Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (; rus, Архи́п Ива́нович Куи́нджи ; ; 27 January 1841 – 24 July 1910) was a Ukrainian

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

active in the Russian Empire, of

Pontic Greek Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...

descent.

Date of birth

Kuindzhi's exact date of birth is not known. Although it was believed that he was born in 1842, the latest discoveries in archives suggest that he was born in 1841. Kuindzhi himself, when asked by

St. Petersburg Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

to clarify his date of birth, "clearly wrote 1841, then, with doubt, January, and then several times crossed out the month". The researchers believe he was born somewhere between January and March 1841. The commonly recognized date is January 27, although Kuindzhi celebrated his Name day on February 19 O.S. (March 4 N.S.), on the feast of

Archippus Archippus (; Ancient Greek: Ἄρχιππος, "master of the horse") was an early Christian believer mentioned briefly in the New Testament epistles of Philemon and Colossians. Role in the New Testament In Paul's letter to Philemon (), Archipp ...

Biography

Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in Mariupolsky Uyezd (one of the subdivisions of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire) 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 The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

": "master of horses"; cf. Colossians 4:17, Philemon 1:2) and his surname came from his grandfather's vocational nickname meaning ' goldsmith' in Crimean Tatar ( crh, quyumcı). He grew up in a poor family; his father was a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

, Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi (elsewhere 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 This page gives a list of domesticated animals, also including a list of animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simple predation. This includ ...

, 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 A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and then went to the local school. In 1855, at age 13–14, Kuindzhi visited Feodosia to study art under Ivan Aivazovsky, however, he was engaged merely with mixing paints and instead studied with Adolf Fessler, Aivazovsky's student. A 1903 encyclopedic article stated: "Although Kuindzhi cannot be called a student of Aivazovsky, the latter had without doubt some influence on him in the first period of his activity; from whom he borrowed much in the manner of painting." English art historian John E. Bowlt wrote that "the elemental sense of light and form associated with Aivazovsky's sunsets, storms, and surging oceans permanently influenced the young Kuindzhi." During the five years from 1860 to 1865, Arkhip Kuindzhi worked as a retoucher in the photography studio of Simeon Isakovich in Taganrog. He tried to open his own photography studio, but without success. After that Kuindzhi left Taganrog for

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He studied painting mainly independently and at the

(from 1868; a full member since 1893). He was co-partner of travelling art exhibitions ( Peredvizhniki), a group of realist artists of Russian Empire who in protest to academic restrictions formed an artists' cooperative which evolved into the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions ( Peredvizhniki) in 1870. In 1872 the artist left the academy and worked as a freelancer. The painting ''On the

Valaam Valaam (Russian: Валаам or Валаамский архипелаг, also known by the Finnish name Valamo) is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area o ...

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

motif was designed for concrete social associations in the spirit of Peredvizhniki (''Forgotten village'', 1874; ''Chumatski path'', 1875; both – in the Tretyakov Gallery). In his mature period Kuindzhy aspired to capture the most expressive illuminative aspect of the natural condition. 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 Ukraine'', 1876; ''The Birch Grove'', 1879; ''After a thunderstorm'', 1879; all three are in the Tretyakov Gallery; '' Moonlit Night on the Dnieper'', 1880 in the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...

, St. Petersburg). His later works are remarkable for their decorative effects of color building. Kuindzhi lectured at the

(Professor since 1892; professor-head of landscape workshop since 1894; but was fired in 1897 for support of students' protests). Among his students were artists such as Arkady Rylov, Nicholas Roerich,

Konstantin Bogaevsky Konstantin Fyodorovich Bogaevsky ( uk, Костянти́н Фе́дорович Богає́вський, transcribed ''Kostyantyn Fedorovych Bohayevskyi''; russian: Константин Фёдорович Богаевский, transcribed ''Ko ...

, and others. Kuindzhi initiated the creation of the Society of Artists (1909; later – the Society was named after A.I. Kuindzhi).

Theft and potential destruction of work

In January 2019, his work ''Ai-Petri. Crimea'' was stolen from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery, but was found and safely recovered the next day. The man who stole the painting was sentenced to three years in prison. In March 2022, it was reported that the

Kuindzhi Art Museum Kuindzhi Art Museum () was an art museum located in the city of Mariupol in Ukraine. It is dedicated to the display of the life and works of the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, who was born in the city. The museum opened on 30 October 2010, however its ...

had been destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the

siege of Mariupol The siege of Mariupol began on 24 February 2022 and lasted until 20 May 2022, as part of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It saw fighting between the Russian Armed Forces (alongside the Donetsk People's Militia) and the Ukrainian Armed F ...

. The museum had housed three of Kuindzhi's works; ''Red Sunset, Elbrus'' and ''Autumn'', which were believed to have been removed from the museum but not confirmed.

Gallery

File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 008.jpg, ''Lake Ladoga'' (1873) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 005.jpg, ''The Birch Grove'' (1879) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 001.jpg, ''

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

in the Morning'' (1881) File:Arkhip Kuindzhi - Ночь на Днепре - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Moonlit Night on the Dnieper'' (1880) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 004.jpg, ''Surf and Clouds'' (1882) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 002.jpg, ''

Elbrus Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...

'' (1890–1895) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 007.jpg, ''Evening in Ukraine'' (1878–1901) File:Archip Iwanowitsch Kuindshi 003.jpg, ''Moonspots in the Forest, Winter'' (1898–1908) File:WLA metmuseum Red Sunset on the Dnieper Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.jpg, '' Red Sunset on the Dnieper'' (1905)

References

*V.S. Manin ''Arkhip Ivanovich Kuinji'', Leningrad, 1990,

External links