Kramskoy, Ivan Nikolayevich (1837-1887), an artist

Subject / Art/Personnel
KRAMSKOI, Ivan Nikolayevich (1837–1887), artist, public figure. In 1856 he entered St.Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, his teacher was A.T. Markov. In 1863 Kramskoi with a group of like-minded people (“Bunt Chetyrnadtsaty” (“Rebellion of the Fourteen”)) withdrew from the Imperial Academy of Arts and founded Co-operative of Artists. In the period 1863-68 he taught at the High School of Painting at the Emperor’s Art Encouragement Society, among his students one can find I.Y. Repin, V.I. Surikov. He became academician of painting in 1869. In 1870 Kramskoi became one of the initiators of the Circle of Itinerants (Association of mobile art exhibitions - Peredvizhniki) and its head. He took part in wall painting in churches, including the Church of Our Saviour in Moscow (1865). He was an ideological leader of realism and a trend against academic approach in art. Kramskoi was a master of psychological portrait. He painted portraits of L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoyevsky, М.Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin , N.A. Nekrasov, I.I. Shishkin, V.G. Perov and other art workers as well as portraits of peasants, which became а novelty in painting. He created several landscapes and genre paintings. He constantly issued critical articles on art. Kramskoi died in St.Petersburg and was buried in Volkovo Cemetery; later his remains were moved to the Necropolis of Masters of Arts in Alexander Nevsky Laura. He several times visited Luga Town. In the summer 1872 Kramskoi together with K.A. Savitsky and I.I. Shishkin rented a country house in Ilzho estate. There the painter worked on the picture “Khristos v Pustyne” (“Christ in the Desert”). Since 1874 Kramskoi rented a country house in Siversky Urban Settlement and later he built there a country house and a studio (doesn’t exist). There he painted about 40 pictures (a portrait of a peasant Mina Moiseyev, a portrait of A.N. Maikov, etc.). A great number of Kramskoi’s pictures depicted the views of his country house and its suburbs: “Semya na Dache” (“Family in Their Country House”), “Veranda”, “Vyzdoravlivayushchaya” (“Recovering Woman”), watercolours “Siverskaya” (“Siversky Urban Settlement”), “Siverskaya. Reka Oredezh” (“ Siversky Urban Settlement. The Oredezh River”), etc. Kramskoi several times visited Gatchina Town, he often visited a portrait gallery in Gatchina Palace. In 1881, staying at S.P. Botkin’s estate on the Karelian Isthmus (modern Tarasovka Village, Vyborg District), he painted S.P. Botkin’s portrait. In the summer 1885 Kramskoi stayed at Rapti estate and painted portraits of the family members of the Sate Secretary A.A. Polovtsov. Kruzhnov, Yuri Nikolayevich
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Mikhaylovich
Kramskoi, Ivan Nikolayevich
Maikov, Apollon Nikilayevich
Markov, Aleksey Tarasovich
Moiseyev, Mina
Nekrasov, Nikolay Alekseyevich
Perov, Vasily Grigoryevich
Polovtsov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
Repin, Ilya Yefimovich
Saltykov-Shchedrin , Mikhail Yevgrafovich (the real name was Saltykov)
Savitsky, Konstantin Apollonivich
Shishkin, Ivan Ivanovich
Surikov, Vasily Ivanovich
Tolstoy, Leo (Lev) Nikolayevich, Count
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Gatchina Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Luga District/Luga Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Siversky Urban Settlement
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vyborg District/Tarasovka, village
Громов В.И., Файнштейн Л.А. Памятные места Ленинградской области. Л., 1959., 167, 186, 377
Порудоминский В. И. Иван Крамской. М., 2001, 167, 186, 377
Сонина Л.В. Сиверская в судьбах русских литераторов. Гатчина, 2000., 12-15
Ilzho, a country estate
Rapti, a country estate