TRAVEL TUESDAY 508 - ELISTA, KALMYKIA

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” - The Buddha

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Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia, is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavropol Krai to the southwest; Volgograd Oblast to the northwest and north and Astrakhan Oblast to the north and east; Rostov Oblast to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east. Through the Caspian Depression, the Kuma river forms Kalmykia's natural border with Dagestan.

Kalmykia is the only polity within Europe where the Dharmic religion of Buddhism is the predominant religion; the majority of Kalmyk people are Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhists of the Gelug and Kagyu lineages. The Kalmykia republic covers an area of 76,100 square kilometres, with a small population of about 275,000 residents. The republic of Kalmykia is home of the Kalmyks, a people of Oirat Mongolian origin who are mainly of Tibetan Buddhist faith. The capital of the republic is the city of Elista.

Kalmykia's natural resources include coal, oil, and natural gas. The region has a developed agricultural sector. Other developed industries include the food processing and oil and gas industries. As most of Kalmykia is arid, irrigation is necessary for agriculture, through the Cherney Zemli Irrigation Scheme.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 507 - GROZNY, CHECHNYA

“Ever since studying in Russia as a college student, I had been in a long-distance, one-sided love affair with Chechnya's remarkable history, culture and rugged natural beauty.” - Anthony Marra

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Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with Georgia to its south; with the Russian republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia–Alania to its east, north, and west; and with Stavropol Krai to its northwest. 

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Checheno-Ingush ASSR split into two parts: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which declared independence, while the former sided with Russia. Following the First Chechen War of 1994–1996 with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although de jure it remained a part of Russia. Russian federal control was restored in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009, with Chechen politics being dominated by the former Ichkerian mufti Akhmad Kadyrov, and later his son Ramzan Kadyrov.

The republic covers an area of 17,500 square kilometres, with a population of over 1.5 million residents as of 2021. It is home to the indigenous Chechens, part of the Nakh peoples and who adhere primarily to the Islamic faith. Grozny is the capital and largest city.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 506 - UFA, BASHKORTOSTAN

“It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be.” - Virgil

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Bashkortostan, officially the Republic of Bashkortostan, sometimes also called Bashkiria, is a republic of Russia between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. The republic borders Perm Krai to the north, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the northeast, Chelyabinsk Oblast to the east, Orenburg Oblast to the south, Tatarstan to the west and Udmurtia to the northwest. It covers 143,600 square kilometres. It is the seventh-most populous federal subject in Russia and the most populous republic.

Its capital and largest city is Ufa. As of 2025, it has a population of 4,046,094. Bashkortostan was established on 28 November [O.S. 15 November] 1917. On 20 March 1919, it was transformed into the Bashkir ASSR, the first autonomous republic in the Russian SFSR. On 11 October 1990, it adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty. In the Constitution of Bashkortostan and Constitution of Russia, Bashkortostan is defined as a state.

The name "Bashkortostan" derives from the name of the Bashkir ethnic group. While the endonym having various theories on its meaning, the most prominent is being a combination of Turkic words baş, meaning 'head', 'chief', 'main', 'principal' and qurt meaning 'wolf' (one of the animals regarded as sacred to Turkic peoples); the suffix -stan is Persian, commonly used for many Eurasian territorial names. Bashkirs speak the Bashkir language, which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic language group.

The famous statue of the rider in Ufa is the Monument to Salavat Yulaev.  Salavat Yulayev ia a Bashkir national hero, who fought for the independence of his homeland. The monument is a bronze sculpture on a reinforced concrete pedestal, lined with granite, and is located on the bank of the Belaya River.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #321 - VOLGA

“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” - Winston Churchill

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The Volga (Russian: Во́лга) is the longest river in Europe. It is also Europe's largest river in terms of discharge and watershed, with a length of 3,692 km. The river flows through central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely regarded as the national river of Russia.

Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, Moscow, are located in the Volga's watershed. Some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga) in Russian literature and folklore.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 281 - MOSCOW, RUSSIA

“Lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Moscow (Russian: Москва́) is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 12.5 million residents within the city limits and 17.1 million within the urban area. Moscow is one of Russia's three federal cities. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific centre of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. According to Forbes 2013, Moscow has been ranked as the ninth most expensive city in the world by Mercer and has one of the world's largest urban economies, being ranked as an alpha global city according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and is also one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world according to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index.

Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth. It is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe; the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe; and the Moscow International Business Centre. By its territorial expansion on July 1, 2012 southwest into the Moscow Oblast, the area of the capital more than doubled, going from 1,091 to 2,511 square kilometres, and it gained an additional population of 233,000 people. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, making it Europe's most populated inland city.

