Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich famous paintings

Self-portrait. 1867

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(1837-1887) - an outstanding artist of the second half of the 19th century, occupies one of the leading places in the history of Russian artistic culture. Early matured, thoughtful and well-read, he quickly gained authority among his comrades and, naturally, became one of the leaders of the "revolt of the fourteen" in 1863, when a group of graduates refused to write graduation pictures on a given mythological plot. After the rebels left the Academy of Arts, it was Kramskoy who headed the Artel of Artists, created on his initiative. Kramskoy is one of the main founders of the Wanderers association, a subtle art critic, passionately interested in the fate of Russian art, he was the ideologist of a whole generation of realist artists. He took part in the development of the charter of the Partnership and immediately became not only one of the most active and authoritative members of the board, but also the ideologist of the Partnership, who defended and substantiated the main positions. From other leaders of the Association, he was favorably distinguished by his independence of outlook, a rare breadth of views, sensitivity to everything new in the artistic process and intolerance to any dogmatism.

The work of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy coincided with the brightest period in the history of Russian realistic art, when critical realism in painting and literature reached its highest level and acquired great importance in the world culture of the 19th century. However, the role of the artist in the history of Russian art is not limited to his personal work: with his gift as a teacher, ideologist of a new direction, with all his social activities, Kramskoy had a huge impact on the minds of his contemporaries.

A girl with a loose braid. 1873

Kramskoy was born in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province. The future artist's early interest in art turned over time into a persistent attraction to creativity. The young Kramskoy worked for some time as a retoucher for the photographer Danilevsky and, as an assistant, endlessly wanders around the industrial cities of Russia. Finally, once in St. Petersburg, he fulfills his dream - he enters the Academy of Arts. However, the bright hopes of familiarizing with the secrets of great art were not destined to be realized, since at that time the main principles of academic teaching remained - the ideas of classicism that had already outlived themselves and did not correspond at all to the new time. Advanced social circles set before the artists the task of being a broad and truthful father of living reality. The appearance at that time of N. G. Chernyshevsky’s dissertation “The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality” gave special weight to the issues of art.

In the autumn of 1863, fourteen academicians were offered a “program” on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “Feast in Valhalla”. Young artists refused to write on this topic and left the Academy. The break with the Academy was led by Kramskoy. This decisive step threatened the former students with political mistrust from the state and material need, and therefore required great courage. Having led this movement, Kramskoy assumed responsibility for the future fate of Russian art. For the purpose of mutual assistance and material support, the Artel of Artists was created, which later became the base of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. A public figure by vocation, Kramskoy becomes one of the most active members of this organization. One of the main goals of the Partnership was the development of democratic art not only in the form of organization, but also in the ideological direction. In the Russian Wandering movement, democratic realism, as a phenomenon of world art, reached high peaks. The first traveling exhibition was opened on November 21, 1871 in the building of the Academy of Arts. In the spring of 1872, she was transported to Moscow, and then to Kyiv. Unlike academic exhibitions, traveling exhibitions "moved" from city to city, everywhere arousing keen interest in themselves. Thus began the activity of this public organization, which for a number of decades united all the leading artists of Russia.

Mermaids. 1871

At the first traveling exhibition, Kramskoy participated in a large painting "Mermaids" based on the plot of N.V. Gogol's story "May Night". Here the artist was attracted by the opportunity to convey the moonlight in the language of painting, so poetically changing everything around. Kramskoy wrote: “I am glad that with such a plot I didn’t finally break my neck, and if I didn’t catch the moon, something fantastic came out.”

