Biography

Stephen Erzia

B. 1876 Russia D. 1959 Moscow, Russia

Stepan Erzya was of Erzya Mordin origin and lived and worked both in Russia, Europe, and South America. He adopted the name Ezrya after his native ethnic group. He began his artistic career as an apprentice iconographer and joined P. A. Kovalinski’s icon-painting studio in Kazan, as well as enrolled in the Kazan Art School. He also studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture from 1902-1906 until he spent time in Italy and France where he took part in exhibitions in Venice, Milan, and Paris. He traveled prodigiously and began sculpting in a monumental manner in every locale. He is known for his extraordinary depictions of important historical figures. From 1927 until 1950, he lived and worked in Buenos Aires, where he cleverly invented a method of processing locally grown, extra-hard types of wood such as Algarrobo and Quebracho. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1950.