Kuindzhi biography sample

At Pavel Tretyakov's gallery the compositions of the two artists hung side by side in the same room, while the painters were also compared in terms of the number of visitors to their shows, as well as the impact made by their compositions. Petersburg holds two unique photographs featuring the great artist at an easel, surrounded by Kuindzhi and his students.

The memoirs of Arkady Rylov, another graduate of the Kuindzhi workshop, give a detailed account of that visit. On the art market of the mids to the early s, Kuindzhi's landscapes sold for surprisingly substantial sums; that was the period when the artist was exhibiting both at solo and group exhibitions, and most of his pieces were bought by Tretyakov, with the sums paid recorded in the his notes.

It is well known that Kuindzhi was a generous patron. He contributed large sums for the development of Russian art: remembering his early, difficult years in St. Petersburg, Kuindzhi helped students of the Higher School of Art who were in need. Ingrateful students asked Vladimir Beklemishev, the dean of the Academy, to place a portrait of the artist in the building's refectory.

I enclose herewith rubles and will send rubles in a day or two. Can you imagine that he showed us the academicists four new paintings, very good ones, after his year hiatus. It's simply amazing!

Kuindzhi biography sample

It turns out he has been working all this time, and quite productively. Little information about Kuindzhi's travels has survived. Records indicate that he travelled abroad on four occasions in, andvisiting France, Austro-Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, England and Belgium. Inon the invitation of the painter Nikolai Yaroshenko, he visited the Caucasus for the first time; the Caucasus trip could have taken place earlier, in the kuindzhi biography sample ofbut Kuindzhi turned down an invitation from Yaroshenko and Mendeleev to join them on a journey to Tiflis and Baku.

Kuindzhi moved in academic circles, and was a particularly close acquaintance of the chemist Dmitry Mendeleev and the physicist Fyodor Petrushevksy, both of whom were professors at St. Petersburg University. One of the academic disciplines that interested Kuindzhi was astronomy, and the astronomer Nikolai Morozov informed him about scientific discoveries in the field.

In the s and s Kuindzhi was active as a public figure, particularly involved in the cultural life of St. Kuindzhi was closely involved in the preparation of the Charter, albeit behind the scenes: he was not a permanent member of the commission, instead providing his expert opinion on certain issues. It is little known that in Kuindzhi came up with a proposal to convert the round courtyard at the Academy of Fine Arts into a permanent exhibition space for the instituti on, but his idea was criticized and rejected at a general meeting.

The reclusive life that Kuindzhi and his wife, Vera Leontievna, led has given rise to legends about the latter: she preferred to keep a low profile in her husband's mighty shadow. Who set these rules is anybody's guess. Did she herself chose a life of seclusion or was it imposed on her by her husband - nobody could tell for sure. Nobody from our company ever saw Kuindzhi's wife.

Arkhip Ivanovich never appeared in public with his wife, nor did he ever invite anyone to his home. Unlike her husband, Vera received a good education, and was a graduate of the Kushnikov Institute for Daughters of the Nobility in Kerch. Similarly well-educated, Vera's brothers made significant contributions to the development of the performing arts in Mariupol.

Her elder brother, Vasily Leontievich, was considered the founder of Mariupol's first theatre company, and from had led the town's first professional theatre. Vera's nephew, Mikhail Vasilievich, became an economist who wrote scholarly articles and delivered a series of public lectures, as well as being an actor, director and playwright. We do not know whether there was a place for theatre in Vera's life, but she was fond of playing music and encouraged her husband in the same pursuit: they used to spend their free time at home performing together, Vera at the piano, Arkhip on the violin.

Kuindzhi was about 13 years older than his wife. It had taken him some time to secure the consent of his fiancee's parents to their marriage: the main obstacle was the young man's poverty, as well as his calling, which did not bode well for future prosperity. That sum sufficed for Kuindzhi's second foreign trip, as well as his long-awaited visit to Mariupol, where the couple were married in July Shortly after that, Kuindzhi created a pencil portrait of his wife that is full of fondness and affection.

Vera settled in St. Petersburg with her husband in the same year and would witness his meteoric rise to fame there. The hopeless idealist Kuindzhi believed that the world could be made better. And for the sake of that utopian task, he spent a lot of money, time and health. In his last years, having been already seriously ill, Kuindzhi had noticeably cooled to what was commonly called human civilization.

He was often gloomy, irritated by trifles. Once unbending man, he was disillusioned. Kuindzhi thought that he had failed to change the kuindzhi biography sample. He did not like to leave things unfinished, and he did not know how to leave them like that. The defender Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in a village near Mariupol in the family of a shoemaker and tiller Ivan Khristoforovich.

His parents died when Arkhip was five - his aunt and older brother looked after the boy. He grew up a strong boy. Usually smiling and good-natured, he would become so angry if someone offended a cat, a puppy right before his eyes, or, God forbid, a bird. Even teenagers were afraid of that well-built beyond his years young boy. Young Kuindzhi was indifferent to science, but he was obsessed with painting.

Arkhip worked on the construction of the church and lived for some time in the kitchen of his employer. Of course, the walls of the kitchen were completely painted with coal. The owners did not mind and even invited the neighbors to the vernissage. The audience was also presented with ledgers and books on the acceptance of bricks, painted by young talents through the length and breadth.

Particularly successful was the portrait of the local churchwarden. Since then, all the inhabitants of the village except, of course, the churchwarden bowed to the boy, as if he was a celebrity. Rumors about the responsiveness of the master turned out to be exaggerated: he refused to teach Kuindzhi. However, Aivazovsky entrusted him to paint his fence.

With such experience, Kuindzhi had no doubt that he had only one road - to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. At home alone The Academy did not immediately open its arms to Arkhip Kuindzhi. Biography [ edit ]. Theft of works [ edit ]. Tribute [ edit ]. Gallery [ edit ]. Lake Ladoga A Birch Grove Dnieper in the Morning Moonlit Night on the Dnieper Elbrus — Red Sunset on the Dnieper See also [ edit ].

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arkhip Kuindzhi. References [ edit ]. Retrieved Novoye Vremya in Russian. March 15, Menshikov [ ru ] that I am Russian. My ancestors are Greeks, who during the time of Empress Catherine moved from the southern coast of Crimea and founded the city of Mariupol and 24 villages. My fellow countryman Elpe L.

Popov [ ru ]an employee of Novoye Vremyawhom I have known since childhood, will confirm everything I have said to the highly respected Mr. Mir iskusstva in Russian. Retrieved September 11, — via Nekrasov Central Library. Retrieved 8 May Retrieved January 27, He primarily studied painting on his own before enrolling in the Imperial Academy of Arts in St.

Petersburg in Inhe became a full member of the Academy. During his early career, Kuindzhi was influenced by the work of Ivan Aivazovsky. In the mids, he created a series of paintings that explored social themes, in line with the ideas of the Peredvizhniki, or Wanderers. Notable examples include "Forgotten Village" and "Chumak Tract"