "For the taking of Berlin"
• Honorary Citizen of Smolensk
  Smolensk
  Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
  
   and Polyarny
• Medal For the Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945
• 20 years of victory
• 30 years of victory
• Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "50 Years of Victory in Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "60 Years of Victory in Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."