12 Facts About Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol uezd but spent his youth in the city of Taganrog.

Arkhip Kuindzhi grew up in a poor family; his father was a Pontic Greek shoemaker, Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi.

Arkhip Kuindzhi was six years old when he lost his parents, so he was forced to make a living working at a church building site, grazing domestic animals, and working at a corn merchant's shop.

Arkhip Kuindzhi received the rudiments of an education from a Greek friend of the family who was a teacher and then went to the local school.

Arkhip Kuindzhi tried to open his own photography studio, but without success.

Arkhip Kuindzhi studied painting mainly independently and at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Arkhip Kuindzhi was co-partner of travelling art exhibitions, a group of realist artists in Russia who, in protest to academic restrictions, formed an artists' cooperative which evolved into the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions in 1870.

In 1873, Arkhip Kuindzhi exhibited his painting The Snow which received the bronze medal at the International Art Exhibition in London in 1874.

Arkhip Kuindzhi developed a close friendship with the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who taught at Saint Petersburg University.

Arkhip Kuindzhi frequently visited Mendeleev and his wife's weekly gatherings, and he developed a life-long interest in the study of light, color, and perception.

Arkhip Kuindzhi lectured at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Arkhip Kuindzhi initiated the creation of the Society of Artists in 1909, later the Society was named after him.