Kiselev, Alexander Alexandrovich

Born in Sveaborg (now the administrative district of Helsinki ), he was brought up in the Arakcheev Cadet Corps , and since 1852 - in the 2nd St. Petersburg Cadet Corps . Having not completed the full course of the cadet corps, in 1858 he entered the Imperial University of St. Petersburg , at the Faculty of History and Philology. After the temporary closure of the university due to student unrest in the fall of 1861, he began to attend classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts as a freelance student; in 1862 he was enrolled in the number of students; since 1863 he studied under S.M. Vorobyov . Received from the Academy a large silver medal for the painting "View in the Novgorod province."

In 1864, he became a member of the Artel of Artists, headed by V. M. Maksimov , which was organized following the example of the I. Kramskoy Artel for collaboration and the life of artists. The "commune" did not last long. In 1865, Kiselev took part for the first time at the Academic Exhibition, where he presented the landscape "View from the surroundings of Moscow", which received public approval. In 1865, he graduated from the Academy of Arts with the title of class artist of the 3rd degree.

Soon he left for Kharkov, where he joined the service as Secretary of the Land Bank. By this time, Kiselev was married and had three children. The bank service provided the family with a stable income and allowed Kiselyov to paint in his spare time. During these years he painted landscapes: “Near Kharkov” (1866), “Yard in Little Russia” , “Svyatogorsky Monastery on the Donets” (1870), “Park in the Fall” (1874) and others.

In 1875, he sent to the Association of "Wanderers" his painting "View in the vicinity of Kharkov", which was accepted for exhibit and shortly afterwards, on March 7, 1876, A. A. Kiselev was unanimously elected a member of the Association, and from this year he became a permanent member annual exhibitions of wanderers. In 1877, he moved with his family to Moscow , but often took trips to different places in Russia in order to create sketches for his paintings that perfectly convey nature at different times of the year and hours of the day, with a different atmosphere. Later he wrote the views of the Caucasus , which had great and well-deserved success. By the time he moved to Moscow, Kiselev already had seven children and began to engage in pedagogical activities: he taught drawing in girls' gymnasiums, and gave private painting lessons. In the period 1879–1894, private lessons were taken from him I. S. Ostroukhov , M. A. Mamontov , M. V. Yakunchikova-Weber , N. V. Yakunchikova-Polenova , V. V. Perepletchikov , N. V. Dosekin , A.P. Botkin , G.F. Yartsev and many others. In the 1880s, he taught drawing and painting to Ivan Abramovich and Mikhail Abramovich Morozov ^[2] .

From 1878 until the end of his life, he kept a detailed diary, which contains accurate information about exhibitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Shmarovinsky environments and drawing evenings with S. I. Mamontov and V. D. Polenov , about the performances of the Bolshoi and Maly theaters, concerts symphonic music ^[2] . In the summer of 1891, the Kiselev family lived in the estate of the landowner Bylim-Kolosovsky - Bogimovo . Anton Pavlovich Chekhov lived here this summer, with whom Kiselev made friends.

I. E. Repin wrote about the work of A. A. Kiselev:

I would call his landscapes the most integral, simple, with all the rigor of the real truth and the knowledge of professorship of his subject

In 1890, Kiselev became the head of the department of fine art of the magazine "Artist" ; in the same year he was awarded the title of academician. In 1893, he was elected a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts and in the same year headed the art department of the Artist magazine, replacing L. Pasternak .

In 1895, A. A. Kiselev was invited as a class inspector at the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Academy of Arts and moved with his large family to St. Petersburg. In 1897 he replaced Professor A. I. Kuindzhi as head of the landscape workshop of the school.

In 1906, he became one of the founders of the Northern Circle of Fine Arts Lovers in Vologda . Thanks to the authority of A. A. Kiselyov, the members of the circle managed to establish contacts in St. Petersburg and attract the artists of the Academy of Arts to participate in their exhibitions ^[3] . He was also the organizer of the Society of Siberian Traveling Art Exhibitions in St. Petersburg.

Kiselev worked in a team of artists who designed the interior of the Alexander Nevsky Monument Church in Sofia ^[4] .

In 1902, the artist built himself a house in Tuapse , since having been in this area of ​​the coast, he was previously struck by the beauty of the local landscapes. Now in Tuapse is the house of the Kiselev Museum. The rock between Cape Kadosh and the village of Aga is called the Kiseleva rock , since it was depicted by him in the painting "Kadosh rocks" .

He died suddenly, on January 20 ( February 2 ), 1911 , from a heart attack at his desk.

The main works of A. A. Kiselyov: “View of the surroundings of Moscow” (1865), “Before the Thunderstorm” (1865), “Yard in Little Russia” (1871), “Park in the Fall” (1874), “Picking up brushwood” (1880), “From the Mountain” (1886), “Forgotten Mill” (1891), “Overgrown Pond” (1895), “Mountain River. Caucasus ”(1897),“ After the Rain ”(1898),“ Farm ”(1899),“ Before the Rain ”(1901),“ Landscape with Birches ”(1906),“ Running Clouds ”(1911). He also painted icons . Some of his works were presented at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris .

The works of A. A. Kiselyov are in the Russian Museum , the Tretyakov Gallery , the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin and others.

In the magazines "Kharkov Provincial Gazette", "Artist", "Diary of an Artist", the newspaper "Moscow Gazette" published his numerous articles on art.

• Kiselev, Alexander Aleksandrovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• S. N. Kondakov. Anniversary Directory of the Imperial Academy of Arts. 1764-1914 . - St. Petersburg: Partnership R. Golike and A. Vilborg, 1915. - T. 2 (Biographical part). - S. 90 .-- 459 p.

• Kiselev Alexander Alexandrovich (1838-1911)
• Painter Kiselev Alexander Alexandrovich (1838-1911)
• In memory of the remarkable Russian Wanderer, master of landscape genre, professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts Alexander Alexandrovich Kiselev
• The house-museum of the artist-Wanderer A. A. Kiselev.