Ivan Aivazovsky, Part 1 | Virtual Museum Tour

A daring trick that could have put an end to the career of a master painter. A work that summed up the artist's long journeys. And finally the decision of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Petersburg, which at that time was unprecedented. The National Museum Kyiv Picture Gallery. However odd this may sound, its emergence was promoted by war and revolution. World War I forced Fedor Tereshchenko, the owner of the mansion in which the museum is located, to go abroad. But even after nearly a century had passed, the spirit of that era remains in the museum to this day, though some of the elements of the interior were lost. Oil, canvas and the whole palette of colors that only an artist can use in creating masterpieces. In his early paintings he muffles this color brightness, juiciness with these golden rays of setting sun, which gives the landscape such a special softness and an element of true romanticism. A painting measuring 90 by 60 centimeters is called View on the Island of Capri. It was created by the famous painter of seascapes Ivan Ivozovsky. The View on the Island of Capri is considered by art experts one of the best early paintings by the artist. It was painted in 1845. What inspired the artist to paint this picture? Why did the young Ivozovsky enrage even the Tsar? And what was the reason that he decided to change his original manner and style of painting? Ivan Ivozovsky, who has been called by many art critics an outstanding Russian seascape painter for so many years, was born into the family of an Armenian merchant, which moved from Halychyna, Halytsia, in western Ukraine, to Crimea five years before his birth. On July 29, 1817, in Feodosia, a boy named Ovanes was born into this world. The incredible talent of the future artist manifested itself in his early childhood. Unfortunately, the first drawings were not preserved, because they were all done on a sandy beach in Crimea. Since his childhood and later, when he became a young man, Ivozovsky always tried to stay very close to the sea in order to properly depict the sea in his paintings. But he could not always be near the sea. Once upon a time, the successful merchant family of Ivozovsky was ravaged by the plague epidemic in 1812. That's why at the age of 10, Ovanes was forced to work in a local coffee shop. In his spare time, he continued to draw on the walls of buildings using bits of coal. One day, an architect from Feodosia, who gave the boy his first pencils and paper, took note of these murals and was highly impressed. Then he recommended the young promising artist to the mayor of Feodosia, Alexander Krasnachev. Thanks to the mayor's close connections, the young Ovanes was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. In St. Petersburg, Ovanes Ivozyan became Ivan Ivozovsky. While studying at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1833, the young artist beshowed his God-given talent in landscape art. He studied in the studio of Maxim Vorobyev, who was a famous Russian painter of landscape vistas. The world could have lost an outstanding seascape painter still in the Academy. And all because of one report to the authorities. In 1835, the painter created a rather interesting work – Etude of Air over the Sea. And it was this sketch that turned out to be excessively unique. Since it was not narrative, it did not have some concrete narrative story behind it. In this sketch, there was only the sea and the big blue sky above it. For this work, Ivan Ivozovsky received a silver medal. He was also appointed as an assistant to the fashionable French seascape artist Philippe Taner, who forbade the young man to work independently. Ignoring the ban, Ivozovsky continued to paint landscapes. And in 1836, he presented five of his works at the exhibition of the Academy of Arts, which received an excellent appraisal of art critics. But Taner complained about his assistant to Tsar Nicholas I. The work of the young artist was removed, and he was forgiven for his deed only six months later. And that was only thanks to the personal petition submitted by the professor of battle painting Alexander Sauerweid in support of Ivozovsky. Then, later, Ivozovsky moved to the workshop of a battle painter, who was quite famous in Russia at that time. In this way, he mastered the two key components of the landscape genre. Ivozovsky studied in the class of Sauerweid for only a few months, In the autumn of 1837, for the work A Calm Sea, Ivozovsky received the great gold medal, and the Academy's board approved a decision to shorten the duration of the scholarly studies for two years, which was quite unusual. And thanks to such perseverance and his remarkable talent, the artist was given the opportunity to work outside the Academy, so he took advantage of this opportunity and immediately left for Feodosia, his native place of birth and residence in his youth. Ivozovsky was allowed to pass the course of an extern provided that he would paint landscapes of some cities of Crimea. For two years of home learning, he painted landscapes of four Crimean cities and also created the paintings Storm, Moonlit Night in Gurzuf and Seashore. All the works he painted in Feodosia were approved by professors of the Academy. Therefore, in September 1839, Ivozovsky was conferred a certificate of the Academy, received personal nobility, and was granted a business trip abroad. And so he went to Italy, where he began the early period of his work still in his formative years of youthful energy. Such was the formation of Ivan Ivozovsky as an artist. Since then, his works were influenced by artists of the 18th century, Claude Lorrain, a very famous classical landscape painter, and the Russian artist Shchedrin, who spent most of his life in Italy. Well, and of course, we must not forget about Karl Brulov. It was under the impression of Brulov's creativity that Ivozovsky created the canvas Chaos, which was soon bought by Pope Gregory XVI. Moreover, the artist was awarded a gold medal for his masterpiece. The Italian business trip paid off in terms of making new friends. For example, in Venice, Ivozovsky had the privilege to meet the outstanding Ukrainian writer Gogol. Here, in Italy, the artist developed the manner