Mikhail Demyanov

Mikhail Demyanov was a Russian Impressionist painter and illustrator, who was known for his landscapes and portraits. He was born in 1873 in Arti, a small village in the Kostroma Oblast of the Russian Empire. He came from an old Italian-German family of the Genoese extraction. He took his first lessons in art from Ivan Aivazovsky, a famous marine painter. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with Isaac Levitan, one of the most influential Russian landscape painters. He received a silver medal for his work in 1899. He continued his training at the graduate school of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts with Alexander Kiselyov, another prominent landscape painter. He graduated in 1910 and was awarded the title of "Artist" for his painting "Old Age". He also received the Yendogurov Prize and the Kuindzhi Prize for his other works. He was granted a scholarship to study abroad and visited Rome, Venice, Paris, and Amsterdam. He copied the Old Masters and painted many scenes of the European cities and countryside. He returned to Russia in 1912 and settled in Saint Petersburg. He participated in numerous exhibitions at the Academy, the Society of Moscow Artists, and the Salon des indépendants in Paris. He also worked as an illustrator for several periodicals and books. He died in 1913 in Nodenthal, a resort in Finland, where he went to treat his tuberculosis. He was only 39 years old. His paintings are now displayed in various museums and galleries, such as the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. He is considered one of the most original and influential Russian Impressionist painters of the 20th century.