Лес

1882–1901

Twenty years of seclusion

The reasons for the seclusion are unknown; he was probably tired of the fuss and of accusations of cheap effects. The public thought he had exhausted himself, but he worked tirelessly, searching for pigments and grounds resistant to the air, and created about five hundred sketches and finished works and about three hundred graphic works.

1883

The dispute with Sudkovsky over “Dead Calm”

In 1883 Rufin Sudkovsky’s painting “Dead Calm” appeared, using the same device, a stony bottom showing through the water, as “Lake Ladoga”. Kuindzhi accused Sudkovsky of plagiarism and quarrelled with his former friend; Kramskoi and Repin called “Dead Calm” “a direct borrowing”, and in the end victory remained with Kuindzhi.

1886

Buys an estate in the Crimea, Sara Kikeneiz

In 1886 Kuindzhi bought a plot of 245 desyatinas near the village of Kikeneiz for 30,000 roubles and at first lived there in seclusion with his wife in a hut. In time the small estate of Sara Kikeneiz grew up on it, where he came with his students for summer plein-air practice.

1888

To the Caucasus with Yaroshenko: the Brocken spectre

In 1888, at the invitation of Nikolai Yaroshenko, Kuindzhi visited the Caucasus, where they witnessed the very rare mountain phenomenon of the Brocken spectre. Inspired by the trip, he painted a series of mountain landscapes in which the Caucasus is a symbol of an ideal, unattainable land; some researchers think they inspired Roerich’s Himalayan landscapes.

1891

Buys an apartment house on Vasilievsky Island

When fame came to Kuindzhi and his paintings were bought for large sums, in 1891 he acquired an apartment house on Vasilievsky Island and drew a profit from it for the rest of his life. He and his wife lived very modestly, and he gave most of his fees and profits to charity.

1892–1893

Professor and full member of the Academy

In 1892 Kuindzhi became a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts and in 1893 its full member (under the new statute).