The city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basil's Cathedral with its brightly coloured domes, from 1555–1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible (see photo above). With over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, Moscow is one of the greenest capitals and major cities in Europe and the world, having the largest forest in an urban area within its borders—more than any other major city—even before its expansion in 2012. The city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Russian Empire to the Soviet Union and the contemporary Russian Federation.

Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence for work of the President of Russia. The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in the city. Moscow is considered the centre of Russian culture, having served as the home of Russian artists, scientists and sports figures and because of the presence of museums, academic and political institutions and theatres.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 244 - YALTA, CRIMEA

 

“... those Yalta nights, with extraordinary women who could drink vodka without swooning until six in the morning and sweaty young people from the Association of Proletarian Writers of Crimea who came to ask for literary advice at four in the afternoon.” ― Roberto Bolaño 

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Yalta (Russian: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative centre of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Population: 76,746 (2014 Census). The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by the Greek conquerors who were looking for a safe shore (γιαλός – yalos in Greek) on which to land.

Yalta is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by the mountain range Ai-Petri. It has a warm humid subtropical climate and surrounded by numerous vineyards and orchards. The term "Greater Yalta" is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements.

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ART SUNDAY - ISAAC LEVITAN

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

Isaac Ilyich Levitan (Russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; 30 August [O.S. 18 August] 1860 – 4 August [O.S. 22 July] 1900) was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the “mood landscape”. Levitan was born in a shtetl of Kibarty, Augustów Governorate in Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania) into a poor but educated Jewish family. His father Elyashiv Levitan was the son of a rabbi, completed a Yeshiva and was self-educated. He taught German and French in Kowno and later worked as a translator at a railway bridge construction for a French building company.

At the beginning of 1870 the Levitan family moved to Moscow. In September 1873, Isaac Levitan entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where his older brother Avel had already studied for two years. After a year in the copying class Isaac transferred into a naturalistic class, and soon thereafter into a landscape class. Levitan’s teachers were the famous Alexei Savrasov, Vasily Perov and Vasily Polenov. In 1875, his mother died, and his father fell seriously ill and became unable to support four children; he died in 1877. The family slipped into abject poverty. As patronage for Levitan’s talent and achievements, his Jewish origins and to keep him in the school, he was given a scholarship.

In 1877, Isaac Levitan’s works were first publicly exhibited and earned favourable reviews from the press. After Alexander Soloviev’s assassination attempt on Alexander II, in May 1879, mass deportations of Jews from big cities of the Russian Empire forced the family to move to the suburb of Saltykovka, but in Autumn, officials responded to pressure from art devotees, and Levitan was allowed to return. In 1880 his painting Осенний день. Сокольники (“Autumn Day: Sokolniki”) was bought by famous philanthropist and art collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov.

In the Spring of 1884 Levitan participated in the mobile art exhibition by the group known as the Peredvizhniki and in 1891 became a member of the Peredvizhniki partnership. During his study in the Moscow School of painting, sculpture and architecture, Levitan befriended Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Nesterov, architect Fyodor Shekhtel, and the painter Nikolay Chekhov, whose famous brother Anton Chekhov became the artist’s closest friend. Levitan often visited Chekhov and some think Levitan was in love with his sister, Maria Pavlovna Chekhova. In the early 1880s Levitan collaborated with the Chekhov brothers on the illustrated magazine “Moscow” and illustrated the M. Fabricius edition “Kremlin”. Together with Korovin in 1885-1886 he painted scenery for performances of the Private Russian opera of Savva Mamontov. In the 1880s he participated in the drawing and watercolour gatherings at Polenov’s house.

Levitan’s work was a profound response to the lyrical charm of the Russian landscape. Levitan did not paint urban landscapes; with the exception of the “View of Simonov Monastery” (whereabouts unknown), mentioned by Nesterov, the city of Moscow appears only in the painting “Illumination of the Kremlin”. During the late 1870s he often worked in the vicinity of Moscow, and created the special variant of the ‘landscape of mood’, in which nature is spiritualised, and becomes symbolic of the condition of the human soul.

During work in Ostankino, he painted fragments of the mansion’s house and park, but he was most fond of poetic places in the forest or modest countryside. Characteristic of his work is a hushed and nearly melancholic reverie amidst pastoral landscapes largely devoid of human presence. Fine examples of these qualities include “The Vladimirka Road”, (1892), “Evening Bells”, (1892), and “Eternal Rest”, (1894), all in the Tretyakov Gallery. Though his late work displayed familiarity with Impressionism, his palette was generally muted, and his tendencies were more naturalistic and poetic than optical or scientific.

