Misha Frid, "The Harp Player" in Bronze
Born in 1938 in Moscow, at the age of six, Misha began his artistic studies at a prestigious art school for gifted young artists. He graduated with honors from Moscow State Art College and The University of Fine Arts. The works he created in the Soviet Union were ultimately declared a National Treasure, and as such, by law these pieces could not be removed from the country. They remain to this day in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art and the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.
Misha was wildly acclaimed in Russia, but he still felt "muzzled" by Soviet style restrictions against free artistic expression. As a government sponsored artist, Misha used to accept commissions arranged for him by a central office in the Soviet capital. The government was his sole employer and provided him with a studio, sponsored his exhibitions, and assigned him work. He was told where to travel and produced the artwork he was ordered to. So in 1972, feeling that his creativity was being stifled by the Soviet system, he emigrated from Russia to North America.
In America, Misha's talent and golden hands enabled him to start his career again. Freedom brought forth beauty, and a classical romantic style emerged. Russian culture and literature continued to influence Misha's artistic perception. A love for the music of Russian composers and Russian Ballet continued to inspire him. Interestingly, he saw ballet as "sculpture in motion." In Los Angeles and New York, he worked with the renowned Art Deco exponent Erte, during Erte's last years of his life. From this connection, Misha's work continued to evolve to a point where it combined the classical forms of Rodin and the sensual Art Deco grace of Erte. Because there is so much stress around us, Misha reasons, he opts for fantasy and dreams as a counterbalance to this in his art. Sculpting in bronze, he fashions beautiful graceful figures that display balance and harmony. And often, as is the case with his famed "Music Series," many of his pieces explore the hypnotic power of music and the symbiosis of artists collaborating to create music and beauty together as one.
Misha went on to become an Honorable Fellow of the Sculptor's Society of Moscow, a fellow of the Sculptor's Society of Canada, and an Official Sculptor for the 1996 100th Anniversary of the Olympics in Atlanta. The American Sports Art Museum and Archives has three of his sculptures on permanent display. He has exhibited across the globe in such cities as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, New York and many others. His "Lady of the Lily" graces a Toronto street-scape where it was commissioned by the city as a public works display."
Size and Condition: 25 1/2 inches tall, 20 inches across at widest points, 7 inches deep at maximum depth. Perfect condition.
