Ivan Kramskoi was the famous Russian wanderer (peredvizhnik), painter and portraitist. He could remain in the history of Russian art, painting only a portrait of the Unknown Woman. This picture, one of the diamonds of the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery, is known to everyone in the territory of the post-Soviet states. It is called the Russian Gioconda.
However, the artist gave the world hundreds of paintings that delight and amaze viewers. Moonlight Night, Mina Moiseyev, Mermaids, Christ in the Desert are among them. Kramskoi became the ideologist of a whole generation of realistic artists.
The artist was born in the summer of 1837 in the Voronezh province. He was brought up in the family of an official-clerk. His parents wanted Vanya to become a clerk. However, their neighbor self-taught artist Mikhail Tulinov taught the little boy how to paint. Since then, the boy took a pencil and sketched the surrounding world at every opportunity.
At the age of 12 Ivan lost his father and went to work. He practiced calligraphy and helped the photographer with whom he traveled all over Russia.
In 1853 Kramskoi joined talented photographer Yakov Danilevsky, who taught the young man a lot. The artist moved from the provincial town to St. Petersburg.
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Konstantin Simonov is a famous writer, poet and journalist. His works, written during the war, were not just a reflection of reality, but also a kind of prayer. For example, the poem Wait For Me, written in the summer of 1941 and dedicated to Valentina Serova, still gives hope to the soldiers who have gone to the battlefield. Also, the genius of literature is known for the works Kill Him, Open Letter, The Alive and the Dead and others.
Kirill Simonov (his real name) was born on November 28, 1915 in Petrograd. Early years he spent in Ryazan and Saratov. His father, an officer in the Tsar’s army, left Russia after the Revolution in 1917 and died in Poland after 1921. The boy was brought up by his stepfather, who worked as a military specialist, and later headed the workers’ and peasants’ Red Army.
After completing basic seven-year education in 1930 in Saratov, Konstantin entered the factory workshop school. In 1931 his family moved to Moscow, and Simonov worked in a factory until 1935. During those years he began to write poems.
In parallel, Konstantin Mikhailovich was educated at the Literary Institute named after Maxim Gorky. Then he was accepted to graduate school of the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History named after N.G. Chernyshevsky.
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Karl Bryullov was a famous artist, whose name became synonymous with the directions of classicism and late Russian romanticism in painting. His talent presented the world with unique works including Horsewoman, Head of Bacchus, Death of Inessa de Castro and many others. And his painting The Last Day of Pompeii still admires the true connoisseurs of art all over the world.
The future artist was born on December 23, 1799 in St. Petersburg. The Brullovs had many children: Karl had three brothers and two sisters. The father of the family had an impeccable artistic taste: he was engaged in ornamental sculpture, carved wood, painted miniatures and taught at the Academy of Arts.
Karl was a weak boy and spent a lot of time in bed. However, despite this, he studied hard. His father was a very strict teacher and sometimes even deprived the son of breakfast for insufficient diligence.
At the age of 10 Karl easily entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, delighting teachers with his talent. The first serious work of the artist was the picture Narcissus Looking Into The Water. In 1819, the painting brought him the first award – a small gold medal of the Academy of Arts. This moment is considered to be the beginning of a serious creative biography of Bryullov.
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Alisa Verner was born on September 4, 1986 in St. Petersburg. She is not only a beautiful girl, but also a great photographer.
For her, photography is more than just pictures. It is a magical world of beauty and light, the unforgettable emotions that come from those who are looking at Alisa from the other side of the lens, those who energize her and charge themselves from her.
This sea of sensual looks, these playful, happy women create a sense of celebration in every photo shoot. There is an incredibly creative atmosphere and this is an exciting process. To make you smile and see the shine in your eyes and in the eyes of those for whom you are creating this.
Alisa creates stunning images with a team of talented professional make-up artists just to make you happy.
She pleases all those who are just looking, because the photos are alive only as long as someone sees them. Alisa is very glad that her pictures live and delight someone’s eyes. For the sake of those eyes, she will continue to find the most beautiful girls on the Earth and share the most precious finds.
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Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900)
Works of the great artist Ivan Aivazovsky are in the treasury of world heritage. He was an epic sea poet, who won worldwide fame in his own lifetime. Aivazovsky had an absolute memory. He painted his seascapes from memory, extremely accurately transmitting different sea conditions.
Aivazovsky was born on July 29, 1817 in Feodosia in the Crimea, the son of an Armenian merchant. In childhood, he was fond of watching the sea, liked to draw ships and the waves. Drawing became his favorite pastime. His talent was noticed by influential people of the city. A.I. Kaznacheev, the mayor of Feodosia, sent a teenager to Simferopol school and subsequently applied for his admission to the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
Aivazovsky was surrounded with world fame. Since 1846, 120 personal exhibitions were organized in Russia and abroad. He was elected as a member of the European Academies of Arts: St. Petersburg, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam.
Vicar of Christ wished to get Aivazovsky’s painting Chaos for the Vatican.
In 1844, Aivazovsky painted about 6000 paintings and was awarded the title of academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.
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Theophanes the Greek (circa 1340 – circa 1410) was a great Byzantine and Russian icon painter, miniaturist and master of monumental fresco paintings. By the way, he was the best of icon-painter and a wise philosopher.
Theophanes was born in Byzantium, and was therefore known in Russia as the Greek. Before coming to Rus he worked in Constantinople, Chalcedon (suburb of Constantinople), Genoese Galata and the Cafe (now Feodosia in the Crimea). To tell the truth, only frescoes in Feodosia were preserved. Probably, he arrived in Rus along with Metropolitan Cyprian.
Theophanes settled in Novgorod in 1370. In 1378, he began working on the painting of the Church of the Savior’s Transfiguration on Ilin Street. The most grandiose image in the temple is the image of the Savior in the dome. The frescoes of the Trinity chapel are best preserved. Theophanes had a noticeable influence on the development of Novgorod art.
The memory of Theophanes remained in Novgorod icons. In in the icon Fatherland (XIV century) there are seraphim, copied from the frescoes of the Church of the Savior on Ilin Street. His influence is also seen in Novgorod’s book graphics, in the design of such manuscripts as Ivan the Terrible‘s Psalter (the last decade of the fourteenth century) and Pogodinsky Prolog (the second half of the 14th century).
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Olga Glebova – Sudeikina was a symbolic figure of the Silver Age. She was an actress, dancer, painter, sculptor, translator and one of the first Russian fashion models. People called her Beauty of the Silver Age, Columbine, Decadence Fairy.
Pretty girl was born on May 27, 1885 in St. Petersburg.
In 1905 she graduated from the Imperial Theatre School and joined the Alexandrinsky Theatre. There she became the favorite pupil of Konstantin Varlamov.
A yhear later, in 1906, Olga met the love of her life – the artist Sergei Sudeikin, and went to Moscow with him. In January 1907 they got married. You know, Olga was happy, but the idyll was broken. Poet Mikhail Kuzmin appeared in their family life. She participated in Kuzmin’s musical performances, costumes and decorations were made by Sergei Sudeikin. Mikhail became not just Sergei’s close friend, but his… lover. Olga was disappointed. The couple broke up in late 1915.
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