Arkhip Kuindzhi
Arkhip Kuindzhi was a Greek-Russian realism landscape artist who lived from 1842 to 1910. He is known for his association with the Peredvizhniki art movement, the Russian counterpart to the Realism movement in Europe. The Peredvizhniki movement included such greats as Ivan Shishkin, Ilya Repin, and many others. Kuindzhi’s art is known for its contrast of colors and how light plays in the atmosphere.
Kuindzhi was born into a poor Greek refugee family who was living in Ukraine. At age 6, both of his parents had died, and he moved first to his aunts, and then to live with his uncle. From a young age, he had to work to earn his living. Overall, Kuindzhi was under-educated. He learned how to read and attended the local school for three years before dropping out at age 10. Even when he was young, he was more interested in drawing then learning. His early drawings were apparently quite good. From the ages of 13 to 14, Kuindzhi began studying painting in the workshop of the Russian romantic painter, Ivan Aivazovsky. Unfortunately, he found that he was not actually being taught any useful techniques. Instead, he had to mix paints for his tutor, so he eventually quit.
Between ages 18 and 23, Kuindzhi worked as a retoucher in a photography studio. After a failed attempt at starting his own photography studio, he moved to Saint Petersburg where he started teaching himself how to paint. At 26 years old, Arkhip Kuindzhi began attending the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. Though he applied three times to enter the school and three times was denied, he was allowed to sit in on classes. At the Academy, Kuindzhi became friends with other young artists.
Kuindzhi left school early to join an artists’ cooperative, today known as the Peredvizhniki art movement. The artists were all realist who were protesting the restrictions laid on them by the academic world. This cooperative created mobile exhibitions which toured the countryside and referred to themselves as “The Wanderers”. The most common subject of Peredvizhniki art was the Russian landscape. They sought to draw attention to the beauty of their own backyards.
In 1872, Kuindzhi started working as a freelance artist. His subject at this time was the Russian landscape, in all its realism, which at times can be quite austere. Though his paintings are of scenes that are true to life, Kuindzhi added a touch of sublime through intense skies. His art techniques were maturing, and he sought to perfect his depictions of illumination. His illumination techniques and use of intense colors are what he is best known for.
In 1875, Kuindzhi got married to a friend of his from childhood. He never kept any diaries, so his wife’s memoirs provide all that we know of his personal life. This may be related to his poor education as a child. The two led an isolated life, staying in Saint Petersburg while teaching and spending the other part of his time at his property in Crimea. Kuindzhi was a natural philosopher, pondering all aspects of life. He was awed with nature and fell in love with the nature all around them.
In 1879, Kuindzhi left The Wanderers. He had grown weary of the movement and wanted to pursue his own vision. He was reaching the peak of his career, where his paintings were being bought before he was even finished. From 1882 until his death in 1910, Kuindzhi stopped exhibiting his work. Although he created many pieces during this period, the public was blind to them. It was thought that he had stopped painting.
He began teaching at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1892. Kuindzhi was famously devoted to his students, sharing with them, supporting them financially, and advocating for them. He was fired in 1897 for supporting the student protests. One of the students he protected during his tenure at the Academy was the Russian Symbolist, Konstantin Bogaevsky, who would have been expelled if not for Kuindzhi. Arkhip Kuindzhi died in 1910 at 68 years old. After his death, there was a posthumous exhibition of his work where many paintings were seen for the first time.
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