Arkhip Kuinji was a Russian painter of Greek origin, master of landscape painting. Actually, he is known as the bard of the Ukrainian night. His surname means goldsmith in Tatar.
Arkhip was born on January 15 (27), 1841 (according to another version in 1842) in Donetsk region, Russian Empire into a family of a poor shoemaker of Greek descent. Soon the boy lost his parents and was raised by his aunt and uncle. Since his childhood Arkhip was fond of painting and drew everywhere – on the walls, fences and scraps of paper. The boy lived in great poverty, so he had to work hard. His passion for drawing drew him to Feodosia, to see Ivan Aivazovsky.
In 1865, Kuinji decided to enter the Academy of Fine Arts and moved to St. Petersburg, but his first two attempts failed. In 1868 he was awarded the title of a free artist. You know, he made friends with Ilya Repin and Viktor Vasnetsov, and was an acquaintance of Ivan Kramskoi, the ideologist of the progressive Russian artists.
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Vladimir Borovikovsky was an outstanding Russian portraitist, master of religious painting. Numerous portraits of the highest figures and the Petersburg nobility brought him fame. By the way, he was an Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts.
The boy was born on July 24 (August 4), 1757 in Mirgorod into a Cossack family. You know, father, uncle and brother of the future artists were painters. In his youth, Vladimir studied icon painting under the guidance of his father.
In 1774, the boy served in the Mirgorod Cossack regiment.
In the first half of the 1780s Borovikovsky retired and devoted himself to painting. He drew for the local churches.
Moreover, in the 1770s the artist decorated the room in the house in Crimea, destined for the reception of the Empress. Catherine II noted the work of the artist, and ordered him to move to St. Petersburg. Borovikovsky was in the company of poets whose interests and ideas were linked to the new wave in literature – sentimentalism. At the center of his attention there was man’s inner world and unique individuality.
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Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov, a true patriot of his country, became the founder of the Russian style. Historical motifs combined with the poetic atmosphere of fairy tales left a bright trace in Russian and world culture.
Viktor Mikhailovich was born on May 15, 1848 in the Vyatka province into the family of a priest. There were six children in the family. The boy grew up surrounded by legends and beliefs, and preferred fairy tales to science. Since early childhood Viktor was fond of drawing. But the Vasnetsovs did not have big income, so, the father could not send his son to art school. Instead, in 1858, Viktor entered the Vyatka Ecclesiastical School, where, as the son of a priest, he had the right to study for free.
The next step in his education was the seminary. However, the young man left it and entered the St. Petersburg Drawing School in 1867. Simultaneously with his admission to the art school, Viktor managed to pass the exam to the Academy of Arts. You know, Ivan Kramskoy was the teacher of Vasnetsov.
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Alexei Savrasov is a Russian realist artist, one of the founders of The Wanderers. You know, he was the discoverer of the lyrical landscape in Russian painting. To tell the truth, the creator of the national Russian landscape, began as a low-income person, the first buyers of the Savrasov’s paintings were merchants at the market. At the age of 24 he became an academician.
Alexei Kondratievich was born on May 24, 1830 into the family of a merchant. His father wanted the son to follow in his footsteps. However, the boy was fond of drawing and drew on any sheet of paper that fell into his hands. Once Alexei decided to show his drawings to merchants at the market and they asked to bring more.
The first step into the real world of painting was a casual acquaintance with Alexander Vorobyev, who attended the Moscow School of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture. How did young Alexei dream about this! After a series of scandals at home 14-year-old Alexei entered the school. He earned money himself, still selling his drawings to merchants. Soon the boy had to leave school because of his mother’s illness.
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Vasily Perov was not just one of the largest artists of the second half of the XIX century. He was one of the great masters, among Pavel Fedotov, Aleksei Venetsianov, Ilya Repin, whose work marked the birth of new artistic principles, became a milestone in the history of art. You know, Perov was one of the founding members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki). In his works the artist expressed the most progressive ideas of the time.
Perov was born in Tobolsk on December 23, 1833. The parents of the future artist were provincial prosecutor Baron George (Gregory) Karlovich Kridener and A.I. Ivanova. A few years later the family moved to Arkhangelsk, and then to the family estate Suslep. In 1842 they moved to the Nizhny Novgorod province.
In his childhood Vasily became interested in art and in 1846 he entered A. V. Stupin’s art school in Arzamas. There except for copying the originals, the boy tried his hand at composing and painting from nature. In 1852, Perov came to Moscow, and the following year he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
You know, in 1856, the painter received a small silver medal for Portrait of Nikolai Kridener, the artist’s brother.
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The work of the Russian artist Ilya Repin is on a special place in Russia and abroad. His pictures are the brightest phenomenon in the world culture, after all the creator of the picture Barge Haulers on the Volga was perhaps the first to feel the approach of the revolution, to anticipate moods in society and to depict the heroism of the participants of the protest movement.
History, religion, social injustice, the beauty of man and nature – Repin embraced all the topics and realized his artistic gift. The fruitfulness of the painter is amazing: Ilya Yefimovich presented the world with hundreds of paintings in the genre of realism. He did not give up painting even in old age, before his death, when his hands did not obey the master.
Ilya was born on July 24 (August 5) 1844 in Chuguyev into a family of a military villager. His mother Tatyana Bocharova was an educated woman, who organized a school for the peasant children. She read aloud poems of Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.
You know, in the youth he worked as an icon painter. The boy studied at the Drawing School under the direction of Ivan Kramskoy, continued his studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.
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Alexander Blok is the great Russian poet.
The boy was born in St. Petersburg on November 28, 1880. His father Alexander Lvovich Blok was a professor at the University of Warsaw. And his mother Alexandra Andreevna Beketova, daughter of the rector of the St. Petersburg University, worked as a translator. Alexandra Andreevna married Alexander Lvovich when she was 18 years old. Soon after the birth of the boy she decided to leave her unloved husband. Subsequently, the poet’s parents practically did not communicate with each other.
At that time, a divorce was a rarity and was blamed by society, but in 1889 self-sufficient and purposeful Alexandra Andreevna achieved that the Most Holy Governing Synod officially annulled her marriage with Alexander Lvovich. Soon after that, the daughter of the famous Russian botanist married the officer.
Sasha spent his childhood in his grandfather’s house. In the summer he went to Shakhmatovo for a long time and through his whole life he carried warm memories of the time spent there. In addition, Alexander Blok lived with his mother and her new husband on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.
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