In the summer of 1890 Levitan went to Yuryevets (Юрьевец) and among numerous landscapes and etudes he painted “The View of Krivooserski Monastery”. So the plan of one of his best pictures, “The Silent Monastery”, was born. The image of a silent Monastery and planked bridges over the river, connecting it with the outside world, expressed the artist’s spiritual reflections. It is known that this picture made a strong impression on Chekhov. In 1897, already world-famous, he was elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts and in 1898 he was named the head of the Landscape Studio at his alma mater.

Levitan spent the last year of his life at Chekhov’s home in Crimea. In spite of the effects of a terminal illness, his last works are increasingly filled with light. They reflect tranquillity and the eternal beauty of Russian nature. He was buried in Dorogomilovo Jewish cemetery. In April 1941 Levitan’s remains were moved to the Novodevichy Cemetery, next to Chekhov’s tomb. Levitan did not have a family or children. In the 1890s, however, he had an on-again, off-again affair with an older married woman; the painter Sofia Kuvshinnikova, which led to a small scandal — and a play by Anton Chekhov and a threatened duel with the playwright. Isaac Levitan’s hugely influential art heritage consists of more than a thousand paintings, among them watercolours, pastels, graphics, and illustrations.

Above is “Lake. Russia” 1900. The last, unfinished painting Levitan was working on just before his death.

ART SUNDAY - ALEXANDER SIGOV

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” - Iris Murdoch 

Alexander Sigov was born on February 25, 1955 in Leningrad. He graduated from the V. A. Serov Art College in 1975. Since 1994 he is a member of the Soyuz artist group. Collections where works are exhibited are in the Museum of Modern Art in Seoul, South Korea; private collections in Russia, Germany, France, Turkey, Japan, Sweden, Czechia, Canada, and United States. He has participated in many group exhibitions and has had several one-man exhibitions in Russia and abroad.

In an autobiographical note, the artist states: “Salvador Dali, in one of his Ten Commandments says: ‘Do not be afraid of the perfection you did not achieve’. Painting is something that helps me to draw near to this mystery of perfection. If in life we aim to achieve certain goals, such as to understand the mystery of truth – as perfection must be considered – not rarely comes disappointment. However, in art there is hope to approach this ideal, learning much from the process every day.” 

Sigov in his paintings adopts the aesthetics and symbolism of images of the past and processes them in his own unique manner, creating his own personal universe, in which a certain familiarity becomes renewed and added to it are decorative elements, sumptuous textures and unexpected touches of whimsy. Saturation of colour on the one hand with delicate pastel tones on the other, a variety of beautiful embossed patterns with superimposed fine lines of masterful drawing, satisfying composition and a pictorial plane packed with fine detail allow the artist to express the fusion of styles and images in a harmonious end-product.

ART SUNDAY - ALEKSANDRA MITROFANOVNA BEĻCOVA

“A true portrait should, today and a hundred years from today, be the testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was.” - Philippe Halsman 

Aleksandra Mitrofanovna Beļcova (Russian: Бельцова, Александра Митрофановна, March 17, 1892 in Surazh, Chernigov Governorate – February 1, 1981 in Riga, Latvian SSR) was a Latvian and Russian painter.

Aleksandra Beļcova graduated from the Secondary School for Women in Novozybkov in 1912. Later she started studies in Penza city art school, from which she graduated in 1917. While in Penza she met several Latvian painters who studied there as refugees. Among them were Jēkabs Kazaks, Konrāds Ubāns and Voldemārs Tone. Especially close relationships developed between her and Romans Suta, another Latvian painter who studied in Penza.

In 1917 she went to Petrograd to study in State Free Art Workshop under Nathan Altman. It was in Petrograd that her first solo exhibition was held in 1919. Just after the exhibition she moved to Latvia along with Romans Suta and became a member of the Riga Artists Group. The couple married in 1922 in Riga and after marriage they visited Paris, Berlin and Dresden.

In 1923 their daughter Tatiana was born in Paris. In 1925 she painted “The White and the Black” (above). She was involved in the Roller group exhibitions and Riga Graphic Artists Association in the following years. Her paintings were mostly portraits and still lifes, beginning as a Cubist she turned to realism in later years. Her mediums were oil, watercolour, ink and pencil, and she also painted on porcelain. Beļcova died on February 1, 1981.[1] The home of Aleksandra Belcova and Romans Suta in Elizabetes street 57A-26 in Riga is now turned into memorial museum and art gallery.

An excellent critique of the painting above can be found here: https://deepbaltic.com/2017/03/02/baltic-artists-brought-the-world-home-but-at-what-cost/

ART SUNDAY - OLGA SUVOROVA

“I love Russia because Russia gave me you.” ― John M. Simmons 

Olga Suvorova is an internationally acclaimed Russian artist. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1966. She studied monumental composition at the famous Ilya Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. Her career has been greatly influenced by her parents, Igor and Natalya, both highly praised artists in St. Petersburg. Other sources of influence include Gustav Klimt, Piero Della Francesca, and traditional Russian icons.

Suvorova’s work was exhibited in the St. Petersburg Art Academy in a solo showing in the spring of 1990 where her paintings were received with great enthusiasm and praise. In 1993 she was awarded first prize for painting by the Academy. She also was honoured with President Yeltsin’s Artist prize from a competition in which more than 3,000 artists took part. Presently, she is an accomplished and successful artist, possessing her own easily recognisable style, and busy with her exhibitions and commissions. She is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia.

The artist’s interesting portraits first gained her reputation in Russia, and then abroad. These tableaux have an eye-catching highly decorative style, which nevertheless does not become trite or facile. Filled with sumptuous detail and rich colour, the paintings possess harmony and a compositional formality that reminds the viewer of Renaissance masters. The effect is brilliant yet not gaudy, classical but not sparse, rich yet not glitzy. Her use of ornament and pattern reminds one of Klimt and Hundertwasser, but her meticulous drawing and modelling of form looks back in time whereas the artists aforementioned gazed into the future.

Suvorova exhibits regularly in Paris and London, and she has also exhibited in Italy, Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Britain, Ireland, China, and the USA. Her work is highly regarded and eagerly acquired by galleries and serious art collectors around the world.

The painting above is one of her “Annunciation” canvases. It is replete with symbolism and as with many of her paintings, the portraits are flanked by florid decorative elements, which somehow remain non-intrusive, despite their overwhelming baroque omnipresence. Animals and flowers are another element that is an almost constant and universal accompaniment to the human figures, and here, birds complement the angels, whose widespread wings flank the Virgin. Mary’s face is mature and pensive, as though the annunciation has already converted her into an all-knowing and experienced woman and mother, rather than a simple and innocent maiden. The ultramarine blues are complemented by reds and yellows, but the viewer always returns to the expressive, although other-worldly faces.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #102 - ST PETERSBURG

“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” - Pauline Phillips 

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Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, tr. Sankt-Peterburg) is the second largest city in Russia, politically incorporated as a federal subject (a federal city). Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was named Saint Petersburg in 1703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д), and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.

Tsar Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg on May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703. Between 1713–1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the imperial capital of Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow. It is Russia’s second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Saint Petersburg is the most Westernised city of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. It is the northernmost city in the world with a population of over one million.

The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks, and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. We visited St Petersburg in 2001 and thoroughly enjoyed it, seeing an amazing number of significant sites, museums, historical and cultural areas. The people we met were courteous, helpful and friendly. 

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (Russian: Церковь Спаса на Крови, Tserkovʹ Spasa na Krovi) is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, Russia. Other names include the Church on Spilled Blood (Russian: Церковь на Крови, Tserkov’ na Krovi), the Temple of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (Russian: Храм Спаса на Крови, Khram Spasa na Krovi), and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Russian: Собор Воскресения Христова, Sobor Voskreseniya Khristova). This church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded by political nihilists in March 1881. The church was built between 1883 and 1907. The construction was funded by the imperial family.

Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg’s other structures. The city’s architecture is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, but the Saviour on Blood harks back to medieval Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism. It intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and the celebrated St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

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MIDWEEK MOVIES - DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

“But Sasha was from Russia, where the sunsets are longer, the dawns less sudden and sentences are often left unfinished from doubt as how to best end them.” ― Virginia Woolf 

Doctor Zhivago (1965) Epic Drama, 197 minutes – Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak and directed by David Lean; starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay. – 8.0/10

One has to revisit one’s past occasionally and observe it from the new perspective that several years passage can give it. It is the same with books one has read, films one has seen and music one has heard. In many cases it is pleasant surprise, in other cases disappointment, rarely complete mystification as to why we were besotted with that in the first place. In any case, revisiting the past can bring back a host of memories and feelings, some gratifying, some disagreeable.

