Leo Tolstoy | Quotes / Aforismi

Ilia Efimovich Repin🎨 (Ukrainian-born Russian Realist painter, 1844-1930)| Portrait of Leo Tolstoy, 1887

Best known for his two classic novels, 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' Leo Tolstoy, in full Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy / Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й (1828-1910), was a Russian🎨 writer, a master of realistic fiction and one of the world’s greatest novelists.

• "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself".
• "Tutti pensano a cambiare il mondo, ma nessuno pensa a cambiare se stesso".
• "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way".
• "Tutte le famiglie felici si assomigliano fra loro, ogni famiglia infelice è infelice a suo modo".
• "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content".
• "Se cerchi la perfezione, non ti accontenterai mai".

Ivan Kramskoi | An unknown lady, 1883

‣ Author: Ivan Kramskoi🎨 / Ива́н Крамско́й (Russian painter and art critic, 1837-1887).

‣ Title: Portrait of an Unknown Woman, also known as The Unknown Woman, An Unknown Lady or Stranger - Russian: Неизвестная.

‣ Medium: oil on canvas.

‣ Date: 1883.

‣ Provenance: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

The viewer is intrigued both by the heroine of the painting and its name.
Ivan Kramskoi depicted a young woman in a carriage against the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg.

The woman is not so much beautiful as she is impressive and "chic".

Venice in the 19th-Century paintings

Friedrich Nerly🎨 (German painter, 1842–1919) Piazza San Marco in Venedig bei Mondlicht, 1871

A Visit to Venice
by Ivan Sergeevič Turgenev‎ - Novel "On the Eve", 1860

"Whoever has not seen Venice in the month of April will find it hard to picture to himself the indescribable charm of this fairy city. The softness and mildness of spring are to Venice, what the bright summer sun is to glorious Genoa, or what the purple golden autumn is to ancient Rome.

Like spring, the beauty of Venice excites and arouses our softest desires; it animates and stirs the unspoiled heart like the promise of some near, undefined, mysterious pleasure".

Vladimir Gusev / Владимир Гусев, 1957 | Impressionist painter

Russian artist🎨 Владимир Гусев🎨 successfully works on genre paintings, landscapes, still lifes and portraits.

Rejecting the naturalistic way of fine, Vladimir Gusev🎨 in his work does not neglect certainty.

His landscape works are always interesting on composition, spatial and color palette. Optimistic perception of nature allows him to make a sharp poetic expression.

Painting Gusev gives a feeling of lightness and ease of perception. Gusev - an active participant in many youth, Moscow, national and international exhibitions.

His works are in private collections in the USSR, Japan, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Britain, Poland and Finland.

Nathan Altman | Cubist painter / Sculptor

Nathan Isaevich Altman / Натан Исаевич Альтман (December 22 [O.S. December 10] 1889 - December 12, 1970) was a Russian🎨 avant-garde artist, Cubist painter, stage designer and book illustrator.

He was born in Vinnytsia, in the Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) to a family of Jewish merchants.

From 1902-1907, he studied painting and sculpture at the Art College in Odessa (now independent Ukraine).

In 1906, he had his first exhibition in Odessa.

Alexey Shalaev / Алексей Шалаев, 1966 | Cityscape painter

Алексей Шалаев was born in Moscow. He studied automation systems at the Moscow Aviation Institute but infatuation with art in yearly ninetieth’s lead him to A. Skvortsov, a lector of the Moscow Academy of Art and Manufacture -former Stroganov Art School.

The artist works with equal success in different genres, but the favorite theme is the urban landscape.

Andrey Aranyshev, 1956 | Abstract painter

A painter who is a philosopher costs dear, but it is double as costly if he is a truly master of art. Andrey Aranyshev / Андрей Аранышев carries rare conviction in combining the methods of creating conditional decorativeness, colour surface and figuraly-spatial reality.

His objects are bright and delicate; his images are not flesh but emotion. However the artist doesn't create antropomorphous phantoms.

His actual "characters" are energy of light, colour, an exquisite line and harmony of composition.

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky | Genre painter

Hикола́й Петро́вич Богда́нов-Бе́льский (1868-1945) was an Russian🎨 academic, portrait and landscape painter.

Nikolay Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky graduated from Petersburg Academy of Arts where he studied at J. Repin🎨.

At the beginning of the XX th century the pictures of N. Bogdanov-Belsky are exhibited at the established museums of Russia and obtained by them.

He also had a flair for portrait painting-he painted the Russian tsar Nikolay II, prince Sergey Alexandrovich and Emperess Maria Fyodorovna.

Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955)

Nicolai Fechin🎨 was born in the city of Kazan, Russia, the son of Ivan Alexandrovitch Fechin, an accomplished icon maker, woodcarver, and gilder.

 At the age of thirteen Fechin was ready to begin his life's work, attending the Kazan School of Art (1895-1901) and then the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, where he was taught by the great Russian master, Ilya Repin🎨.