For the next exhibition of the Wanderers, Kramskoy paints the painting “Christ in the Desert” (1872), which was conceived as the first in a series (and never realized) of paintings on gospel stories. The artist wrote that his task was to show the inner struggle of a person immersed in deep thoughts about choosing a life path. The painting "Christ in the Wilderness" was perceived by contemporaries as a symbol of a person of high civic duty

Christ in the wilderness. 1972

In the summer of 1873, Kramskoy and his family settled in the Tula province, not far from the estate of Leo Tolstoy. Taking advantage of this neighborhood, Kramskoy paints a portrait of Tolstoy. The strength and solidity of the personality, a clear and energetic mind - this is how the writer appears in this portrait. From the whole gallery of portraits of L. N. Tolstoy, written by N. N. Ge, I. E. Repin, L. O. Pasternak, the portrait of Kramskoy is one of the best. In turn, the artist himself served as a prototype for the artist Mikhailov in the novel Anna Karenina. Almost at the same time, portraits of I. I. Shishkin and N. A. Ne-krasov were created. The portrait of “Nekrasov from the period of the Last Songs” (1877) was painted at a time when Nekrasov was already seriously ill, so the sessions lasted 10-15 minutes. The strongest impression from the portrait is the contrast between the clarity of mind, creative inspiration and the physical weakness of the dying poet.

Among the works of Kramskoy there are a number of poetic female images, such as "Girl with a loose braid" or the famous "Stranger", which was said to be the prototype of Anna Karenina. Back in 1874, the artist created a whole series of peasant types, the most powerful in character among them - "Woodsman" (1874).

In the 80s, Kramskoy painted the painting “Inconsolable Grief”, which is largely autobiographical: the artist survived the death of two children. Kai and in "The Widow" by Fedotov, the theme of human grief sounds mournful here. The face and the very image of the mother who lost her child are striking.

This woman, killed by an irreparable misfortune, exists, as it were, outside of time, it seems to have stopped. Since 1883, the artist's health has deteriorated, and Kramskoy's last years were extremely difficult. Constant household chores and work on orders do not allow him to finish work on the painting "Laughter" ("Christ before the people"), the idea of ​​​​which involved the development of the theme "Christ in the Desert", the theme of the sacrificial fate of man.

On March 25, 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, Kramskoy died unexpectedly.

Ivan Kramskoy painted many portraits; Of these, the portraits of S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin, Grigorovich, Mrs. Vogau, the Gunzburg family (portraits of women), a Jewish boy, A. S. Suvorin, an unknown person, Count L. N. Tolstoy, Count Litke deserve special mention. , D. A. Tolstoy, Goncharov and ... They are distinguished by their complete resemblance and talented characterization of the face from which the portrait was painted.

Kramskoy was also engaged in engraving on copper with strong vodka; among the etchings he performed, the best are portraits of Emperor Alexander III, when he was his heir, Tsarevich, Peter the Great and Taras Shevchenko.

Kramskoy did not have a great education, he always regretted it and made up for this lack by constant serious reading and a community of intelligent people, as a result of which he himself was a useful interlocutor for artists (Kramskoy is known for his teaching activities, as a teacher since 1862 in the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists) .
Without Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, it is impossible to imagine the democratic artistic culture of the second half of the 19th century. He was rightfully the ideological leader, conscience and brain of the Wanderers.It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Kramskoy's artistic and literary heritage for Russian culture. The main focus of his artistic activity is a deep interest in the knowledge of the man of his era, whether the artist depicted him in the guise of a gospel legend or in the guise of his contemporary. Social activities of Kramskoy, his work became a school for a whole generation of Russian artists.

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Self-portrait. 1874.

Contemplator, 1876

Nekrasov in the period of the Last Songs. 1877-1878

Prayer of Moses after the passage of the Israelites through the Black Sea. 1861

Herodias. 1884-1886

For reading. Portrait of Sophia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist's wife. 1866-1869

Female portrait. 1884

Female portrait. 1867

A girl with linen on a yoke among the grass. 1874

Peasant's head. 1874

Convalescent. 1885

Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes. 1884

Actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky as Petruchio in Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew. 1883

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1879

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1876

Portrait of Anatoly Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist's son. 1882

Portrait of the artist Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. 1874

Portrait of the artist Mikhail Klodt. 1872

Portrait of the artist K.A.Savitsky.

