Nikolai Petrovich Himon ( Nicolaos Jimonas , Greek Νικόλαος Χειμώνας ; September 25, 1864 , Evpatoria - July 1929 , Skyros ) - Russian and Greek artist and teacher.
| Khimona Nikolai Petrovich | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of N.P. Himona work M. Marzhuvanova, 1920 . | |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Evpatoria , Russian empire |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | Skyros , Greece |
| Allegiance |  Russian Empire ,  Greece |
Apprentice Kuindzhi , was a member of the society of Russian watercolors .
Content
Biography
Born September 25, 1864 in a Greek family. His parents were the burghers of the city of Evpatoria: retired non-commissioned officer Petr Pavlovich and Fotinya Nikolaevna. His father, Peter Pavlovich Himon, served as a non-commissioned officer of the Balaklava Greek Infantry Battalion (since 1846 ), and participated in the defense of Sevastopol in the Crimean War. For feats of arms was awarded the Order of St. George. Mother - Fotinya Nikolaevna Vasilikioti, comes from the Crimean Greek village of Karan, whose inhabitants were descendants of the Greeks who had been granted asylum in Russia after an unsuccessful uprising against the Turks in 1774.
Nikolai's childhood passed in Evpatoria, where the family was engaged in commerce. Received a good home education, played the violin, knew foreign languages.
He studied painting skills in St. Petersburg . At first he entered the head class of the CUTR , and from 1889 he became a volunteer at the IAH . He studied in the landscape class with I. I. Shishkin , then with A. I. Kuindzhi , with whom he maintained friendship all subsequent years. He graduated from the course in 1897 with the title of class artist for the landscape "Spring Thunderstorm." The following year, in the group of pupils A. I. Kuindzhi, at the expense of the teacher, visited Berlin , Dresden , Vienna and Paris .
In 1902, Khimona married Olga Alekseevna Khitrovo of noble origin, the couple settled in Pavlovsk. In the years 1904-1905, he made the first trip to the homeland of their ancestors in Greece.
In 1897–1919, he taught at the Drawing School of the OPH, where he supervised the decorative painting workshop, led the general and sketchy classes, and from 1900 he was a school inspector. In 1904 he was elected a full member of OPH. In 1909 he became one of the founders of the Society named after A. I. Kuindzhi . In 1916 he was awarded the title of academician.
After the October Revolution, Himona participated in the 1st and 2nd exhibitions of the Society. A.I. Kuindzhi (1917, 1918); 1st State Free Exhibition of works of art (1919) and others.
During the years of the Civil War, the artist’s wife was denounced by the new government for reporting the messages to political prisoners. Attempts to free his wife were not crowned with success, it was dangerous to remain in Petrograd , and the artist went to the Crimea to visit relatives, and from there in 1919 he emigrated to Greece .
During the 1920s, Himona traveled extensively around the country, creating a series of paintings by Peloponnese , Crete , Santorini , Lefkada, Corfu .
In 1929, the spouses Himoni moved to the island of Skyros . Here Nikolai Petrovich fell ill with malaria and died as a result of an erroneous diagnosis and treatment [2] . Buried on the island. The grave was not preserved [3] [4] .
In December 1929, Olga Himona arranged a posthumous retrospective exhibition of the artist in the Athenian gallery Sintakton (118 works), and in 1930 - in the London gallery Arlington.
According to other data, Nikolai Khimona from Greece moved to London, where his life was hidden by a fog of obscurity, and he died in London. In connection with the death of the artist, a memorial exhibition of his paintings was opened, and British magazines reproduced his Greek landscapes [5] .
Awards
- In 1903 he received the 1st prize OPH for the painting "The Mill" ("Winter").
- In 1907 he received the 1st prize. Alexander III from the A. I. Kuindi Foundation for the painting “By Spring” (in 1908 it was awarded a small gold medal at the International Exhibition in Munich).
Memory
At present, N.P. Khimona’s legacy is mainly in Greece: 22 paintings in the National Art Gallery in Athens , several works in the gallery on the island of Rhodes , in the National Bank collection, in the Averof Gallery and in other private collections, as well as in France and the United States [6] [7] .
In Russia, the artist is represented in the State Tretyakov Gallery , the State Russian Museum , in the Saratov State Art Museum named after A.N. Radishchev, in the regional museum of Evpatoria and in private collections.