I. K. Aivazovsky: biography and creativity, interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Often they like to call Aivazovsky the darling of fate. This is not surprising - popularity came to him in his youth and remained with the artist until the last days of his life, and his paintings were always very warmly received by the public. Aivazovsky is among those artists that even people who are far from fine arts know about, and whose work is liked by the absolute majority. Aivazovsky owes such success, of course, to his unique talent: he is often called the "singer of the sea." Indeed, the artist devoted his whole life and all his work to this element, each time discovering it in a new way in an endless series of canvases. Below is a relatively short story about the biography and work of Aivazovsky, interesting facts and performance features that formed the unique style of the marine painter.

Biography. Childhood

Hovhannes Ayvazyan - this is the real name of the artist - was born on July 17 (29), 1817 in the ancient Crimean city of Feodosia in the family of an impoverished merchant Gevork (Konstantin) Ayvazyan. Gevork wrote his last name in the Polish manner - Gaivazovsky. Their family barely made ends meet, and Hovhannes, the youngest son, began to earn extra money from the age of ten.

The boy's talent showed up very early. Ayvazyanov's house stood on the outskirtscity, on a hill, from where an unusual view of the sea opened. The susceptibility of the future artist allowed him to absorb all the beauty of the boundless sea element in order to later embody it in his immortal canvases.

But even then Hovhannes was already drawing. Thanks to a happy occasion, which abound in the biography and work of Aivazovsky (who was invariably accompanied only by success during his lifetime), his drawings were noticed by the mayor Kaznacheev. He highly appreciated the boy's abilities and took an ardent part in his fate. Treasurers gave him paints and paper for drawing and taught him from the city architect, then sent him to Simferopol to the gymnasium. There, in Simferopol, Ayvazyan's talent was also noticed, and it was decided to apply for his admission to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

The President of the Academy in those years was Olenin, a well-known patron of the arts, who did a lot for Russian culture. Seeing an extraordinary talent in Ayvazyan, he decides to send a 13-year-old boy to the Academy.

Studying at the Academy of Arts

At the Academy, Hovhannes Ayvazyan (he would change his name to "Ivan Aivazovsky" a little later, in 1841) got into the landscape class with M. N. Vorobyov, one of the most famous painters of the early 19th century. Vorobyov became famous not only for his paintings, but also to a large extent for a whole galaxy of famous artists whom he brought up (including Aivazovsky). Vorobyov immediately noticed his student's penchant for the sea, and then supported and developed it in every possible way. He himself was one of the best landscape painters of his time, andAivazovsky accepted and assimilated many of his individual skills. This is well felt in the painting "Seashore at night. At the lighthouse" (1837).

During his studies at the Academy, Aivazovsky also actively gets acquainted with works of art collected in the Hermitage and private collections. At the same time, he participated in the Academic Exhibition with two canvases: "Study of air over the sea", his first painting, and "View of the seaside in the vicinity of St. Petersburg".

Trip to Crimea

In the spring of 1838, Aivazovsky, by decision of the Council of the Academy, went to the Crimea for two years to improve his skills. Naturally, the artist chooses Feodosia, the city where he spent his childhood, as his place of residence. There he writes a lot from nature: he creates sketches, small sketches.

In the same place, Aivazovsky painted his first large canvas from nature: "Y alta" (1838). In this picture, the influence of another famous Russian landscape painter, Sylvester Shchedrin, is noticeable, but it is in the Crimea that the artist’s original style begins to take shape. This is more noticeable in the painting "Old Feodosia" (1839). In the canvases created on the Crimean coast, the artist seeks to create an image of a specific place, to capture the unique, characteristic features of the place.

In 1839, Aivazovsky, at the invitation of Raevsky, went on a naval campaign to the shores of the Caucasus. According to the impressions left from that trip, later he will write "N. N. Raevsky's landing at Subashi"(1839).

In 1840, Aivazovsky returned to St. Petersburg, where he officially graduated and was awarded the title of artist.

Italy

In the summer of 1840, Aivazovsky, as a boarder of the Academy, among others, went to Rome to improve his skills. There he travels a lot, making countless sketches, sketches, later finalizing them in the studio. This is where the artist's creative method finally takes shape: an amazing sensitivity to the elusive nuances of the state of the elements, the ability to memorize a picture in detail, and then refine the sketches in the workshop based on what he saw. He created many canvases without any sketches from nature, from memory.

In Italy, in three years, he creates, in addition to other paintings, more than 30 large-format canvases - his work capacity is truly extraordinary. These are views of Naples, Venice, Amalfi, Sorrento. But, besides them, there are really monumental works: "The Creation of the World. Chaos" - the most ambitious of everything he created in Italy. All the artist's works are distinguished by an impeccable color composition, sustained in a single style and perfectly conveying all the nuances of the mood of the landscape.

He will later repeatedly return to Italian landscapes, creating new canvases from memory in the studio.

