Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky is a Russian genre painter-realist, a remarkable itinerant artist. In his paintings, Konstantin Savitsky depicted plots from the life of ordinary people, subtly noting the features of the characters of people. As the director of the Penza Art School, the master gave a start in life to many young talents.
Biography
The child became interested in the fine arts early, and his talent was clearly visible in his first sketches. During his studies at the gymnasium, the boy’s favorite subject was drawing. After the death of both parents, the fifteen-year-old boy was taken up by his own uncle, who lived in Latvia.
In 1862, Konstantin Savitsky was accepted as a free student at the Imperial Academy of Arts, but due to insufficient preparation he was soon forced to leave it. Later, he nevertheless returned to the Academy, where he studied with the famous historical painter Alexei Markov, the representative of the academic direction Fyodor Bruni and the famous teacher Pavel Chistyakov. Very soon the young talent became one of the best. He was awarded 6 silver medals and one small gold medal.
Konstantin Savitsky dreamed of a large gold medal, which paved the way for continuing his internship in Europe.
But due to participation in traveling exhibitions, he was expelled from the Academy. The reason for this was the exam, which had not been passed on time due to the wedding.
One of the most expressive works of that period was the work “Repair work on the railway”. The main characters of the monumental painting are simple peasants. The artist managed to show the full weight of the hard work of day laborers, for the first time to show that “choral principle”, which runs like a red thread in the later work of the master.
It was this picture that brought the author both fame and money. After Pavel Tretyakov bought it for his gallery, the artist was able to travel to France, where his friends, Vasily Polenov and Ilya Repin, were already waiting for him, and where the first exhibition of impressionist artists took place in the same year. Our hero was “too itinerant” to try his hand at impressionism.
In February 1875 she took her own life because of the jealousy of the artist’s husband.
The widower returns to Russia and works actively to forget about his misfortune. In 1880, Konstantin Apollonovich moved to St. Petersburg. He marries again, and finally happiness smiles at him. The second wife gave her husband seven children. The offended kid in the painting “Family Quarrel” is one of the couple’s sons, George. In the future, he will become a popular Soviet artist.
Ten years later, the family settles in Moscow.
There, Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky gives all his strength to the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions”. His name is already widely known. In 1898, the painter received the post of director of the Penza Art School and introduced an advanced training program at the institution. The master died on February 13, 1905 from sudden cardiac arrest, his grave is located in Penza.
The artist’s work is characterized by the skillful combination of many characters in one work, restrained coloring. Bright, contrasting colors in his works balance, not reinforce each other. Interesting Facts
In Ivan Shishkin’s painting Morning in a Pine Forest, Konstantin Savitsky painted all the bears, but Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, who bought the masterpiece, erased his signature from the canvas with turpentine. The artists managed to preserve their friendship, and the fair Shishkin gave part of the fee for the work to his co-author.