It was interesting to see David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago” again, after so many years. It felt a little like opening a time capsule and discovering all sorts of things one doesn’t see today. They certainly made films differently in the 1960s, especially the grand scale epics that films such as this represents. In any case, the film still is a classic and David Lean is one of the great film directors. The acting was as grandiose as the sets and the gorgeous expansive landscapes. The music score by Maurice Jarre still held its status as an unforgettable and evergreen musical gem, while the cinematography by Freddie Young is absolutely faultless.

The plot is set around the time of the Russian Revolution, and centres on Yuri Zhivago (Sharif), who is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father’s suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar (Christie), who has been having an affair with her mother’s lover, Victor Komarovsky (Steiger), an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, however, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya (Chaplin). Lara marries, Pasha (Courtenay), a revolutionary whose passion for the Communist cause cannot be compromised.

Lara's true love is Zhivago who also loves his wife. Lara is the one who inspires Zhivago’s poetry. But when Zhivago and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites. The story is narrated by Yevgraf (Guinness), Zhivago’s half brother, who has made his career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long-lost daughter of Lara and Zhivago…

The plot of course is simple and almost inconsequential to the point of banality, yet the complete package of the film is fresh, visually appealing, engaging and despite its epic and grandiloquent (even a trifle bombastic), style it still manages to bewitch the viewer. The film still manages to excite emotion and exudes an innocence that we have lost in much of modern film-making. We would recommend getting your hands on this and watching it, even if you have seen it before. It does stand up well to a re-viewing!

ART SUNDAY - ALEXEI SAVRASOV

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” ― FyodorDostoyevsky 

Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov (Russian: Алексе́й Кондра́тьевич Савра́сов - May 24, 1830 – October 8, 1897) was a Russian landscape painter and creator of the lyrical landscape style. Savrasov was born into the family of a merchant. He began to draw early and in 1838 he enrolled as a student of professor Karl Rabus (1800-1857) at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). He graduated in 1850 and immediately began to specialise in landscape painting. In 1852, he travelled to Ukraine. Then, in 1854 by the invitation of the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, he moved to St. Petersburg.

In 1857, Savrasov became a teacher at the MSPSA. His best students, Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin, remembered their teacher with admiration and gratitude. In 1857, he married Sophia Karlovna Hertz, sister of the art historian Karl Hertz (1820-1883). In their home they entertained artistic people and collectors including Pavel Tretyakov. Savrasov became especially close with Vasily Perov. Perov helped him paint the figures of the boat trackers in Savrasov’s “Volga near Yuryevets”, while Savrasov painted the landscapes for Perov’s “Bird Catcher” and “Hunters on Bivouac”.

In the 1860s, he travelled to England to see the International Exhibition, and then onto Switzerland. In one of his letters he wrote that no academies in the world could so advance an artist as the present world exhibition. The painters who influenced him most were British painter John Constable and Swiss painter Alexandre Calame. 

“The Rooks Have Come Back” (1871) is considered by many critics to be the high point in Savrasov’s artistic career. Using a common, even trivial, episode of birds returning home, and an extremely simple landscape, Savrasov showed the transition of nature from winter to spring in an emotional and involving manner. It was a new type of lyrical landscape painting, called later by critics the “mood landscape”. The painting brought him fame.

In 1870, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki group, breaking with government-sponsored academic art. In the late 1870s, he gradually became an alcoholic. The process may have begun with the death of his daughter in 1871, which led to a crisis in his art and, possibly, dissatisfaction with his artistic career. In 1882, he was dismissed from his position at the MSPSA. All attempts of his relatives and friends to help him were in vain. His work suffered dramatically and the last years of his life were spent in poverty. He was usually drunk and often dressed in rags. Finally, he found himself wandering from shelter to shelter. Only the doorkeeper of the MSPSA and Pavel Tretyakov, founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, were present at his funeral in 1897.

The painting above is his “Rasputitsa – Sea of Mud”, painted in 1894. The winter landscape is bleak and despite the thawing of the snow, mud is revealed and no hopeful sign of green. Painted after Savrasov became an alcoholic and after being dismissed from his position at the School, the painting encapsulates the desperate situation the artist found himself in. Three years later he would be dead.

