Gleb W. Derujinsky

Gleb W. Derujinsky (August 13, 1888 – March 9, 1975) was a Russian-American sculptor.

Born in Smolensk, Russia, he was related to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov on his father's side and the painter Mikhail Vrubel on his mother's. He completed his law degree at the University of Petrograd to meet his father's expectations, but devoted his entire life to sculpture.

His artistic studies began in the years 1906 — 1911 at the Drawing School at the Society for Encouragement of Arts in St.Petersburg, his teacher being sculptor I.I.Andreoletti, the talented pedagogue and professor at the Academy of Arts. Having finally decided in favour of the art as his life-work, Derujinsky moved to Paris in 1912, where he continued his studies at the Académie Colarossi and at the Académie Julian, where he was befriended by Rodin.

He returned to Saint Petersburg in 1913 and continued his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Sculpture department, where he received seven first prizes, the first to receive this distinction and was nominated for the Prix de Rome. He participated in the Academy exhibitions and those organized by the Society for the traveling art exhibitions (Peredvizhniki), and others. In 1918 he graduated from the Academy and emigrated to the United States in 1919.

His original sculptures in plaster done from life include Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Lillian Gish, Lady Diana Cooper, Rabindranath Tagore, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy José R. Capablanca and many others.

Derujinsky's works are in the permanent collections of major museums in this country and Europe as well as many churches and public buildings.

In 1926, he designed and patented the "Rearing Lion" hood ornament for the Franklin Automobile.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License