When one thinks of Aivazovsky, one thinks of seascapes. Intense images of the sea, the vast stormy sea with waves sailboats, and shipwrecks come to mind. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky – Hovhannes Aivazian is a Russian romantic painter and he’s considered one the best marine or seascape artists of all times. – Hovhannes Aivazian is a Russian romantic painter and he’s considered one the best marine or seascape artists of all times.
Aivazovsky was born in 1817 to an Armenian family in Theodosia-also called Feodosia a town in the Crimea region on the black sea. Aivazovsky’s father was a merchant, and he was the youngest of three sons. Growing up in a one-story house overlooking the sea and its infinite sequence of ships and sailors cooked the right environment for Aivazovsky’s inspiration. From a young age he would draw on the white-washed walls of his house. His talent caught the attention of an architect, who was also a family friend . The latter gave young Aivazovsky some lessons in art.
Education and training
Ivan’s family moved to Simferopol and while attending a college there, he made connections with the Russian Elite eventually securing a grant to the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
After finishing his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and later traveled all over Europe, residing temporarily in Italy. When he came back to Russia in the early 1940s, he was made an academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and assigned the official painter of the Russian navy.
Oil on canvas, 59.2 x 79 cm. Private collection.
Aivazovsky’s Legacy
Aivazovsky is one of the Russian artists that was also known & admired outside the Russian Empire. Most of his paintings are marine landscapes, but he frequently painted war landscapes and Armenian motifs. His paintings are displayed in museums in Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia.
Over the course of his 60-year career, he created nearly 6,000 paintings and organized 55 solo exhibitions in Europe and Russia. The saying “worthy of Aivazovsky’s brush” was invented by the author Chekhov in his 1897 play Uncle Vanya, setting the artist’s long-term prominence to the history of Russian art.
Ivan Aivazovsky died in 1900 in Feodosia. He was buried in the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church of Sourp Sarkis.
Follow Christina Gurunian’s blog for the latest news in art, fashion & design.