ART SUNDAY - KONSTANTIN A. KOROVIN

“If you want to make the most of travel to Russia, it is better to leave tight plans and preconceptions behind and just enjoy the journey.” - Tim Cope 

Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin (Russian: Константи́н Алексе́евич Коро́вин, first name often spelled Constantin; 5 December [O.S. 23 November] 1861 – 11 September 1939) was a leading Russian Impressionist painter. Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as “peasants of Vladimir Gubernia”. His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts and music than in the family business established by Konstantin’s grandfather. Konstantin’s older brother Sergei Korovin was a notable realist painter. Konstantin’s relative Illarion Pryanishnikov was also a prominent painter of the time and a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

In 1875 Korovin entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied with Vasily Perov and Alexei Savrasov. His brother Sergei was already a student at the school. During their student years, the Korovins became friends with fellow students Valentin Serov and Isaac Levitan; Konstantin maintained these friendships throughout his life. In 1881–1882, Korovin spent a year at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, but returned disappointed to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He studied at the school under his new teacher Vasily Polenov until 1886. In 1885 Korovin travelled to Paris and Spain. He later wrote: “Paris was a shock for me … Impressionists… in them I found everything I was scolded for back home in Moscow”.

Polenov introduced Korovin to Savva Mamontov’s Abramtsevo Circle: Viktor Vasnetsov, Apollinary Vasnetsov, Ilya Repin, Mark Antokolsky and others. The group's love for stylised Russian themes is reflected in Korovin’s picture “A Northern Idyll”. In 1885 Korovin worked for Mamontov’s opera house, designing the stage decor for Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida”, Léo Delibes’ “Lakmé” and Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”.

In 1888 Korovin travelled with Mamontov to Italy and Spain, where he produced the painting “On the Balcony, Spanish Women Leonora and Ampara”. Konstantin travelled within Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia and exhibited with the Peredvizhniki. He painted in the Impressionist, and later in the Art Nouveau, styles. In the 1890s Korovin became a member of the Mir Iskusstva art group. Korovin’s subsequent works were strongly influenced by his travels to the north.

In 1888 he was captivated by the stern northern landscapes seen in The Coast of Norway and the Northern Sea. His second trip to the north, with Valentin Serov in 1894, coincided with the construction of the Northern Railway. Korovin painted a large number of landscapes: “Norwegian Port”, “St. Triphon’s Brook in Pechenga”, “Hammerfest: Aurora Borealis”, and others. The paintings are built on a delicate web of shades of grey. The etude style of these works was typical for Korovin’s art of the 1890s. Using material from his trip, Korovin designed the Far North pavilion at the 1896 All Russia Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. He painted ten big canvasses for the pavilion as well, depicting various aspects of life in the northern and Arctic regions. After the closure of the Exhibition, the canvasses were eventually placed in the Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal in Moscow. In the 1960s, they were restored and transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery.

In 1900 Korovin designed the Central Asia section of the Russian Empire pavilion at the Paris World Fair and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government. In the beginning of the 20th century, Korovin focussed his attention on the theatre. He moved from Mamontov’s opera to the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Departing from traditional stage decor, which only indicated the place of action, Korovin produced a mood decor conveying the general emotions of the performance. Korovin designed sets for Konstantin Stanislavsky’s dramatic productions, as well as Mariinsky’s operas and ballets, sets that became famous for their expressiveness.

In 1905 Korovin became an Academician of Painting and in 1909–1913 a professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. One of the artist’s favourite themes was Paris. He painted “A Paris Café” (1890s), “Café de la Paix” (1905), “La Place de la Bastille” (1906), “Paris at Night”, “Le Boulevard Italien” (1908), “Night Carnival” (1901), “Paris in the Evening” (1907), and others.

During World War I Korovin worked as a camouflage consultant at the headquarters of one of the Russian armies and was often seen on the front lines. After the October Revolution Korovin continued to work in the theatre, designing stages for Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried”, as well as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” (1918–1920). In 1923 Korovin moved to Paris on the advice of Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky to cure his heart condition and help his handicapped son. There was supposed to be a large exhibition of Korovin’s works, but the works were stolen and Korovin was left penniless.

For years, he produced the numerous genre paintings of Russian Winters and Paris Boulevards just to make ends meet. In the last years of his life he produced stage designs for many of the major theatres of Europe, America, Asia and Australia, the most famous of which is his scenery for the Turin Opera House’s production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel”. Korovin died in Paris on 11 September 1939. Konstantin’s son Alexey Korovin (1897–1950) was a notable Russian-French painter. Because of an accident during his childhood he had both feet amputated. Alexey committed suicide in 1950. 

The painting above is “Venice”, painted in 1894.

ART SUNDAY - ARKHIP KUINDZHI

“A picture is a poem without words.” – Horace   

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (or Kuinji; Russian: Архи́п Ива́нович Куи́нджи; Ukrainian: Архи́п Іва́нович Куї́нджі; January 27, 1842(?) – July 24, 1910) was a Russian landscape painter of Greek descent. 

Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in January 1842 (1841?) in Mariupol (nowadays Ukraine). His Christian name is a Russian and Ukrainian rendering of the Greek, Ἄρχιππος, (Archippos, from ἄρχων (archon) “master” and ἱππος (hippos) “horse”, i.e. “master of horses”; cf. Colossians 4:17;) and his surname came from his grandfather’s vocational nickname meaning “goldsmith” in Tatar (cf. Turkish, kuyumcu).

He grew up in a poor family; his father was a Greek shoemaker, Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi (sometimes spelt Emendzhi). Arkhip was six years old when he lost his parents, so he was forced to make a living working at a church building site, grazing domestic animals, and working at the corn merchant’s shop. He received the rudiments of an education from a Greek friend of the family who was a teacher and then went to the local school. In 1855, at age 13–14, Kuindzhi visited Feodosia to study art under Ivan Aivazovsky, however, he was engaged merely with mixing paints and instead studied with Adolf Fessler, Aivazovsky’s student.

A 1903 encyclopaedic article stated: “Although Kuindzhi cannot be called a student of Aivazovsky, the latter had without doubt some influence on him in the first period of his activity; from whom he borrowed much in the manner of painting.” English art historian John E. Bowlt wrote that “…the elemental sense of light and form associated with Aivazovsky’s sunsets, storms, and surging oceans permanently influenced the young Kuindzhi.” 

During the five years from 1860 to 1865, Kuindzhi worked as a retoucher in the photography studio of Simeon Isakovich in Taganrog. He tried to open his own photography studio, but without success. After that Kuindzhi left Taganrog for Saint Petersburg. He studied painting mainly independently and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (from 1868; a full member since 1893). He was co-partner of travelling art exhibitions (Peredvizhniki), a group of Russian realist artists who in protest to academic restrictions formed an artists’ cooperative which evolved into the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki) in 1870.

In 1872 the artist left the academy and worked as a freelancer. The painting “On the Valaam Island” was the first artwork which Pavel Tretyakov acquired for his art gallery. In 1873 Kuindzhi exhibited his painting “The Snow”, which received the bronze medal at the International Art Exhibition in London in 1874. In the middle of the 1870s he created a number of paintings in which the landscape motif was designed for concrete social associations in the spirit of Peredvizhniki (“Forgotten Village”, 1874; “Chumatski Path”, 1875; both – in the Tretyakov Gallery).

In his mature period Kuindzhy aspired to capture the most expressive illuminative aspect of the natural condition. He applied composite receptions (high horizon, etc.), creating panoramic views. Using light effects and intense colours shown in main tones, he depicted the illusion of naturalistic lighting effects (“Evening in Ukraine”, 1876; “Birch Grove”, 1879; “After a Thunderstorm”, 1879; all three are in the Tretyakov Gallery; “Night on the Dniepr”, 1880 in the Russian Museum, St.Petersburg).

His later works are remarkable for their decorative effects of colour building. Kuindzhi lectured at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (Professor since 1892; professor-head of landscape workshop since 1894; but was fired in 1897 for support of students’ protests). Among his students were artists such as Arkady Rylov, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Bogaevsky, and others. Kuindzhi initiated creation of the Society of Artists (1909; later – the Society was named after A.I. Kuindzhi).

The painting above is his “Morning on the Dniepr” and shows his mastery of light and space, with a deceptively simple composition and a reduction of detail in the background that makes it seem quite modern, although most his landscapes would be described as “realistic”.

ART SUNDAY - SERGEY IVANOV

“To live without hope is to cease to live.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky 

Sergey Vasilyevich Ivanov (Russian: Сергей Васильевич Иванов; 1864-1910) was a Russian genre and history painter, known for his Social Realism. His father was a tax collector for the Customs Service. Sergey displayed an early talent for art, but his father was opposed on the grounds that it would not be a secure way to make a living so, at the age of eleven, he was enrolled at the Konstantinov Land Surveying Institute.

Surveying was not to his liking and he was an indifferent student, so a family friend who was an amateur artist encouraged his father to send him to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). With a recommendation from Vasily Perov, he began attending classes there in 1878; studying with Illarion Pryanishnikov and Evgraf Sorokin. He left there in 1882 to attend the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Dissatisfaction with the Academy’s administration, as well as financial difficulties forced him to return to Moscow in 1884. He went back to the MSPSA and graduated in 1885. At that time he started work on a series of paintings devoted to “Pereselenchestvo”, the process of resettling peasants to outlying, vacant areas (mostly in Siberia) in an attempt to ease overcrowding in the villages after the Emancipation reform of 1861. The move was often very arduous and many died on the way. From 1885 to 1889, he toured the provinces of Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan and Orenburg, documenting the migrants’ lives. This was followed by a series on convicts.

