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Arkhip Kuindzhi. How did the lord of the moonlight live?

Arkhip Kuindzhi. How did the lord of the moonlight live?

Arkhip Kuindzhi is considered one of the best masters in the transmission of the play of light and shadow, his paintings depicting night landscapes were especially popular. Kuindzhi lived a long and fruitful life; his creative collection has hundreds of works. The incredible ability to convey the smallest black and white effects, an amazing sense of color and a delicate, reverent attitude to nature - that is why we love the works of Arkhip Ivanovich.

Majestic mountains rise on its canvases, the azure sea surface slowly sways and endless fields mysteriously whisper forbs. The fame was brought to the master by paintings depicting night nature in the countryside. Not everyone knows that when creating his masterpieces, Kuindzhi used paints independently prepared by him using special technology.

Partly in this lies the secret of the amazing magic of his paintings, which seem to exude soft light ... The contemporaries of the great master regretted: over time, the magical paintings lost a fraction of their charm. Partially faded colors are no longer able to convey all the charms of a newly created painting. About how these unique works of art originally looked, today we can only guess!
And today, his work at first sight captivates the public, riveting attention to every detail. No less surprising is the personality of Arkhip Ivanovich, his quiet everyday nobility. The master spent all his impressive fortune earned from the sale of paintings on helping beginner artists.

From the son of a shoemaker to a student at the Academy of Art

The future great artist was born in 1842 in a poor family, in Mariupol. Very little is known about the Arkhip family. His father was a Greek by nationality and a shoemaker by profession. When the boy was only three years old, his parents passed away. The upbringing of the orphans was taken up by relatives who lived very poorly. Since childhood, Arkhip had to earn a living on his own. At first he grazed geese, a little later he enrolled as an apprentice to a bread seller.

Studying was not very interested in an impressionable boy, and his success in this field was minimal. At the same time, Kuindzhi drew well and received a lot of flattering reviews. Once, on the advice of the Feodosian merchant, a young man ventured to quit work and go to study painting. Having crossed the path to Feodosia on foot, inspired Arkhip knocked on the door to the famous artist, Ivan Aivazovsky. Unfortunately, Arkhip's talent was not appreciated by the master, who entrusted the young man only ... with painting the fence. At the same time, the young man received several painting lessons from the marine painter Adolf Fessler, who was a relative of Aivazovsky.

Returning to Mariupol, Kuindzhi does not leave the cherished dream of becoming an artist. In search of good luck and good mentors, he goes to Odessa, and a little later - to St. Petersburg. In 1860, he begins to attend the Academy of Fine Arts as a free listener. This victory was not easy for the young Arkhip, because he had to enter the Academy three times. In these years, his friendship with Viktor Vasnetsov and Ilya Repin was born, which lasted a very long time.

This period of life was one of the most difficult in moral terms. The life of the young man was extremely scarce, Kuindzhi worked in a local shop as a retoucher. The evening was devoted to meetings and conversations with fellow artists, and only a few hours of the early morning were left to write our own paintings. On several occasions, Kuindzhi made the decision to “put an end to his arts,” but yielded to the persuasion of his comrades and continued to do what he liked. There were only a few days left to meet the cherished dream!

The birth of "moon" paintings

1870 was a turning point in the fate of Kuindzhi, it was then that he was assigned the status of a free artist. This was not only a matter of prestige, but also a guarantee of exemption from military service. Arkhip is actively involved in translating the ideas of the Wanderers, becoming a participant in the first art exhibition of the Wanderers. In a short time, his works become not only loved and recognizable, but also bought profitably.

A series of domestic and foreign exhibitions takes place. Kuindzhi’s special manner in portraying night landscapes becomes a real sensation in the world of painting. To demonstrate his paintings, special conditions are organized - darkened halls with the only source of low light, which is directed to the canvas. To get to the exhibition, fans of Arkhip Ivanovich sometimes had to stand long queues.

Fame and glory were never an end in itself for Kuindzhi. At the zenith of popularity, he stopped exhibiting his works and for more than two decades did not show them to the public. The artist worked a lot until his last days, lived modestly and was engaged in charity work. Another hobby was the acquisition and resale of real estate. Little is known about the personal life of the master. The artist met his wife, Vera Shapovalova, at the age of 22. It took 12 whole years to earn the huge amount of money requested by the father of the bride for consent to marriage. All their lives, the couple lived modestly and unassumingly, Kuindzhi's wife loved to play music. They had no children, which to some extent explained the ardent participation in the fates of many young artists. Most of the proceeds from the sale of paintings and real estate were directed to charity. In addition to private assistance, Arkhip Ivanovich created and funded the Society of Artists.

Most of his paintings belong to museums and private galleries around the world, however, some of Kuindzhi's works are still being auctioned today. Among the most famous paintings: «Ukrainian Night», «Moonlit Night on the Dnieper», «Birch Grove», «Ai-Petri. Crimea», «Elbrus in the evening». The last work of the artist was the painting «Night» (1908), which was never completed. Art historians consider the canvas a creative testament of the master.


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