January 27, 1842
Born near Mariupol Arkhip Kuindzhi — landscape artist, reformer, and social activist. A master of light and the "Russian Monet."
I can only think with a brush in my hand
My father was Greek and worked as a shoemaker. The family name originally sounded like "Kuyumdzhi" ("goldsmith") and "Emendzhi" ("working man"); over time, due to the census and assimilation, it became "Kuindzhi."
He lost his parents early and was raised by relatives. From a young age, he took on labor: herding geese, keeping track of bricks at a church construction site, and serving as a grain merchant.
Even in school I became interested in painting and drew everywhere – on walls, fences, scraps of paper.
In 1855, at 13, on the advice of a friend, he went to Feodosia to see the famous marine painter To Ivan Aivazovsky. He did not accept him as a student and advised him to enter the Academy of Arts in Petersburg. Arkhip decided to follow the master’s advice only 10 years later (all these years he worked as a retoucher in Odessa, Ukraine и Taganrog).
In 1870, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts only on his third attempt, as an auditor. There, he met the Itinerant artists. Repin и Kramskoy, became interested in realism in painting.
Some are even capable of painting dirt on the road, but is that realism?
For one of his works in this style, “Autumn Mudstorm,” he received the title of class artist (which granted a civil rank and exempted him from poll tax and military service).
The very first exhibitions of his works brought him fame: his painting “On the Island of Valaam” was bought by a patron of the arts. Pavel Tretyakov, and the painting "Snow" received a bronze medal at the exhibition in London
Other famous landscapes include the innovative, almost decoratively depicted “Ukrainian Night”.
He experimented with pigments and developed vibrant, previously unused complementary colors. In his painting "Lake Ladoga," he pioneered the use of a transparent rocky bottom (years later, he secured the copyright for this invention).
Some of the paintings took him decades to create – he worked on “Evening in Ukraine” for 23 years.
Art is not a game for entertainment. Playing with art is a grave sin!
In 1879 he left the Association of Itinerants after an anonymous article (its author was his colleague) Mikhail Klodt). Kuindzhi was accused of monotony, abuse of lighting, and a desire for excessive showiness (for greater mystery, he did, in fact, illuminate his paintings).
The illusion of light was his god, and there was no artist equal to him in achieving this miracle of painting.
(Ilya Repin)
His authority was so high that it allowed him to organize an exhibition of one painting - this is how he presented to the public his “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper”, which was bought by one of the princes. Romanovs.
From 1881, at the peak of his fame, he became a recluse for 20 years.
An artist needs to perform at exhibitions while he, like a singer, still has a voice. But as soon as his voice fades, he must leave, lest he be ridiculed.
He worked only with his students at the Academy of Arts.
To become a good artist, you even have to sleep with a sketchbook and a pencil.
Forget everything you've seen in artists' paintings and look at a nightstand, wet from the rain, glittering in the sun. Understand its shine, figure out how and why it glitters, and convey that impression of brilliance.
Do it in a way that they can’t do otherwise - then they will believe you
Over these 20 years, he created approximately 500 paintings and sketches and about 300 graphic works. These include scenes of the Caucasus Mountains, seascapes, the Don and Volga rivers, and winter scenes.
In 1901, he held only one exhibition, after which no new paintings were seen during his lifetime. He lived very modestly, donating most of his royalties to charity.
One of Kuindzhi's usual joys was to help the poor in such a way that they would not know where this benefit came from.
(Nikolai Roerich, Kuindzhi's student)
He treated sick birds. One day, he sewed a piece of the finest silk fabric onto a butterfly's damaged wing, painting it with watercolors, and the butterfly was able to fly again.
Exactly at noon he climbed onto the roof of his house, and it seemed that all the birds of the capital had flown to him and covered his shoulders, arms and head.
(Nikolai Roerich)
He died in 1910, at 69, from heart disease.