In the mid 1890s, he began to focus on historical works. In 1899, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki, but was soon dissatisfied with their emphasis on “lovely scenes”. In 1903, he was one of the founders of the “Union of Russian Artists”, temporarily replacing the better-known “Mir Isskutsva”. In 1905, the Imperial Academy conferred on him the title of “Academician”. Later that year, during the Moscow Uprising, he made numerous sketches while also helping the wounded. From 1903 to 1910, he taught at the MSPSA. He was also known as an illustrator, creating drawings for classics by Gogol, Lermontov and Pushkin, among others. He died of a heart attack at his dacha near the Yakhroma River.

The painting above is “Death of a Migrant” from 1889. The stark realism of this work draws attention to the plight of the countless peasants who were resettled willy-nilly to the under-populated Siberian plains. Many did not make it and Ivanov records in this painting the fate of the hapless family who have lost father and husband on the migration route.

ART SUNDAY - IVAN GODLEVSKY

“Don’t work for recognition, but do work worthy of recognition.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

Ivan Ivanovich Godlevsky (Russian: Иван Иванович Годлевский; March 9, 1908, Kholm Governorate, Russian Empire – August 20, 1998, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was born in the town of Dobromychi (then the territory of Poland) in 1908. In 1913 his parents died in the First World War and he was admitted into the shelter of Countess Veniaminova in Moscow, but after the revolution he was brought up in an orphanage.

Since his early childhood Ivan was fond of drawing and painting. In 1926 he graduated from the Mirgorod Art School and then entered the Kiev Academy, where his talent was noted by a professor at the Krichevsky Academy. After the Kiev Academy he was drafted into the army, where he served until 1935. In 1936 he was admitted to the Leningrad Art Academy for the quality of his work without exams. He studied at the studio of Alexander Aleksandrovich Osmyorkin, was his favorite student and was a friend of the master for the rest of his life.

The war found the artist in Gurzuf, where he was writing his thesis. Godlevsky went into the army, went to war, was awarded a medal and was demobilised in 1946. He was able to graduate from the Academy only in 1949 and began to teach in the famous Muchinka. At the same time he was elected chairman of the painting section of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Artists.

Party member, war hero, professor of a prestigious university and head of the painting section, Godlevsky could have had a successful career. However, he was extremely honest in his relations with art and never changed his artistic principles. Godlevsky worked not for recognition, but for art. In his diary he wrote: “Creativity is the way to absolute happiness and the only meaning of life.” In 1956 Godlevsky fulfilled an important state order and received a considerable sum of money for it. He retired as professor and completely devoted himself to his passion - painting. To create pictures for him was a vital necessity. That is why in his paintings it is easy to see not only the great talent of the artist, but also his own sense of the fullness of being. Having thoroughly studied the foundations of impressionism, the artist created his own bright, easily recognizable, individual style in painting back in the early 1950s. It is noteworthy that this style remained characteristic of the artist until the end of his life.

The most devoted admirer of Godlevsky’s creativity was his wife, Vera Dmitrievna Lyubimova. It so happened that at first she fell in love with his paintings, and then in the artist himself. They were married in 1957.

In 1961 the first solo exhibition of Ivan Godlevsky’s works was held in the exhibition hall of the Leningrad Union of Artists. As soon as it opened, people stood in line in the street in order to be admitted. Newspapers reviews were not as complimentary and the artist was criticised for “formalism and Frenchness”. Still, the exhibition was so successful that it was approved for a visiting display in 12 more cities, but after Leningrad it was held only in Lviv. The second solo exhibition was organised in the Union of Artists only in 1978.

In 1990 the artist was invited to Paris and after the first successful exhibition of 150 of his works, they were submitted for sale to the French public at the famous Parisian auction house, Drouot, where 148 were sold. Godlevsky became a famous artist in France and decided to stay there continuing his painting. He settled with his wife in the South of France in the town of Le Pradet, near St. Tropez. Subesquently, further exhibitions of Godlevsky’s works were organised in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Italy. In December 1996 the artist decided to return to Russia, to his studio in St. Petersburg. In 1998 he died in his native land, his work finally acknowledged as significant and original.

The painting above is “On the Banks of the Ancient Volkhov River”, painted in 1970. It is rathe rdark and brooding, contrasting with others of his works that are brighter and perhaps more decorative such as his “Fishing Boats” or some that are more exotic and reminiscent of the orientalist tradition such as his “Samarkand”.