Ivan Bilibin1876–1942Каир. Цитадель
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “Каир. Цитадель” now? Collection: State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Unknown.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Details
- Accession number
- РС-4080
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- State Russian Museum
- Image: State Russian Museum — © State Russian Museum
In the life of Ivan Bilibin
The whole lifeOctober – December 1919
With the retreating Whites to Rostov and Novorossiysk
In October 1919 Bilibin moved from Crimea to Rostov-on-Don, and in December, with the retreating White Army, he ended up in Novorossiysk.
21 February 1920
Evacuated from Novorossiysk aboard the Saratov
Bilibin was evacuated from Novorossiysk aboard the steamer Saratov; because of sick passengers the refugees were landed neither at Constantinople nor at Famagusta in Cyprus, and the ship sailed on to Egypt.
May 1920
Settles in Cairo: the Byzantine style for the Greeks
Having arrived in Alexandria on 13 March and passed through quarantine and the British refugee camp at Tell el-Kebir, in May Bilibin settled in Cairo and worked for the Greek colony on icons, frescoes and panels in the Byzantine style. He painted Egyptian landscapes and studied Egyptian, Coptic and Arab art, enraptured by the 'head-spinning ornamentation' of the mosques.
February 1923
Marries Aleksandra Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya
Bilibin married the porcelain painter Aleksandra Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya, who had joined him in Cairo with her son Mstislav. In 1922 he had written to Maria Chambers asking for a divorce so that he could remarry; she did not reply, but by 1923 they were divorced.
