Painting. Russian artists. Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939)

Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was born in Moscow. In 1874 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. His teachers were Aleksey Savrasov and Vassily Polenov. Polenov introduced Korovin to Savva Mamontov. Soon Korovin became a leading member of the Abramtsevo colony of artists who repre¬sented the most innovative paintings and stage designs of the period. Korovin's early landscapes continued the plein-air explorations of his teachers.
Travelling extensively in Europe in the 1880s-90s Korovin was influenced by French Impressionism. His work In the Boat, of 1887, recalls the bright colours of Eduourd Manet's Boating, of 1879. The typical examples of Korovin's late Impressionist style are Cafe in Paris, of 1892-4 and Paris by Night, Boulevard des Italiens, of 1908. Korovin's designs for Mamontov's Private Opera in Moscow in the 1880s and 1890s were unprecedented in Russia in their free use of colour and their departure from realism.

Though resident of Moscow, Korovin exhibited with the World of Art Group in St. Petersburg. From 1901 to 1918 he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, From 1918 to 1919 Korovin worked at SVOMAS (Free Art Studios). He also continued his work in the theatre.
In 1923 the painter emigrated and in 1924 he settled in Paris, where he wrote his memoirs. There he worked out stage designs without great success. Korovin produced designs for Krimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden, of 1929. Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin died on September 11, 1939.
 

Literature: Book "Russian art" A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva