Kuindzhi Arkhip Ivanovich

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi is a Russian landscape painter, a master of light transmission and one of the representatives of luminism. His works were distinguished by an innovative approach to depicting light and atmosphere, which made him one of the most striking landscape painters of the 19th century.

Biography

Kuindzhi was born in 1841 in Mariupol in the family of a poor Greek shoemaker. He lost his parents at an early age and was raised by his aunt and uncle. I've been working a lot since I was a kid: He tended geese, worked for a contractor, and worked for a grain merchant. He was fond of drawing — he painted on walls, fences and scraps of paper.

On the advice of a grain merchant, Kuindzhi went to the Crimea to study with Ivan Aivazovsky. However, he did not appreciate the student's talent and assigned him only auxiliary work — painting the fence and pounding paint. After returning to Mariupol, Kuindzhi worked as a retoucher in photo studios, which developed in him the accuracy and ability to separate color from shadow.

In 1865, Kuindzhi came to St. Petersburg to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts. He managed to become a free listener only on the third attempt after creating the canvas "Tatar Saklya in the Crimea". At the Academy, he met Ilya Repin, Ivan Kramskoy and other Peredvizhniki.

In 1875, Kuindzhi was accepted into the Association of Peredvizhniki, but the following year he moved away from their ideas, focusing on his own experiments with light and color.

In the 1890s, he led the landscape workshop of the Higher Art College at the Academy of Arts.

Kuindzhi was known for his charity work. He helped young artists, poor students, inventors, and just plain beggars. He gave part of the profitable apartments to novice painters for free. In 1908, together with landscape painter Konstantin Kryzhitsky, he founded the Kuindzhi Society to support artists. The artist bequeathed almost all of his property to this society.

Creation

Kuindzhi specialized in the genre of landscape painting and is considered a representative of luminism, a trend where lighting effects and lighting transmission play a key role. His works are often imbued with a deep philosophical concept reflecting the inner world of a person.

The artist experimented with painting techniques, studied physics and optics to achieve a realistic image of light and shadow. He used layering (applying translucent paints on top of each other), and also used optical techniques. Kuindzhi developed a bright color based on a system of complementary colors, which became an innovation for Russian art.

Some famous works:

"Moonlit night on the Dnieper" (1880). One of Kuindzhi's most famous paintings. For the exhibition, the canvas was shown in a dark hall with artificial electric lighting, which enhanced the effect of moonlight. The painting caused a sensation and was sold to Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.

"Birch Grove" (1879). In this work, Kuindzhi used the effect of strong lighting, which made it scandalous — the audience suspected the artist of using optical tricks.

"On the island of Valaam" (1873). The painting that started Kuindzhi's fame as a serious artist. Pavel Tretyakov bought it.

"Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane" (1901). Kuindzhi's only work on the gospel story. In it, color plays a key role in revealing the drama of a situation.

After 1882, Kuindzhi went into seclusion for twenty years — he did not participate in exhibitions and did not show his work to anyone. During this time, he created about 500 paintings and 300 graphic works. In 1901, for the first time in many years, he showed several new paintings, but after the last public exhibition in the same year, no one saw new works until his death.

Influence

Kuindzhi had a significant influence on the development of landscape painting and subsequent artistic movements. His approach to the transmission of light and atmosphere inspired such masters as Modigliani, Serov and others. Some researchers believe that Kuindzhi became one of the forerunners of symbolism. His work continues to influence artists who are looking for new ways to express emotions through nature.

Kuindzhi's students include Nikolai Roerich, Arkady Rylov, Ivan Schultze and other landscape painters.

Arkhip Kuindzhi died on July 11 (24), 1910 in St. Petersburg.