Russian Painter, 1842-1910 Ukrainian painter, active in Russia. Initially self-taught as an artist, he twice failed the St Petersburg Academy's entrance examination, despite coaching by the marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky. In 1868, however, he was accepted as an external student. He persevered against conservative prejudice and poverty throughout his early career, supplementing his income by retouching photographs. In his early landscape paintings he often sought to capture seasonal moods, as in Autumn Mud (1872; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.). A more human focus, however, is noticeable after 1874, when he joined the travelling exhibitions society the WANDERERS: the village houses dominate the landscape setting in Evening in Ukraine (1878; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.). Kuindzhi's principal interest, however, was in lighting, and he obtained striking effects by using vivid colours, chiaroscuro contrasts and simple but cleverly conceived designs. Spectacular paintings, such as the Birch Grove (1879; Moscow, Tret'yakov Gal.), greatly moved contemporary viewers. Through years of experimentation, Kuindzhi developed a highly original technique, which he applied to an increasingly typical, at times almost visionary, treatment of subjects such as snow-covered mountains and moonlight (e.g. Elbnis: Moonlit Night, 1890-95; Moscow, Tret'yakov Gal.). Due to imperfections in the paints he used, many of his canvases soon darkened.  Related Paintings of Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi :. | The Boat on the sea | Dnieper-s Moonlight | North | Elbrus-Moonlight | Landscape |
Related Artists:
Pierre Albert Marquet Prints
French 1875- 1947 Marquet was born in Bordeaux. In 1890 he moved to Paris to attend the Decorative Arts School, where he met Henri Matisse. They were roommates for a time, and they influenced each other's work. Marquet began studies in 1892 at the École des Beaux-Arts under Gustave Moreau, a symbolist artist who was a follower of the Romantic tradition of Eug??ne Delacroix. In these years, Marquet exhibited paintings at the Salon des Ind??pendants. Although he did not sell many paintings, the artistic community of Paris became aware of his work. His early compositions were characterised by a clear and painterly Fauvist approach, in which he had a fine control of the drawing and responded to light, not only by intensifying the strongest tones, but also by seeing the weaker ones in coloristic terms. In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne where his paintings were put together with those of Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Andr?? Derain, Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault, Raoul Dufy, Henri Manguin, Georges Braque, Louis Valtat and Jean Puy. Dismayed by the intense coloration in these paintings, critics reacted by naming the artists the "Fauves", i.e. savage beasts. Although Marquet painted with the fauves for years, he used less bright and violent colours than the others, and emphasized less intense tones made by mixing complementaries, thus always as colors and never as grays. At the end of 1907 he stayed in Paris and dedicated himself, together with Henri Matisse, to a series of city views. The fundamental difference between the two is that while Matisse used strong colours, Marquet favored grayed yellows, greyed violets or blues. Black was usually used as a violent contrast to light colors for such forms as bare tree trunks or calligraphically drawn people contrasted with very light, often yellow or orange streets and sidewalks. Another difference is that Marquet used an approximation of traditional perspective, although his colors and compositions constantly referred to the rectangle and cut its plane with their calligraphy. From 1907 to his death, Marquet alternated between working in his studio in Paris and many parts of the European coast and in North Africa. He was most involved with Algeria and Algiers and with Tunisia. In his voyages he painted the sea and ships, but also the lights and animated life of the city, especially cities on the waterfront, like Algiers. Among European cities Marquet remained impressed particularly with Naples and Venice where he painted the sea and boats, accenting the light over water. He adopted a technique nothing like the Impressionists', painting water as a large area of simple tone which held the plane of the water surface without illusionistic perspective, from which the ships arise into a different plane. His views of the lagoon in Venice do this very economically. The water stays at a right angle to the picture plane and the large ships float with ease, with their reflections exactly the correct tone to project the required space. His color is much like Matisse of the 1920s, here. His contrasts of vivid colors describe the waves of the sea with simple drawing which accompany the exactly observed color tones, giving a scene of placid movement. The human figures are much simplified, calligraphically drawn in a way related to Japanese Shijo style work. Matisse is said to have called him "our Hokusai". During his voyages to Germany and Sweden he painted the subjects he usually preferred: river and sea views, ports and ships, but also cityscapes. Over the course of his career he often returned to the same subjects, even years later, recording subtle differences in the light. He painted a few portraits, and between 1910 and 1914 he painted a series of nudes in whorehouses, and prepared the illustration of a work on lesbian lovers. But he is best known for his many landscapes. Unlike Matisse, there are no obvious periods of change in his work. To the end he was one of Matisse's closest friends, and they discussed each other's work with the greatest openness. His death was unexpected and sudden, from a gall bladder attack and subsequently discovered cancer, for which at that time there was no therapy. Marquet died in Paris, on 14 June 1947.
Axel Lindman
painted Coastal Landscape, Normandie in 1877
ulrika eleonora
Ulrika Eleonora d.y., född 23 januari 1688, död 24 november 1741, var regerande drottning av Sverige 1719-1720, dotter till Karl XI och Ulrika Eleonora av Danmark, syster till Karl XII samt kusin till August den starke, Fredrik IV av Danmark och Fredrik IV av Holstein-Gottorp. Hon gifte sig 24 mars 1715 med Fredrik av Hessen, den blivande Fredrik I, men förblev barnlös. Ulrika Eleonora föddes den 23 januari 1688 på Stockholms slott som dotter till kung Karl XI och Ulrika Eleonora d.ä. Under barndomen förbisågs hon av alla för sin äldre, livligare och mera begåvade syster Hedvig Sofia. Så snart hon blivit giftasvuxen fick hon många friare, bland andra blivande Georg II av Storbritannien och arvprins Fredrik av Hessen-Kassel. Redan 1710 begärde denne hennes hand, men deras trolovning tillkännagavs inte förrän den 23 januari 1714. Bilägret firades den 24 mars 1715. Under Karl XII:s vistelse utomlands var hon, efter Hedvig Sofias död (1708), den enda myndiga medlemmen av kungahuset inom riket om man borträknar hennes åldriga farmor (Hedvig Eleonora). I slutet av 1712 eller början av 1713 hade Karl XII tankar om att göra sin syster Ulrika Eleonora till regent, men fullföljde inte denna plan. Det kungliga rådet däremot övertalade henne att bevista dess sammanträden för att i henne erhålla ett stöd. Första gången hon infann sig i rådet, 2 november 1713, beslöts också om sammankallande av en riksdag. Det s.k. rörelsepartiet vid denna riksdag ville att prinsessan i kungens frånvaro skulle göras till riksföreståndarinna "såsom närmaste arvinge till kronan och regementet". Detta förslag motarbetades av Arvid Horn och rådet, som fruktade att svårigheterna för en ändring av regeringssättet därigenom skulle ökas. Prinsessan visade emellertid ständerna stort intresse för landets angelägenheter. I sina brev till kungen uppmanade hon honom att återvända hem och varnade honom för möjliga följder av hans frånvaro. Med hans samtycke undertecknade hon under den följande tiden alla rådets skrivelser, utom dem som var ställda till honom, för i sin egenskap av vice regent var hon ett med kungen enligt dennes uppfattning. Mera sällan deltog hon i rådets förhandlingar.