Northern Seas

Aivazovsky returned home as a world-famous artist. He was awarded the title of academician, and also assigned to the Main Naval Staff. Herea voluminous and complex task appears: to write all Russian seaports on the B altic Sea. This is how a large series of paintings appears, among which are views of Krondshtat, Reval, Sveaborg. All of them combine documentary accuracy in the transfer of details and at the same time poetic spirituality.

Revel (1844) stands out among others - so transparent and light, with the most delicate shades of sky and water, the landscape is a lyrical work, a sample of poetry.

In 1845, Aivazovsky, together with the Litke expedition, traveled to Turkey, Greece and Asia Minor. The result of this trip will later be several views of Constantinople, the coast of Turkey and the Bosphorus; the most famous painting from those places is "Georgievsky Monastery. Cape Fiolent" (1846). The paintings take on a noticeable romantic hue, in many ways consonant with Pushkin's poetry about the sea, interesting effects of moonlight and sunlight.

Sea battles

Still being a full-time painter of the Main Naval Staff, Aivazovsky created many battle paintings depicting naval battles of the Russian flotilla. In them, he sang the glory of Russian weapons and the valor of sailors. The most famous canvases are "The Battle of Chesme on the Night of June 25-26, 1770" (1848) and "The Battle in the Chios Strait on June 24, 1770" (1848), which depict the key naval battles of the Russian Empire.

Also, Aivazovsky depicted episodes from the Russian-Turkish war anddefense of Sevastopol. In particular, several paintings were devoted to the famous brig "Mercury", which won in an unequal battle with two Turkish battleships.

In the battle scenes, the battle does not obscure the image of the sea: they are skillfully intertwined, and in the battle scene one of the heroes is the sea, majestic and peculiar.

Workshop in Feodosia

In 1846, Aivazovsky began building his own house and workshop in Feodosia. After the Litke expedition, he basically lives and works there, visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow. From nature, he no longer writes; works only in the workshop, relying on his memory. He actively participates in social activities, organizes his exhibitions, in 1847 he received the title of professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

In the 1860s and 70s, his work flourished. Paintings "Sea" (1864), "Black Sea" (1881) are created. Their extraordinary strength lies in the fact that, in addition to external beauty, Aivazovsky very accurately conveyed the internal state, character and mood of the sea, literally spiritualized it. This was noticed and highly appreciated by many prominent artists of that time.

Aivazovsky continued to create paintings until the end of his life. One of his last works, "Among the Waves" (1898), is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the artist's work. Deprived of any details - fragments of masts, people - the image of the raging sea is majestic in its irresistibility. Indeed, this is a grandiose result of the work of the great marine painter.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky died on April 19, 1900.

Features of creativity

Many artists in one way or another turned to the marine theme throughout their work. However, it was Aivazovsky who devoted all of himself to the sea without a trace. From the combination of this endless love for the open spaces of the sea and the ability to perceive the slightest shades of the mood of nature, an exceptional originality of his work has grown.

The biography and work of Aivazovsky began in the days of romanticism. The work of famous Russian poets of that time - Zhukovsky, Pushkin - largely influenced the formation of his style. However, the greatest impression of all the famous contemporaries on Aivazovsky was made by the painter Karl Bryullov and his work. This was reflected later in the artist's battle paintings.

Romanticism of Aivazovsky lies in the fact that, with all the liveliness of the paintings, the emphasis is not on realism, authenticity, but on the general impression, on the mood of the landscape. Therefore, a lot of attention is paid to color: each painting is sustained in a certain tone with an infinite number of shades of variations, together creating a single whole, the harmony of all elements of the landscape. Aivazovsky paid special attention here to the interaction of water and air: he wrote out both in one session, which created a feeling of the unity of space.

In later years, he began to gradually turn to realism: in the 70s these are just some elements, and the romantic direction prevails, but in the 80s they take up more and more space: they disappearshowiness, brilliance, dramatic plots, calmer low-key landscapes come to replace them, nevertheless, they are also filled with poetry and charm.

Most famous paintings

Almost all the most famous paintings have already been mentioned in the course of the story about the biography and work of Aivazovsky. For children 10 years and older, it may be worth mentioning the artist's most "replicated" painting - The Ninth Wave (1850). The dramatic plot - dawn at sea after a strong storm and people fighting the elements - sings of the superiority, power of nature, and the powerlessness of man in front of her greatness.

Private life

Telling about the biography and work of the artist Aivazovsky, we bypassed his personal life. And he married in 1848 Yulia Yakovlevna Grefs. According to his own letters, everything happened unusually quickly - "in two weeks" after they met, he got married, and in marriage Yulia Yakovlevna gave him four daughters. However, family life did not work out, and after a while a divorce followed.

In 1882, Aivazovsky married a second time - to the widow of a Feodosia merchant, Anna Burnazyan. Despite her lack of secular education, she had a natural sense of tact and sensitivity, and cared for her husband with great warmth.