Pavel Ivanovich Gusev was an honorary citizen of Nizhny Novgorod, a People’s Artist of the RSFSR, an Honored Art Worker, a sculptor, and a member of the Union of Artists. He was born in the year of the Great October Revolution into the family of a hereditary blacksmith in the village of Bornukovo, Knyagininsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. After graduating from school, he worked as an apprentice in a stone-cutting workshop for two years. A malachite craftsman Shalnov, who came from the Urals, noticed the boy’s skills and decided to help develop them.
The professionalism and talent of Pavel Gusev advanced over time. In the 1930s, Moscow became interested in the workshop, and the craftsmen were sent from there to Bornukovo. Together with the Ural specialists, they created sketches of products that were used by stone cutters.
In 1932, Gusev attended classes at the Yagubovka seven-year school, and between 1933 and 1935, he studied at the Naumovka secondary school. After graduating from the latter, the young man entered the Kalinin Moscow Art School, where he studied sculpture and drawing under the famous masters — the ceramist Boris Nikolayevich Lange and the bone carver Sergey Pavlovich Yevangulov. Pavel Gusev graduated from college in 1940.
After that, Gusev returned to his home village, to the stone-cutting artel “Bornukovskaya Cave”, where he supervised the modeling and drawing classes. But soon Gusev was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Far East, where the artist spent the whole Great Patriotic War, guarding the borders of his country.
Upon being released from the army in 1946, the future sculptor initially worked in the Gorky Association of Artists, then entered the Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, from which he later graduated with honors.
The statue of Valery Chkalov was the graduation project of the student Gusev. In 1954, after the portrait of Chkalov, created later than the sculpture, was presented at the All-Union Art Exhibition, it was acquired by the State Tretyakov Gallery.
After graduating from the institute, Gusev settled in Gorky, currently known as Nizhny Novgorod, where he worked as a sculptor in the Union of Artists. Throughout his career, Pavel Gusev created over a dozen bas-relief portraits on memorial plaques and more than 15 monuments in Nizhny Novgorod and the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
The professionalism and talent of Pavel Gusev advanced over time. In the 1930s, Moscow became interested in the workshop, and the craftsmen were sent from there to Bornukovo. Together with the Ural specialists, they created sketches of products that were used by stone cutters.
In 1932, Gusev attended classes at the Yagubovka seven-year school, and between 1933 and 1935, he studied at the Naumovka secondary school. After graduating from the latter, the young man entered the Kalinin Moscow Art School, where he studied sculpture and drawing under the famous masters — the ceramist Boris Nikolayevich Lange and the bone carver Sergey Pavlovich Yevangulov. Pavel Gusev graduated from college in 1940.
After that, Gusev returned to his home village, to the stone-cutting artel “Bornukovskaya Cave”, where he supervised the modeling and drawing classes. But soon Gusev was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Far East, where the artist spent the whole Great Patriotic War, guarding the borders of his country.
Upon being released from the army in 1946, the future sculptor initially worked in the Gorky Association of Artists, then entered the Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, from which he later graduated with honors.
The statue of Valery Chkalov was the graduation project of the student Gusev. In 1954, after the portrait of Chkalov, created later than the sculpture, was presented at the All-Union Art Exhibition, it was acquired by the State Tretyakov Gallery.
After graduating from the institute, Gusev settled in Gorky, currently known as Nizhny Novgorod, where he worked as a sculptor in the Union of Artists. Throughout his career, Pavel Gusev created over a dozen bas-relief portraits on memorial plaques and more than 15 monuments in Nizhny Novgorod and the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
