Lev Kerbel. Sculptural Portrait of Yuri Gagarin, 1962

Lev Kerbel created this sculptural portrait of Yuri Gagarin in 1962, just a year after Gagarin, aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, became the first person to fly into space on 12 April 1961. According to the catalogue record, the work is made of bronze and marble: the bronze is cast and the marble carved.

Lev Kerbel (1917–2003) was a Soviet monumental sculptor, the author of more than 50 monuments and memorials in various cities. In that same year, 1962, he received the Lenin Prize for the monument to Karl Marx in Moscow. His works include numerous monuments to Lenin and the "Victory Parade" reliefs, and the Tretyakov Gallery also holds his portraits of cosmonauts.