"Yalta. Black Sea. Crimea". Oil on canvas, signed in dark red pigment in the lower right corner. Framed in a new gold-tone frame; canvas measures approx. 16" x 21-1/2"; framed overall approx. 20" x 26". The back of the stretcher as well as the back of the canvas has the red estate stamp of the artist.
Born near Vologda in the Yaroslav district of Russia, he became a portraitist and landscape painter in a style that combined Impressionism and Realism. He entered the Valaam monastery where he studied art for two years. During that time, he painted primarily religious subjects. In 1901, he enrolled for eight years at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. His teacher was the renowned Russian artist Ilya Repin. Later he spent two years at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany, and returned to St. Petersburg in 1914 to re-enter the Imperial Academy. During this period, he focused on portrait painting, and in 1916 did two oil portraits and several sketches of the Russian bass singer F.J. Schaliapine. He also exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts and was a member of the Kuindzy Society and the Yaroslav Art Society. During World War I, he served in the army as official painter of officer portraits for the War Department and was the last artist to paint a portrait of Nicholas II. He also continued with his own work, which was a variety of scenes including impressionistic landscapes to genre scenes and portraits. In 1920, he emigrated to the United States and became an American citizen. He and his family settled in New York City.
6,000/9,000
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