Oleg Komov :
War Memorial On Hauptplatz in Erlauf

The group of figures with the Russian and the American officer who met in Erlauf on 8 May 1945 was a gift to the community of Erlauf from the Soviet Union. It was conceived as a memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the event in 1995, along with the piece by Jenny Holzer. Oleg Komov (1932-1994) was a member of the Soviet Academy of Fine Arts. The artist, who died while still young in 1994, received numerous official state commissions and completed portraits of leading figures in the Soviet Union. His first well-known piece, the Pushkin memorial for the banks of the Volga in Kalinin, shows him as a romantic lyricist, wholly in the tradition of classicist sculpture. His view of the human body was, then, that of the 19th century, a view which he adapted and added to, adorning it with more realistic elements. The sculpture of the group in Erlauf is in this tradition, too. It was one of his last completed works and was intended to make a contribution to the peace. The idealised combination of the two officers by the presence of the girl stands here for a timeless and sustained approach of reconciliation and of peace.
(Susanne Neuburger)