Cimmerian school of painting. How did artists see Crimea at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries?

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, a regional Cimmerian school of painting developed in the Southern Crimea. Cimmeria in ancient times was called the territory of the southeastern Crimea. This school includes the work of landscape painters who lived and worked in Feodosia and Koktebel. They themselves did not call themselves that: the term appeared among art historians at the end of the last century.

Why did the experts decide to combine different masters into one group?

Here are a few common features characteristic of their work:

1. Chanting of the legendary Cimmeria. Masters romanticized the Black Sea, the coast, hills and rocks of the Southern and Eastern Crimea. Often they turned to the legends and the historical past of these places.
2. Improvisation or drawing from memory. Instead of working accurately from nature, many artists preferred to rely on the imagination. Impressions were more important than authenticity.
3. The dominance of the elements. A raging sea or a desert landscape – nature always occupies a central place in the work of the “Cimmerians”. Only sometimes a ship or a stone fortress reminds of the presence of people.

Ivan Aivazovsky and his followers

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky lived a long and fruitful life. Most of it took place in Feodosia. The master turned this city into one of the centers of the picturesque culture of Russia. The views and preferences of younger artists belonging to the Cimmerian school were formed under his influence.

In the work of Aivazovsky, the three principles that are characteristic of the Cimmerian school of painting were embodied. Even in his youth, traveling around Italy, Aivazovsky conducted an experiment. He painted classical views from the shores of Sorrento and Amalfi, achieving photographic accuracy. And later he painted several landscapes from memory. At the exhibition, the audience passed by paintings created from life, because they did not notice anything new in them. All attention was paid to pictures drawn from memory with the participation of the imagination.

During his life, Aivazovsky traveled a lot, but Crimea always remained his home. Aivazovsky had many students and followers. Lev Lagorio and Adolf Fessler studied in his workshop. The artist’s grandchildren, Mikhail Latri and Alexei Hanzen, followed in the footsteps of their grandfather and also became Crimean marine painters.

Other artists of the Cimmerian school of painting

One of the prominent representatives of the Crimean school of painting is Konstantin Bogaevsky. He also began his studies in the workshop of Aivazovsky, but already studied with Adolf Fessler, after which he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Arkhip Kuindzhi. Bogaevsky is a master of the historical landscape. He painted both the sea and the land, often stylizing his works as antique ones. In his paintings, bygone centuries appear solemn and beautiful.

Another prominent representative of the Cimmerian school is Maximilian Voloshin. Many know him as a symbolist poet. Also famous is his house in Koktebel, where many famous writers, poets and artists stayed. Voloshin did not receive an art education, but masterfully painted watercolor landscapes of the Crimea with muted soft colors.

The poetic sea and steppe landscapes of the representatives of the Cimmerian school still awaken the imagination and thirst for travel.