Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi was a remarkable Russian artist of the XIX-XX centuries, a master of landscape painting, famous for his special sense of color, the ability to convey the smallest details of lighting in the picture. Arkhip Kuindzhi lived a long life and worked hard until his last days, having written several hundred works. On his canvases the grandeur of the rocky mountains and the blue of the sea surface, the endless Russian fields and the silence of a moonlit night in the wilderness of the countryside.

Unfortunately, today we can only guess what some of the works looked like immediately after creation, because over the years the paints, lovingly diluted by the master using a special technology, have partially faded and lost their luster. But even despite this, Kuindzhi’s works fascinate the public, make them want to consider every detail for a long time. The master made a great fortune and donated it almost entirely to future generations of young artists.

Biography of Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol, presumably on January 12, 1842. All that is known about the relatives is that his father, Ivan Khristoforovich Emendzhi, was a shoemaker and was a Greek by nationality. The boy’s parents died when he was only three years old.

The child was brought up by relatives, the family lived poorly and already in childhood Arkhip had to work, first to graze thickets, and later to become an apprentice to a bread merchant. He studied poorly, but he painted well and was once noticed by a Feodosia merchant, who advised him to go to study with the already well-known artist Ivan Aivazovsky. And Arkhip took a chance he quit his job, went to Feodosia on foot, but, unfortunately, was poorly received by Aivazovsky, having received only an invitation to paint the fence. But a relative of the master, the marine painter Adolf Fessler, drew attention to him. He introduced the young man to the basics of painting.

After Feodosia, Arkhip Kuindzhi returned to Mariupol, then went to Odessa and finally settled in St. Petersburg, where in 1860 he became a volunteer at the Academy of Arts, having entered it only the third time. Here he met Ilya Repin and Viktor Vasnetsov, with whom he retained friendship for many years. During this period, Arkhip lived poorly, during the day he worked as a retoucher in a photo studio, in the evenings he met with other artists, and only early morning remained for drawing. He even tried to quit painting, but his friends dissuaded him.

In 1870, he finally received the title of a free artist, which was not only prestigious, but also freed Arkhip from military duty. And the very next year he took part in the First Traveling Art Exhibition. He liked the ideas of the Itinerants to show reality as it is, without embellishment, and for several years he was a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, from where he left with a scandal due to a conflict with Mikhail Klodt.

Glory came to him quickly the works of Arkhip Kuindzhi were exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Russia and abroad, they were bought for huge sums. His “moonlit” paintings were displayed in darkened rooms with only one light source directed to the canvas. Huge queues lined up for them. But Kuindzhi was not interested in fame and at the dawn of his work he suddenly stopped exhibiting, not showing his works for more than 20 years. He lived quietly, wrote a lot, bought and resold real estate.

With his wife, Vera Shapovalova, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, the master met in Mariupol at the age of 22. Not wanting to give his daughter in marriage to a beggar artist, the father asked for such a huge amount for her hand and heart that the master had to save money for 12 years. The wedding took place in 1875. The couple lived together their entire lives, modestly, donating a lot of money to charity. Arkhip Ivanovich died on July 11, 1910.