Nikolay Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky (russian: Никола́й Петро́вич Богда́нов-Бе́льский; 1868–1945) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

painter.

Life

Bogdanov-Belsky was born in the village of Shitiki in

Smolensk Governorate Smolensk Governorate (russian: Смоленская губерния, Smolenskaja gubernija), or the Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It ex ...

in 1868. He studied art at the Semyon Rachinsky fine art school, icon-painting at the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (russian: Тро́ице-Се́ргиева ла́вра) is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Pos ...

in 1883, modern painting at the

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (russian: Московское училище живописи, ваяния и зодчества, МУЖВЗ) also known by the acronym MUZHZV, was one of the largest educational insti ...

in 1884 to 1889, and at the

Imperial 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 ...

in St. Petersburg from 1894 to 1895. He worked and studied in private studios in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the late 1890s. Bogdanov-Belsky was active in St. Petersburg. After 1921, he worked exclusively in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. He became a member of several prominent societies in including the

Peredvizhniki Peredvizhniki ( rus, Передви́жники, , pʲɪrʲɪˈdvʲiʐnʲɪkʲɪ), often called The Wanderers or The Itinerants in English, were a group of Russian realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restr ...

from 1895, and the

Arkhip Kuindzhi Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (; rus, Архи́п Ива́нович Куи́нджи ; ; 27 January 1841 – 24 July 1910) was a Ukrainian Landscape art, landscape Painting, painter active in the Russian Empire, of Pontic Greeks, Pontic Greek des ...

Society from 1909 (of which he was a founding member and chairman from 1913 to 1918). Bogdanov-Belsky painted mostly genre paintings, especially of the education of peasant children, portraits, and impressionistic landscapes studies. He became pedagogue and academician in 1903. He was an active Member of the Academy of Arts in 1914. Realist art was strongly disfavored by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, compelling the artist to relocate to

in 1921. As a result of the Soviet

Occupation of the Baltic States The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

, Bogdanov-Belsky relocated to Berlin. He was killed on February 19, 1945 as a result of allied bombing. He was buried at the

Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery The Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery (german: Russischer Friedhof Berlin-Tegel) is the only Russian Orthodox burial ground in Berlin. It is located on Witte street in the Tegel locality of the Reinickendorf borough. It is owned and operated ...

. He was a member of the Russian Fraternitas Arctica in Riga.

Selected paintings

File:BogdanovBelsky NikolayYusupov.jpg, Nikolay Felixovich Yusupov, 1911 File:Reading a letter (Bogdanov-Bogdanov-Belsky).jpeg, Reading a letter, 1892 File:BogdanovBelsky UstnySchet.jpg, Mental Arithmetic, in the Rachinsky School, 1895 File:Voskresnoye_chteniye_v_selskoy_shkole.jpg, Sunday reading in a village school, 1895 File:1897 Bogdanov-Belsky At School Doors.jpg, At the School Doors, 1897

References

External links

ArtFira
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogdanov-Belsky, Nikolay 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters 20th-century Russian painters 1868 births 1945 deaths Full Members of the Imperial Academy of Arts Peredvizhniki Deaths by airstrike during World War II Soviet civilians killed in World War II 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian male artists Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni Imperial Academy of Arts alumni

Life

Selected paintings

See also

References

External links