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Secondary sourceSculpture1961-1962

Karl Marx Monument in Moscow

Lew Kerbel · 1961-1962

A color slide photograph of a Soviet monument to Karl Marx in Moscow, sculpted by Lew Kerbel in the early 1960s.

A Soviet monument honoring Marx as the founder of communist ideology, decades after his death.

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Color slide in a black mount with handwritten label reading 'Moskau, K.-Marx-Denkmal v. Lew Kerbel, 1961 voll. '62'. The photo shows a large grey stone monument of Karl Marx's bearded head and shoulders on a tall rough pedestal, with a plaza, trees, and buildings behind under a cloudy sky.
Lew Kerbel, Karl Marx Monument, Moscow, 1961-62. Media library of Art and Visual History, Humboldt University of Berlin.

About this source

What it is

This is a color photographic slide showing a large stone monument of Marx's head and shoulders on a tall rough pedestal in a Moscow plaza. The monument was made by Soviet sculptor Lew Kerbel in 1961-62. The slide has a handwritten label noting the location, artist, and date.

Why it matters

The monument reflects how the Soviet Union honored Marx as the founding thinker of communism, placing his image in a major public space in its capital. It shows the political afterlife of Marx's ideas, shaped by later governments rather than by Marx himself.

Look closer

  • Why would the Soviet Union want a monument to Marx in its capital city?
  • What impression does the size and style of the statue give about Marx's importance to the Soviet state?
  • What does this slide, as an object, tell us about how such images were shared and archived?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Karl Marx on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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