Portrait of the artist I.K. Aivazovsky

Portrait of the artist I. E. Repin

Portrait of the artist Grigory Myasoedov

Portrait of the artist Alexei Bogolyubov. 1869

Portrait of the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. 1885

Portrait of Sophia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist's daughter. 1882

Portrait of the sculptor Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky. 1876

Portrait of the poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky. 1875

Portrait of the poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. 1877

Portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko. 1871

Portrait of the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. 1878

Portrait of the writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (N. Shchedrin). 1879

Portrait of the writer Leo Tolstoy. 1873

Portrait of the writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov. 1874

Portrait of the writer Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich. 1876

Portrait of the singer Elizaveta Andreevna Lavrovskaya, on the stage in the Nobility Assembly. 1879

Portrait of Nikolai Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist's son. 1882

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Portrait of the publisher and publicist Alexei Sergeevich Suvorin. 1881

Portrait of I.I. Shishkin. 1880

Portrait of the artist Ivan Shishkin. 1873

Laughter (Hail, king of the Jews). Late 1870s - 1880s

Poet Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov. 1883

Portrait of the artist F. A. Vasiliev. 1871

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, an artist of the second half of the 19th century, entered the history of Russian painting as the founder of the realistic trend in art. He actively developed the principle of critical realism in his work, as well as in articles devoted to the theory of art. Many of his canvases are recognized as classics of Russian painting. The author was a master of portraiture, historical and genre scenes.

short biography

Kramskoy, an artist famous for his realistic paintings, was born in 1837 into a bourgeois family. He graduated from the Ostrogorzhsk real school, but due to the poverty of his family, he could not continue his education at the gymnasium. While working in the local Duma, he became interested in photo retouching. Soon M. Tulinov became his teacher, who taught him the basics of painting. A few years later, Kramskoy, the artist best known for his portraits, moved to St. Petersburg, where he began a fruitful creative career that continued until his sudden death in 1887.

Studying at the academy

In 1857 he became a student of Academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During his studies, he received several medals both for his own paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters on religious themes. The future famous painter received his small gold medal for a painting dedicated to a biblical story.

To receive the title of an artist with the right to receive a state pension, one had to submit to the competition a work dedicated to a scene from the Scandinavian sagas. However, Kramskoy, an artist who strove for a realistic depiction of events and freedom of creativity, together with other thirteen students, turned to the academy administration with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire by saying that they want to write on topics that they themselves would prefer. After that, the young painters founded their own artistic artel, which, however, did not last long, since its members very soon decided to switch to state support.

Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions

Which already in the early period of his work became a landmark event in the cultural life of the empire, became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of this organization. Its members defended the principles of realism in art, the active social and civil position of artists. In his work, the author defended the principles of realism. He believed that pictures should not only be believable, but also carry a moral and educational meaning. Therefore, his works are imbued with a special drama.

In the 1870s, the author creates a number of remarkable portraits of his famous contemporaries: he paints images of Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Shishkin, Tretyakov and others. In this series, a special place is occupied by the portrait of the artist Kramskoy, created by himself in 1867. This canvas is distinguished by a high degree of realism, like the rest of his works of this period.

Portrait of N. Nekrasov

Such, for example, is the well-known work of the artist “Nekrasov during the “Last Songs” period” of 1877-1878. In this picture, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in the last period of his life. In general, the theme of a person’s emotional experiences, his struggle with death or some kind of shock played a big role in the artist’s work. In the works of the master, this theme did not have a social connotation, as in the works of other painters. He always showed the struggle of the spirit with the disease and was most able to convey this idea in this picture.

Women's portraits

Perhaps the most famous work of the master is the painting "The Stranger". The artist Kramskoy focused on the beauty of his model. He emphasized that she was an urban fashionista, and therefore prescribed her appearance with great care: a rich fur coat, flirty headdress, magnificent jewelry and fabrics.

It is indicative that the background on this canvas plays a secondary role: it is presented in a haze, as the author concentrates all his attention on an elegant young woman. The artist Ivan Kramskoy was especially fond of painting portraits. The paintings of the author differ in different moods.