that survived until the end of his life, regardless of whether he painted steppe landscapes, sea battles, or a calm seascape. The fact is that at the time, Ivozovsky was very fond of Shchedrin's works. He wanted to paint like Shchedrin, everything from nature. And then, while in Italy, he realized that he could not do it and that it was simply not his style. He was the first of the seascape artists who was turned down, although everybody came to see his natural landscape paintings. But he realized that this was not his manner. The artist himself believed that the sea should not be depicted in a living space out in the open air, but should be depicted in a workshop. For this simple reason, he went out into the open air only to make sketches for his paintings that he would finish in the workshop. And the place where he stayed did not matter at all, whether it was in his native Feodosia, St. Petersburg, or some other place. After all, he did not paint his works from life, all his works were the result of his imagination. Though initially he was constrained by the shortage of money, he later managed to earn his keep. Constant Orders provided the pensioner of the Academy of Arts I. Vazovsky with a solid income and independence from Academy grants. That meant he could already afford a trip to Europe. Already there, in Italy, he gained huge fame and many legends were told about him. Gogol wrote reviews of admiration and the brilliant artist Alexander Ivanov said this is a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian seascape painting. Then it became clear that I. Vazovsky was the founder of Russian seascape painting. Before and after his time, there were no artists of this scale. However, the young artist did not bathe in the sunrays of glory. On the contrary, he worked day and night to the point of exhaustion. He made a huge number of sketches and also seven widescreen canvases. And he accomplished this amazing feat only over the few months that he had spent time living and painting in Italy. All the works of this period were academic. As a young artist, he wanted to achieve academic virtuosity. He aspired to absolute perfection in academic painting. That is, it was few smears, it was a glaze. This is when one coat of paint is put on the other. He glazed and polished and it was covered with such special shiny varnishes that created the illusion of this perfect mirror surface. His first works were in the mainstream of the classical landscape of the 18th to early 19th centuries. It was a landscape that resembled some kind of a theatrical production stage. Indeed, the foreground was considerably darker, the medium plan was lighter, and the long-range plan was even lighter. In other words, it became the tradition of depicting a classical landscape. This was exactly the way in which I. Vozovsky depicted landscapes in the initial stages of his work. His first works seemed to express all these spectral colors. All colors of the artist's palette are like rainbow colors, conditionally speaking. That is, he uses both warm and cold ones. While abroad, I. Vozovsky collected awards one after another. A gold medal of the Paris Academy of Arts, academician of the Florentine Academy and a member of the Amsterdam Academy of Arts. He was a welcome guest in France, England, Germany and the Netherlands. And in one tabloid newspaper there was a message I. Vozovsky remains forever in Paris and I am sure that he will never return to Russia. But in the autumn of 1844, at the age of 27, Ivan I. Vozovsky returned to St. Petersburg. There he received his next award, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Arts. Immediately following that, the newly conferred academician was honorably registered among the painters of the main naval staff of the Russian Empire. He became the chief artist of the naval staff with the right to wear a general's uniform. Needless to say, it was a great honor for him. There was honor, but there was no monetary remuneration to it. As they say, it was on a voluntary basis. But from this work, I. Vozovsky got some other satisfaction in a different form. Well, thanks to such stormy events, Ivan I. Vozovsky spent some days of his life on the seaside. He was cordially invited as an honored artist onto ships, so that he could witness some military actions, albeit not so stormy, and also to see the surface of the water from the heart of the sea. Some days is an understatement. From spring to autumn 1845, Ivan I. Vozovsky spent time as part of an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society under the leadership of Admiral Fyodor Litke. But throughout the whole journey, he was drawn to his home, to Feodosia. So, upon his return to his native city, he applied to the Academy of Arts and the main naval headquarters with a request to allow him to stay in Crimea to finish his new work. In response, he received permission to stay until May of the following year. In that same year, he created the painting View on the Island of Capri. He puts this painting on auction, and the money that he earned for the painting View on the Island of Capri, for him a very typical landscape of his early period in life as a painter, he donated for humanitarian aid for indigent artists in Moscow. It is unknown who bought this painting. However, since the sale of this masterpiece by I. Vozovsky and until the 1920s, it was kept in a private collection. And then the Bolsheviks came and began to implement their infamous nationalization program. Those works that were not exhibited in the museum due to nationalization were preserved in private collections, and their owners gave them to antique shops. Many of them were from private collections, and though unknown, they made it to the museum in the 1920s to 1930s. The same thing happened with I. Vozovsky's painting. Who bought it and what was its fate is unknown. But we do know that it made it into the museum from a private collection. View on the Island of Capri was a landmark painting of the early period of I. Vozovsky's works. It sort of summed up his travels, when he only learned about the world and made his first, though quite successful and resounding steps in art. Be that as it may, even more of the artist's outstanding works were still in the works ahead.