About Everything

Written on May 31, 2010 – 3:52 am | by admin |

Constantin Somov

Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (November 30, 1869 — May 6, 1939) was a Russian artist associated with the Mir iskusstva. Born into a family of a major art historian and Hermitage Museum curator, he became interested in the 18th century art and music at an early age.
Somov studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Ilya Repin from 1888 to 1897. While at the Academy, he befriended Alexandre Benois, who would introduce him to Sergei Diaghilev and Leon Bakst. When the three founded the World of Art, Somov liberally contributed to its periodicals. Somov was homosexual, like many of the World of Art members.
Inspired by Watteau and Fragonard, he preferred to work with watercolours and gouache. For three years he worked upon his masterpiece, Lady in Blue, painted in the manner of 18th-century portraitists.
During the 1910s, Somov executed a number of rococo harlequin scenes and illustrations to the poems by Alexander Blok. Many of his works were exihibited abroad, especially in Germany, where the first monograph on him was published in 1909.
Following the Russian Revolution, he emigrated to the United States, but found the country “absolutely alien to his art” and moved to Paris.
He was buried at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Cemetery.

Self portrait
Oil on canvas
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Spring. Martyshkino, 1896
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼

Landscape in the evening. Martyshkino, 1896
Charcoal, pastel on paper
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Portrait of A.I. Somov, the artist’s father, 1897
Oil on canvas
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Lady in blue. Portrait of the Artist Yelizaveta Martynova (1868-1904), 1900
Oil on canvas
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Self portrait, 1898
Watercolor, pastel, pencil on paper
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

In the nursery, 1898
Watercolor, gouache, pencil on paper
The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia ▼

In the bosquet, 1899
Watercolor, gold paint, and varnish on cardboard
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Enchantment, 1900
Watecolor and gouache on paper
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Portrait of the artist A. Ostroumova, 1901
Oil on canvas
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Firebird, 1907
Watercolor, gouache, bronzing on paper pasted on cardboard
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Portrait of Eugine Lanceray, 1907
Pencil, crayons, whiting on paper
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Portrait of Alexander Blok, 1907
Pencil, crayons, gouache on paper
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Harlequin and death, 1907
Watercolor and gouache on paper
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

The theater, 1907
Watercolor, pen and ink, and brush, heightened with white
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Portrait of the artist M. Dobuzhinsky, 1910
Pencil, sanguine on paper
The Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia ▼

Winter. Skating rink, 1915
Oil on canvas
The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia ▼

Portrait of the composer Sergey Rahmaninov, 1925
Oil on canvas
The Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia ▼