If the woman in the above picture is depicted in a proud, confident pose, then the model on the canvas “Girl with a Loose Braid”, on the contrary, is shown in a difficult, even painful moment, when she seemed to have renounced everything around her and was completely immersed in herself. Therefore, her face, in contrast to the appearance of a stranger, expresses deep concentrated thoughtfulness, sadness and light sadness.

"Inconsolable grief"

This painting was painted in 1884 under the impression of the personal grief of the artist, who lost his son. Therefore, in the image of a woman depicted in a mourning dress, the features of the author's wife are guessed.

This canvas differs from other works of the author by the hopelessness with which it is imbued. In the center of the canvas is a middle-aged woman in a black dress. She is standing next to a box full of flowers. Her grief is expressed not in a pose that is quite natural and even free, but in the eyes and the movement of the hand with which she presses the handkerchief to her mouth. This canvas is perhaps one of the most powerful in the work of the artist and Russian painting in general.

The artist Ivan Kramskoy made an invaluable contribution to culture. He was an art rebel, an ideologue of the Wanderers, an adviser to the collector Pavel Tretyakov, who created the world-famous Tretyakov Gallery. Kramskoy's student Ilya Repin became a famous artist. This year, on May 27, Ivan Kramskoy celebrated his 180th birthday. In the museum. I. N. Kramskoy, named after the painter, houses paintings and drawings of the artist. The main exposition of the museum presents six paintings by Kramskoy. One of the most interesting works is a portrait of the artist's wife and daughter. Kramskoy did not have time to complete this picture.

The future ideologist of the Wanderers was born on May 27, 1837 in Ostrogozhsk in the family of a clerk. Ivan Kramskoy graduated from the district school, found a job as a retoucher with his countryman photographer Mikhail Tulinov. He corrected the portraits of people in the pictures with watercolors. Kramskoy left his hometown to work in Kharkov, and at the age of 19 he moved to St. Petersburg. A year after working in a photo studio in 1857, he entered the Academy of Arts the first time.

Ivan Kramskoy "Self-portrait", 1867

Kramskoy was one of the most talented students. For the painting "Moses exudes water from the rock" he received a small gold medal. However, both Kramskoy and other students of the Academy wanted more freedom. When they were offered the competition theme "Feast in Valhalla" (the author of the best picture received a large gold medal and the opportunity to go to Paris), the students refused and petitioned that everyone be allowed to develop their own theme. The Academy Council refused. Then 14 best graduates, led by Kramskoy, left the Academy and founded the first Artel of Free Artists in Russia, which lasted until 1871. This event went down in art history as the "Riot of the Fourteen".

– It is interesting that in 1863 the “Riot of the Fourteen” took place in Russia, in France in the same year the first exhibition of the Impressionists took place, – notes the head. exposition department of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy Olga Ryabchikova. “They were also rebels and were against the academic system. Artists of both France and Russia began to reach for the light, for greater freedom in creativity.

In 1870, the "Association of Traveling Exhibitions" was created, the main organizer of which was Ivan Kramskoy. He defended the views on the high social role of the artist, the principles of realism and the nationality of art. The Association held traveling exhibitions and conducted educational activities. It included famous artists of that time: Vasnetsov, Repin, Surikov, Shishkin, Levitan and others.

Ivan Kramskoy "Portrait of a lady". 1881

“Kramskoy was ahead of his time in many of his views,” says Olga Ryabchikova. – For example, he had an interesting approach to the system of art education. He believed that academies and schools were not needed, but it was worth creating artists' workshops, to which those who wanted to learn from these masters would come.

Ivan Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter, one of the best of his time. He had many orders. So, Pavel Tretyakov ordered him to create a gallery of images of prominent people, among whom were Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Nekrasov, Alexander Griboyedov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin and others. Due to the large number of orders, the artist did not have much time left to write "for the soul." Some of the work he did not have time to finish. Among them is "Portrait of Sofya Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist's wife, and Sofya Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist's daughter." The picture can be viewed in the main exhibition of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy.

