Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Kuindzhi
Portrait of Kuindzhi by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1869
Born	(1842-01-27)27 January 1842 Mariupol, Russian Empire
Died	24 July 1910(1910-07-24) (aged 68) St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Education	Imperial Academy of Arts
Known for	Painting
Notable work	Evening in the Ukraine (1878–1901), Night on the Dnepr (1882)
Movement	Realism
Awards	Bronze Medal (London, 1874)

Patron(s)	Pavel Tretyakov

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (or Kuinji; Russian: Архи́п Ива́нович Куи́нджи; Ukrainian: Архип Іванович Куїнджі; January 27, 1842(?) – July 24, 1910) was a Ukrainian and Russian landscape painter of Greek origin.

Biography

Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in January 1842 (1841?) in Mariupol, Russia (present-day Ukraine) but spent his youth in the city of Taganrog. His Christian name is a Russian rendering of the Greek, Ἄρχιππος, (Archippos, from ἄρχος (archos) "master" and ἱππος (hippos) "horse": "master of horses"; cf. Colossians 4:17; ) and his surname came from his grandfather's nickname meaning 'goldsmith' in Tatar (cf. Turkish, kuyumcu).^[1] He grew up in a poor family; his father was a Greek shoemaker, Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi (sometimes spelt Emendzhi). Arkhip was six years old when he lost his parents, so he was forced to make a living working at a church building site, grazing domestic animals, and working at the corn merchant's shop. He received the rudiments of an education from a Greek friend of the family who was a teacher, and then went to the local school. During the five years from 1860 to 1865, Arkhip Kuindzhi worked as retoucher in the photo studio of Isakovich in Taganrog. He tried to open his own photographer's studio, but without success. After that 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). He was co-partner of mobile art exhibitions (Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist artists who in protest to academic restrictions formed an artists' cooperative, which evolved into the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki in 1870. During this early period Kuinczhy felt Ivan Aivazovsky's influence.

In 1872 the artist left the academy and worked as a freelancer. The painting Na ostrove Valaam (On the Valaam Island) was the first artwork, which Pavel Tretyakov acquired for his art gallery. In 1873, Kuindzhi exhibited his painting The Snow, which received the bronze medal at the International Art Exhibition in London in 1874. In the middle of the 1870s he created a number of paintings in which the landscape motif was designed for concrete social associations in the spirit of Peredvizhniki (Forgotten village, 1874; Chumatski path, 1875; both – in Tretyakov gallery).

In his mature period Kuindzhy aspired to transfer the most expressive on illumination of a condition of the nature. He applied composite receptions (high horizon, etc.), creating panoramic views. Using light effects and intense colors shown in main tones, he depicted the illusion of illumination (Evening in the Ukraine, 1876; Birch Grove, 1879; After a thunderstorm, 1879; all three are in Tretyakov Gallery; Night on Dnepr, 1880 in Russian museum, St.Petersburg). His later works are remarkable by decorative effects of color building.

Kuindzhi lectured at the St.Petersburg Academy of arts (Professor since 1892; professor-head of landscape workshop since 1894; but he was fired in 1897 for support of student's protests). Among his students were artists such as Arkady Rylov, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Bogaevsky, and others. Kuindzhi initiated creation of the Society of artists (1909; later – the Society named after A.I. Kuindzhi).