Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi
(1842-1910)
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi, Russian landscape painter, was born on January 27, 1842(?) in Mariupol. He spent his youth in the city of Taganrog. He grew up in a poor family, and his father was a Greek shoemaker Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi. Arkhip was six years old when his parents died and he became an ophan. From 1855 Kuindzhi lived in Feodosiya and studied painting under A. Fessler. In 1868 he became a full-time artist. Then Kuindzhi left Taganrog for Saint Petersburg. He studied painting mainly independently and in St. Petersburg Academy of arts (from 1868; the full member since 1893). In 1872 the artist left the academy and worked as a freelancer. In 1870 Kuindzhi visited Valaam for the first time. The painting “On the Valaam Island” was the first artwork, which Pavel Tretyakov bought for his art gallery. In 1873 Kuindzhi travelled abroad (Germany, England and France). In 1873, the artist exhibited his painting The Snow, which received the bronze medal at the International Art Exhibition in London in 1874. In 1875 Kuindzhi went abroad. In the same year the artist became the member of the Itinerant Society. But in 1880 he left the Society. “Moonlight on the Dnepr” was the great success. In 1892 Kuindzhi became the professor in the Academy of Arts. From 1894 to 1897 he was the head of the landscape studio in the High School at the Academy of Arts. Arkady Rylov, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Bogaevsky were among his students. For the next 20 years nobody saw his works, but in 1901 Kuindzhi exhibited his new paintings. The artist initiated the creation of the Society of artists (1909; later - the Society named after A.I. Kuindzhi). The artist died on July 24, 1910.