Ivan Kramskoy "Portrait of the artist's wife and daughter", 1875

He met his future wife Kramskoy in St. Petersburg, when he was already finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. The girl got into trouble. She had an affair with a married artist who shamefully fled abroad with his lawful wife, leaving Sophia to fend for herself. Of course, she was condemned in society, but Kramskoy was so in love with her that he did not care about the opinions of others. The artist married Sophia in 1862.

The marriage was happy, the wife supported the artist in everything. She gave her husband six children. Unfortunately, two of Kramskoy's sons died in childhood. The painting "Portrait of a wife with a daughter" the artist began to paint after their death in 1875. The painter did not have time to finish this work, only the figures were worked out, and the background remained unfinished.

“He mentions this portrait in letters that he can’t finish it in any way, there’s no time,” says Olga Ryabchikova. - To some extent, a large flow of orders interfered with the artist, although he had to support his family, he made very good money, he was able to buy a summer house.

In the last years of his life, Ivan Kramskoy was ill with a heart aneurysm. The artist died on April 5, 1887 while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfuss. Kramskoy's grave is located at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

7 interesting facts about Ivan Kramskoy

1. At the first exhibition of the Association of the Wanderers, Ivan Kramskoy presented the painting "Mermaids" in 1871. It is based on Nikolai Gogol's story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman". To work on the painting, Kramskoy went to the village of Khoten, Kharkov province. "Mermaids" was bought by Pavel Tretyakov.

Ivan Kramskoy "Mermaids", 1871

2. Leo Tolstoy gave Ivan Kramskoy the prototype of the artist Mikhailov, to whom Vronsky commissioned a portrait of Anna in the fifth part of the novel Anna Karenina. The writer met the painter when Kramskoy arrived in the village of Kozlovka-Zaseka near Yasnaya Polyana to work on a portrait of Tolstoy. During the sessions, they had conversations about art and life. The writer attracted the artist with his energy, intelligence and simplicity of appearance. “He looks like a genius,” Kramskoy said about him. The personality of the artist also impressed Lev Nikolaevich.

Ivan Kramsko "Portrait of Leo Tolstoy", 1873

3. In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the dome is decorated with the painting "Patronymic" by Ivan Kramskoy. The chief architect of the temple, Konstantin Ton, entrusted the painting to Professor Alexei Markov from the Academy of Arts. He was supposed to receive 75,000 rubles for painting the dome. Markov took his student Evgraf Sorokin as an assistant. True, his version of the painting horrified Markov, then he offered to continue the work of another of his students, Ivan Kramskoy, paying him only ten thousand rubles. The amount of work was huge, so Kramskoy invited two fellow artists to help him. The painting turned out great. Unfortunately, on December 5, 1931, the Bolsheviks blew up the temple in order to build the Palace of Soviets in its place. Kramskoy's original painting was destroyed. When the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior began in 1988, the "Fatherland" was restored according to the sketches of the artist.

Painting "Fatherland"

4. About Kramskoy's 1872 painting "Christ in the Desert" Leo Tolstoy wrote: "This is the best Christ I know." The artist worked on this work for more than five years. Kramskoy said: “This is my first thing on which I worked seriously, wrote with tears and blood ... it is deeply suffered by me ... it is the result of many years of searching ... ". On the canvas, Christ is depicted during the 40-day fasting in the desert after his baptism. Kramskoy wanted to capture the moral choice that is inevitable in the life of every person. In a lonely figure, sitting among the cold gray stones, one feels not only thoughtfulness and fatigue, but also a readiness to take the first step on the path to Golgotha. Such a human image of Christ at that time could be perceived as blasphemy. "Christ in the Desert" Pavel Tretyakov at that time bought for fabulous money - six thousand rubles.

