Abram Arkhipov

Born Aug. 15 (27), 1862, in the village of Egorovo, Riazan Province; died Sept. 25, 1930, in Moscow. Soviet painter. Became People’s Artist of the RSFSR in 1927. Member of the Academy of Arts from 1916.

Arkhipov studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (1877–83 and 1886–88) under V. G. Perov and V. D. Polenov, as well as at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1884–86). He was a member of the Society of Wandering Exhibitions (from 1891) and the Union of Russian Artists (from 1904). Arkhipov’s works of the 1880’s are genre scenes drawn mainly from peasant life. During the 1890’s he created a number of lyrical landscape genre canvases in which the so-called landscape mood is organically combined with the emotional state of the people depicted. During this period Arkhipov attributed particular importance to the problem of plein-air. The social exposé tendencies of Arkhipov’s art made their appearance most clearly in his painting Washerwomen (1890’s, Russian Museum, Leningrad; 1901, Tret’iakov Gallery)—an important painting for its artistry as well. From 1900 to 1920, Arkhipov primarily painted landscapes of the Russian North. From 1910 he also worked on portraits, mainly of peasant women. Using broad, thick strokes, juxtaposed tones, and festive, bright colors, Arkhipov created images of people full of health and joy.

Arkhipov was a member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1924). In Moscow he taught at the School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (1894–1918), the State Free Artistic Workshops (1918–20), and the Higher Technical Art Workshop (1922–24). Among his students were A. M. Gerasimov and B. V. Ioganson. Arkhipov’s works (in addition to those mentioned above) include Along the Oka River (1890), The Returned (1896), and Young Girl With Pitcher (1927)—all in the Tret’iakov Gallery—and The Ice Has Passed (1895, Riazan Art Museum).