Angelika Myshkina

MUSEUMS OF RUSSIA

Angelika Myshkina, Yelena Prasolova
Arkhip Kuindzhi in St. Petersburg and Mariupol. HISTORICAL LOCATIONS RELATING TO THE ARTIST

#3 2018 (60)

The character of the Russian landscape painter Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi has been shrouded in legend for more than a century. The artist rose from poverty to become, in the second half of his life, a millionaire owner of apartment buildings in St. Petersburg, but was not accustomed to talking about himself, or his childhood or family. He left no diaries or notes after his death, and the artist’s private correspondence focused mainly on business matters and reveals little about him. Kuindzhi’s first biographers, gathering material for their 1913 monograph about the artist, were challenged by such a lack of basic information.