Ivan Kramskoy "Christ in the desert", 1872

5. Perhaps one of the most famous paintings by Kramskoy is the portrait "Unknown". The work was written in 1883. The painting depicts a young woman riding in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt. Who is this person depicted in the portrait, the artist left a mystery. Even in his letters and diaries there is no mention. The beauty, looking down on the audience, is dressed in the latest fashion: a Francis hat with a feather, a coat trimmed with sable fur, a gold bracelet ... All these things were not cheap. By the way, in the secular society of that time it was considered indecent to wear such fashionable outfits, and even flaunt them, so the appearance of a woman hinted at her “light” social position. Perhaps for this reason, Pavel Tretyakov, who was brought up in a family with strict views, did not buy the painting. The painter sold the painting to a small collector. "Unknown" wandered from one owner to another for a long time. And only in 1925 she ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Ivan Kramskoy "Stranger", 1883

6. For the painting "Christ in the Desert", the Council of the Academy of Arts decided to award Kramskoy the title of professor. But the artist refused, wanting to remain independent of the Academy.

7. The daughter of the artist Sophia Kramskaya also became a painter. She worked in many genres, was a graphic artist, miniaturist, watercolorist. Kramskoy, having seen the talent in his daughter, did a lot of work with her himself. Sophia married a lawyer of Finnish origin Georgy Junker. She continued to paint, participated in exhibitions. The artist became so famous that in 1890-1900 she was invited to paint portraits of the royal family. For many years, Sophia, together with her brothers, took care of the Ostrogozhsk Art Gallery, donated many of her works (however, during a fire in 1942, most of the collection died). In 1930, Sophia was arrested under an article for counter-revolutionary propaganda. She was sent into exile in Krasnoyarsk. In 1932, she was released for health reasons, she returned home. She died a year later at the age of 66.

Sophia painted this portrait of her father shortly before his death.

BY THE WAY
In Ostrogozhsk, the house where the artist lived has been preserved

In Ostrogozhsk, a house has been preserved (Marshak St., 14), where Ivan Kramskoy spent his childhood. With whitewashed walls under a reed roof, it immediately stands out from the rest of the buildings. It preserves the layout of the rooms and restores the details of everyday life. The museum presents materials on the Ostrogozhsk period of the artist's life. He spent 16 years in his hometown. Ostrogozhsk Historical and Art Museum. I. N. Kramskoy (Kramskoy Boulevard, 4) you can see an exposition about the St. Petersburg period of the artist. The exposition contains graphic, mostly student works by Kramskoy, his students and friends.

Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic

Ivan Kramskoy

short biography

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(June 8, 1837, Ostrogozhsk - April 5, 1887, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic.

After graduating from the Ostrogozhsk district school, Kramskoy was a clerk in the Ostrogozhsk Duma. Since 1853 he began to retouch photographs. Kramskoy's compatriot M. B. Tulinov taught him in several steps to “finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching”, then the future artist worked for the Kharkov photographer Yakov Petrovich Danilevsky. In 1856, I. N. Kramskoy came to St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in retouching in the well-known at that time photographic studio of Aleksandrovsky.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Markov.

Riot of fourteen. Artel of artists

Portrait of the artist Shishkin. (1880, Russian Museum)

In 1863, the Academy of Arts awarded him a small gold medal for the painting "Moses pours water from a rock." Before graduating from the Academy, it remained to write a program for a large medal and receive a pension abroad. The Council of the Academy offered the students a competition on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas "Feast in Valhalla". All fourteen graduates refused to develop this topic and petitioned to be allowed to each choose a topic of their choice. The subsequent events went down in the history of Russian art as the "Riot of the Fourteen". The Council of the Academy refused them, and Professor Ton noted: “If this happened before, then all of you would be soldiers!” On November 9, 1863, Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, "not daring to think about changing academic regulations, humbly ask the council to release them from participating in the competition." Among these fourteen artists were: I. N. Kramskoy, B. B. Venig, N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A. D. Litovchenko, A. I. Korzukhin, N. S. Shustov, A. I. Morozov , K. E. Makovsky, F. S. Zhuravlev, K. V. Lemokh, A. K. Grigoriev, M. I. Peskov, V. P. Kreitan, and N. P. Petrov. The artists who left the Academy formed the "Petersburg Artel of Artists", which existed until 1871.