His work appeared in America for the first time at the 1910 International Exhibit of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.

In both western Europe and America, Fechin was greeted with instant acclaim.

Among such distinguished contemporaries as Claude Monet🎨, Pissarro🎨, Gaston La Touche🎨, Sisley and John Sargent🎨, he won his first prizes and medals. He was called a "Moujik in art", the "Tartar painter".

Andre Kohn, 1972 | Ladies and hats

André Kohn, Russian painter🎨, was born in Stalingrad, but was raised in the southernmost region of the Former Soviet Union near the Caspian Sea.

He spent the first 12 years of his life surrounded by nature before moving with his family to Moscow in 1984.

The precise convergence of three dynamic forces-culture, environment and talent-combined to produce one of the most collected figurative painters on the American art scene today.

Raised by an artistically gifted family near the Caspian Sea in southern Russia, André Kohn’s childhood was marked by the natural splendor of mountains and sea, and by an unfettered access to all the creative arts.

Vladimir Volegov and Jaroslav Seifert

Prima che asciughino quei due o tre baci

sulla fronte

e qui e lí,

ti chinerai per bere

acqua d’argento dallo specchio,

e se nessuno ti starà a guardare

ti toccherai le labbra con la bocca.

C’è un tempo in cui piú svelto delle dita

che lo scultore passa sulla creta

il sangue impaziente ti modella

il corpo dal di dentro.

Wassily Kandinsky ~ Lend your ears to music..

“…Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and … stop thinking!

Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to “walk about” into a hitherto unknown world.

If the answer is yes, what more do you want?”

Sergey Shenderovsky, 1964

Vladimir Volegov, 1957

Russian painter Владимир Волегов is famous for his figurative paintings with his dramatic use of color and texture he creates a portrait-like treatment of the female form, captured in a frozen, yet living moment, with the surrounding bursts of color and scenery.

Andrei Markin, 1976 | Figurative painter

Russian🎨 professional artist Andrei Markin / Андрей Маркин was born in the village Andreevka of the Solnechnogorsk region in a family of the artist Victor Markin.

In 1991 he finished Zelenograd painting school and entered Moscow Art College \"In the memory of the revolution of 1905", where he was taught by the Honoured artist of Russia Mikhail Kugach.

In 1994 Andrei entered the Russian Academy of Art, Sculpture and Architecture, the dean of which is the People's artist of the USSR Ilia Glazunov.

In 2000 he graduated from the Russian Academy with honours, his diploma was a portrait of the People's actor of the USSR Victor F. Stepanov.

Maria Kreyn, 1987 | Romantic / Figurative painter

Maria Kreyn, born Мария Крейн, is a Russian** figurative painter.

Deeply indebted to the western tradition of the painting of the Baroque** and Romantic periods, Maria reframes these techniques to tell a story of human intimacy and ceremony, investigating the liminal state of togetherness.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Kreyn see Maria Kreyn, 1987 | Figurative painter ➻

Alexey Steele, 1967 | The Novorealism Art Movement

Russian-born American painter Alexey Steele [Алексей Стил] was born in Kiev, Ukraine.

Steele began his art training at an early age in the studio of his father, renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele.

He furthered his professional education at the prestigious Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute, studying under internationally acclaimed artist Ilya Glazunov.

In 1990, Steele moved to Los Angeles where he still resides as he paints large-scaled figurative murals, commissioned portraits, and California plein air landscapes inspired by the classical color palette of the Moscow School.

Alexander Averin, 1952 | Romantic / Genre painter

Alexander Averin (Russian: Александр Аверин) was born in Noginsk, near Moscow.

He graduated from the Moscow Art School of "Memory 1905" and trained under Dimitry Yorontov.

Member of the Russian Union of Artists since 1984.

Since 1976 member of numerous Russian and international solo and group exhibitions.

Works of the artist are held in private collections in Russia, France, England, the USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Japan and many other countries.

Alexey Slusar, 1961 | Figurative painter

Alexey Slusar / Aлексей Cлюсар is an Ukrainian painter, known for work in Figurative style.

Alexey Slusar was born in 1961 in Dnepropetrovsk. In 1998, Slusar moved to Prague, where he lives and works.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Slusar see:

• Alexey Slusar, 1961 | Flamenco dancers🎨

Slava Fokk, 1976 | Surrealist / Art Déco style painter

Russian painter🎨 Слава Фокк was born into a family of artists in the south of Russia, in the city of Krasnodar.

Since his childhood, he has been surrounded by a creative atmosphere - art workshops, studios and creative summer residences.

In 1997 Fokk completed his training in the Krasnodar Art School, also known as the Repin🎨.

Rabindranath Tagore /Vladimir Volegov | E' finita la notte..

E' finita la notte.

Spegni la lampada fumante

nell'angolo della stanza.

Sul cielo d'Oriente

è fiorita la luce dell' universo:

è un giorno lieto

Sono destinati a conoscersi

tutti coloro che cammineranno

per strade simili.