The Sculptor at the Crossroads: Ivan Shadr’s Urals and Siberian Tour, 1918–1919

The article attempts to reconstruct an underexplored episode of the artistic biography of the famous Russian sculptor I.D. Shadr — his lecture tour, which took place in 1918–1919 in Shadrinsk, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, and Tomsk. Separate parts of this tour were previously examined in the works of art historians, historians, culturologists and local historians, but it has not yet become the subject of a special scientific study. Shadr’s lectures touched upon a wide range of issues, including development paths of world and national cultures, artistic synthesis, art and religion. The lectures were supplemented by a demonstration of architectural and sculptural design of the Monument to the World’s Suffering. The article is based on the periodical press of the Urals and Siberian cities (Zauralsky krai, Gorny krai, Sibirskaya zhizn newspapers, etc.), including sources that are little‐known or just introduced into scientific circulation. The author of the article reveals the circumstances of Shadr’s tour and content of his lectures, analyses the response of the local audience, and researches into the artistic and socio‐political context of the tour. It is shown that Shadr, not least due to the success of his lectures, acquired the status of a famous sculptor and was able to get large commissions during his stay in White Omsk. Special attention is paid to the possible influence of Shadr’s ideas and his design of the Monument to the World’s Suffering on the architecture and monumental art of the Ural‐Siberian region in the 1920s. It has been suggested that echoes of Shadr’s concept can be found in some monuments and public buildings in the Ural and Siberian cities. The presented information sheds light on the dynamic and multifaceted activity of the sculptor in the extreme conditions of the Russian Civil War, filling in a number of gaps in his biography.