Kramskoy I.N., (1837-1887), Artist

Categories / Art/Fine Arts/Personalia
KRAMSKOY Ivan Nikolaevich (1837-1887, St. Petersburg) was an artist and public figure. He studied at the Academy of Arts (1857-63) under A. T. Markov. He was a member of the Academy from 1869. He was an ideological leader of the Democratic movement in the Russian art. He spoke against archaic canons of the academic art. He initiated the Revolt of 14 as a result of which a group of graduates left the Academy of Arts (1863). He was a founder and ideologist of the Artel of Artists, one of the organizers of the Fellowship of Travelling Art Exhibitions. He created a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries marked by expressive simplicity of composition and depth of psychological descriptions (portraits of Leo Tolstoy, P. M. Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879; all are in the State Tretyakov Gallery; portraits of I. I. Shishkin, 1880; A. S. Suvorin, 1881; V. S. Solovyev, 1885; all are in the State Russian Museum). He also painted canvases touching upon moral and philosophical themes, anecdotal paintings and lyrical female portraits which stood close to the poetics of symbolism (Mermaids, 1871; Christ in the Desert, 1872; Inconsolable Grief, 1884; Moonlit Night, 1880; The Stranger, 1883, - all are in the State Tretyakov Gallery). He taught at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1863-68). He lived at 10 Admiralteisky Avenue (1866-69; memorial plaque) and on 18/1 Birzhevaya Line of Vasilievsky Island (1869-87; memorial plaque). He was buried at Smolenskoe Orthodox Cemetery, in 1939, his remains were carried to the Necropolis of Artists.

References: Гольдштейн С. Н. Иван Николаевич Крамской: Жизнь и творчество, 1837-1887. М., 1965; Порудоминский В. И. Иван Крамской. М., 2001.

O. L. Leikind, D.Y. Severyukhin. Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich
Markov Alexey Tarasovich
Saltykov-Shchedrin (real name Saltykov) Mikhail Evgrafovich
Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich
Solovyev Vladimir Sergeevich
Suvorin Alexey Sergeevich
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Count
Tretyakov Pavel Mikhailovich
Admiralteysky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 10
Birzhevaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city, house 18/1
Письма. Статьи: В 2 т. М., 1965–1966
Гольдштейн С. Н. Иван Николаевич Крамской: Жизнь и творчество, 1837-1887. М., 1965
Порудоминский В. И. Иван Крамской. М., 2001
Крамской об искусстве. 2-е изд., доп. М., 1989 Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Artel of Artists
Travelling Art Exhibitions, Society for
Russian Museum, State
Necropolis of Artists