Ludmila Tcherina was born Monique Tchemerzine in Paris in 1924. The daughter of exiled Circassian Prince Avenir Tchemerzine — ‘Monika’, as she called herself — started Russian dance classes under Olga Preobrajenska, Italian dance classes under Mme d’Alessandri and mime classes under Tverskoi, all at the age of three. She received her formal training at the Paris Opera Dance School.
After World War II, she took an interest in art and practised as a freelance artist as part of numerous productions: Roland Petit’s Ballets de Paris (1947), the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1950) and operetta La Chevalier Bayard (1948).
She exhibited her work for the first time in 1960. As a dancer, celebrated actress, novelist (L’Amour au Miroir, published in 1983 and La Femme upside down, published in1986) and artist, she combined all her talents in a personal incarnation of total art. Exhibition and performance naturally played an important role in her artistic expression, as illustrated by her shows in Paris at the Hôtel de Sully and the Centre Georges Pompidou, centred around her Dynamogramme.
In the 1970s, she began to experiment with sculpture, mainly in bronze, creating figures that capture the elegance of a ballet dancer. In 1991, Tcherina designed and produced Europe à cœur, a monumental sculpture 12 metres high, which was officially chosen by the European community to symbolise a united Europe. The work was placed under the sponsorship of the Fondation de l’Europe des sciences et des cultures. It was unveiled at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in March 1992. A white resin version was installed in front of the European pavilion at the Seville Expo in 1992, and a bronze version was installed in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in the spring of 1994. This sculpture was later moved to the forecourt of the new Parliament building, Place Louise-Weiss, where it was officially unveiled on December 13 2000 by Nicole Fontaine, President of the European Parliament. In 1997, a commemorative medal showing an image of the sculpture Europe à cœur was created by the Fondation de l’Europe des sciences et des cultures.
Tcherina was invested in European affairs, and in 1994 she designed and produced Europa operanda, a monumental bronze sculpture for the French Eurotunnel terminal in Calais, with the sponsorship of the Fondation de l’Europe des sciences et des cultures. This sculpture was officially presented to the Queen of England and the President of the French Republic during the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel in Calais-Coquelle on 6 May 1994. The resin prototype of the sculpture has been on display in the upper level of the Gare du Nord in Paris since June 1995.
Tcherina received numerous awards throughout her career, including, most notably: Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, awarded by André Malraux, Minister of Cultural Affairs, in 1962; Knight of the Legion of Honour, awarded by Edmond Michelet, Minister of Cultural Affairs, in 1970; Knight of the Order of Academic Palms, awarded by Christian Beullac, Minister of National Education, in 1979; and Officer of the Legion of Honour, awarded by Jean-Philippe Lecat, Minister of Culture, in 1980.
Tcherina passed away in 2004.
