Fonvizin, Artur Vladimirovich

Born Dec. 30, 1882 (Jan. 11, 1883), in Riga; died Aug. 19, 1973, in Moscow. Soviet watercolorist, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1970).

Fonvizin studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture from 1901 to 1904 and attended private academies in Munich from 1904 to 1906. He participated in the Blue Rose exhibition in 1907 and the Makovets exhibits of 1922 and 1924.

Fonvizin’s works executed from memory include the series Circus and Songs and Romances (gouache and oils, 1903–09; watercolors, 1930’s–1970’s), which are housed at the Tret’iakov Gallery and the A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and at the Russian Museum in Leningrad. Other works include watercolor portraits of actors and artists and landscapes and still lifes painted directly from nature (1930–70, Tret’iakov Gallery and A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts). Fonvizin had a delicate painting style, marked by subtle color transitions and a free rhythm of broad strokes of color that create a cheerful mood.