Ivan Aivazovsky: Seascapes

Ivan Aivazovsky - The Ninth Wave - 1850 - Oil on canvas, 221 x 332 cm - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (click photo for larger image)Russian-born Armenian Academic painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817 - 1900) was most famous for his seascapes. Although born to a poor Armenian family, he nevertheless graduated with the gold medal from the St. Petersburg Academy of Art. HIs parents worked incredibly hard to provide him with his education.

Towards the 1850s the romantic features in Aivazovsky’s work became increasingly pronounced. This can be seen quite clearly in one of his best and most famous paintings The Ninth Wave, featured here.

Aivazovsky traveled to Istanbul eight times between 1845-1890, where he completed a number of royal commissions. His house in Feodosia (a town in Cremea on the Black Sea coast) became a place for artistic pilgrimage. Armenian artists were invited there and actors and musicians performed there. It was there that a number of artists started their creative lives. Aivazovsky's dream was to create a union of Armenian artists from all over the world.

“A younger generation of Russian artists, who engaged more creatively with a changing world, quickly eclipsed Aivazovsky in importance, but the market for his work remains buoyant to this day and his best seascapes still communicate a raw energy.” Ivan Aivazovsky’s paintings are noted for their magnificent use of light against waves and sea foam, which still causes art critics to marvel at his eye, skills and temporal insights.

Did You Know?

The world's largest art gallery is the Winter Palace and Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Visitors would have to walk 15 miles to see the 322 galleries which house nearly 3 million works of art.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky: Seascapes

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Ship in the Stormy Sea - 1887 - Oil on canvas, 63 x 97 cm - The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (click photo for larger image)Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900) was Russian painter of Armenian descent, most famous for his seascapes, which constitute more than half of his paintings. He was born in the town of Feodosiya, Crimea, to a poor Armenian family. His parents family name was Aivazian. Some of artist's paintings bear a signature, in Armenian letters, "Hovhannes Aivazian”. Due to his long life in art, Aivazovsky became the most prolific Russian painter of his time. He is also said to be the most forged of all Russian painters. He left over 6,000 works at his death in 1900. With funds earned during his successful career as an artist he opened an art school and gallery in his home town of Feodosiya.

Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky - Gate Of Dawn, 1905 (click photo for larger image)Russian-Lithuanian artist Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky (1875-1957) was born in Novgorod into the family of an army officer. From 1885 to 1887, he attended the Drawing School of the Society for the Promotion of the Artists. Between 1895 and 1899, he studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, studying simultaneously in private studios. After graduating from the university, he trained under Anton Azbè in Munich and under Simon Hollósy in Nagybánya (Austria-Hungary). A primary focus of his work is on the massive growth and subsequent decay of early twentieth century cities.