In 1865, Markov invited him to help paint the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Due to Markov's illness, the entire main painting of the dome was made by Kramskoy together with the artists Venig and Koshelev.

In 1863-1868 he taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1869, Kramskoy received the title of academician.

Wandering

The grave of I. N. Kramskoy at the Tikhvin cemetery in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (St. Petersburg)

In 1870, the "Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions" was formed, one of the main organizers and ideologists of which was Kramskoy. Influenced by the ideas of the Russian democratic revolutionaries, Kramskoy defended his consonant opinion about the high social role of the artist, the fundamental principles of realism, the moral essence of art and its national identity.

Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy created a number of portraits of prominent Russian writers, artists and public figures (such as: Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, 1873; I. I. Shishkin, 1873; Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879 - all are in the Tretyakov Gallery, portrait of S. P. Botkin (1880) - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

One of Kramskoy's most famous works is "Christ in the Desert" (1872, Tretyakov Gallery).

The successor of the humanistic traditions of Alexander Ivanov, Kramskoy created a religious turning point in moral and philosophical thinking. He gave the dramatic experiences of Jesus Christ a deeply psychological life interpretation (the idea of ​​heroic self-sacrifice). The influence of ideology is noticeable in portraits and thematic paintings - “N. A. Nekrasov during the Last Songs period, 1877-1878; "Unknown", 1883; "Inconsolable grief", 1884 - all in the Tretyakov Gallery.

USSR postal envelope, 1987:
150 years since the birth of Kramskoy

The democratic orientation of Kramskoy's work, his critical insightful judgments about art, and persistent research into objective criteria for evaluating the features of art and their influence on it, developed democratic art and the worldview of art in Russia in the last third of the 19th century.

In recent years, Kramskoy was ill with a heart aneurysm. The artist died of an aortic aneurysm on March 24 (April 5), 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, when he suddenly stooped and fell. Rauhfus tried to help him, but it was too late. I. N. Kramskoy was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. In 1939, the ashes were transferred to the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with the installation of a new monument.

In Tsarskoye Selo, a sculptural composition of Kramskoy and the Unknown by sculptor Alexander Taratynov was installed.

A family

• Sofya Nikolaevna Kramskaya (1840-1919, nee Prokhorova) - wife
  • Nicholas (1863-1938) - architect
  • Sophia - daughter, artist, repressed
  • Anatoly (02/01/1865-1941) - official of the Department of Railway Affairs of the Ministry of Finance
  • Mark (? −1876) - son

Addresses in St. Petersburg

• 1863 - profitable house of A. I. Likhacheva - Middle Avenue, 28;
• 1863-1866 - 17 line V.O., house 4, apartment 4;
• 1866-1869 - Admiralteisky prospect, building 10;
• 1869 - 03/24/1887 - Eliseev's house - Birzhevaya line, 18, apt. 5.

Gallery

Kramskoy's works

Mermaids, 1871

Christ in the Desert, 1872

The canvas belongs to the early stage of the artist's work, but many of its inherent distinctive features have already appeared in it, which determined the style of the painter in the future. The portrait depicts the master's wife, whose marriage was […]

The portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko was commissioned by patron Pavel Tretyakov. The image of the Ukrainian poet was supposed to replenish the collection of artistic images of eminent artists. By the time the canvas was created, Taras Shevchenko had already […]

The artist Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter. The secret of his success was that he sought to capture not only external similarities, but also to reveal, guess and convey hidden, deep personality traits. Also Ivan Nikolaevich […]

The great Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy was one of the key figures of Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century. In fact, it was he who transformed the genre of portrait realism, becoming the ideological inspiration of many artists, thanks to him Russian […]

Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy was an excellent portrait painter, was fond of genre painting and was a successful critic. Before entering the Academy of Arts, located in the city of St. Petersburg, he was engaged in photo retouching. The master worked on the canvas “Laughter” for […]

For many connoisseurs of art, Kramskoy is associated with peasants. He is one of the few artists who skillfully captured the individual characters of their heroes on canvas. The Peasant with a Bridle of 1883 is one such example. […]