- Date of birth: 27 may 1837
- Date of death: 24 Mar 1887
- Country: Russia
Biography:
Kramskoy, Ivan Nikolayevich (years of life 1837-1887), was known to us today as a talented portraitist and historical painter. His hometown is Ostrogozhsk of the Voronezh province. It was there, in the family of a petty official and was born on the little van. Painting, he was fond of since childhood. At every opportunity he took a pen or pencil and tried to sketch everything that saw around him. Loved to read.
In 1850, the year after finishing district school, 13-year-old Vanya has already started his career. He worked at first a scribe and then as a Retoucher at a friend of a photographer, with whom they traveled almost the whole of Russia. In 1857 they came to St. Petersburg, where the future artist and decided to stay, analsis to work in a photo Studio of A. I. Denyer. In the same year, Ivan Kramskoy and realized his dream – she enrolled to study at the Academy of arts.
Even during his studies, the artist tried to unite all active academic youth. But after the training, together with other graduates of the Academy, created the St. Petersburg artel. They say that the atmosphere of friendship and understanding that prevailed there, is entirely to his credit.
By the time Ivan Kramskoy finally found his calling as a portrait painter. His favorite technique at the time was the graphics. It is what we can observe today in the portraits of I. I. Shishkin, I. Morozov, G. G. Myasoedov, N. And. Kosheleva and not only.
For some time Kramskoy taught at the School of Arts at the Society for encouragement of artists. When the St. Petersburg artel slowly began to disintegrate, he was the organizer of the Association of mobile art exhibitions.
70-80 years of the XIX century were Ivan Kramskoy the period when they were written some of his most famous works (“an unknown lady”, “Mina Moiseev”, “Peasant with bridle” ). Increasingly United by the artist in his portraits and domestic subjects (“the Stranger”, “Inconsolable grief”).
During the whole of his career the artist often had to take orders of the Church of nature, which was for him one of the main sources of income.
Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that Ivan Kramskoy was a prominent figure in cultural life of Russia the 60-80s of the last century. A talented artist, a subtle critic, the founder of the St. Petersburg artel, he became the inspirer of a generation that sets a new vector of development of this branch of art in Russia, as for portrait realism.