Artist The name "Степанов"

Alexey Stepanovich Stepanov (1858–1923) - painter, graphic artist. He was born into a military family, with a participant of the Siege of Sevastopol. He became an orphan at a young age and spent his childhood in the Razumovsky branch of the Imperial Nikolai I Orphan Institute in Moscow. He received his initial artistic education at the Konstantinovsky Land Surveying Institute, graduating in 1870. From 1880, he attended classes at MUZhViZ (Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture), first as a freelance listener until 1883, and then as a regular student from 1883 to 1884. He studied under I.M. Prjanisnikov, E.S. Sorokin, and A.K. Savrasov. In 1883, for his drawing and sketch of the painting "Father and Son, or Military Conversation," he was awarded a small silver medal. A year later, for the same painting, he received a large silver medal and graduated from the School with the title of class artist. He lived in Moscow. In 1883, while Stepanov was still studying at MUZhViZ, he began collaborating with the magazine "Nature and Hunting," a partnership that lasted until 1895. During the summer months of 1886-1887, he worked alongside I.I. Levitan and S.P. Kuvshinnikova in Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod. In 1888-1889, he traveled with them along the Oka and Volga rivers to Plyos. During these years, he also met A.P. Chekhov. In 1894, he traveled to Europe, visiting Germany, France, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. From 1896 to 1897, he frequently visited Crimea. Since 1885, he participated in exhibitions of the Moscow Society of Lovers of the Fine Arts. In 1891, he joined the Society for the Encouragement of Arts (TPHVI), becoming a regular exhibitor until 1910 (with some breaks). Two of Stepanov's works from TPHVI exhibitions in 1889-1890 and 1891-1892 were purchased by P.M. Tretyakov. In 1900, he exhibited his works at the World's Fair in Paris. From 1899 (until 1918), he taught an animalist class at MUZhViZ. In 1903, he became one of the founders and active participants of the exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists (until 1923). In 1905, for his painting "Morning Greeting," he was elected an academician. In 1905, he traveled to southern France, in 1907 he visited Paris, Vichy, Menton, and Trouville, and in 1912 he traveled to Finland and Crimea. The summer months from 1906 until...He lived and worked on Lake Udomlya in the Tver province for 14 years. In 1911, he exhibited his paintings at the World Exhibition in Rome, and in 1914 at the International Exhibition in Munich. After the revolution, he continued to work actively and participate in exhibition activities. Stepanov's works were presented at the XVII exhibition of paintings by Moscow and Petrograd artists in 1917 in Moscow and in other exhibitions. Retrospective exhibitions of the master's works took place in 1941 at the exhibition hall of the Union of Artists of the USSR in Moscow, in 1948 at the State Tretyakov Gallery (jointly with S. A. Korovin), in 1959 (timed to the 100th anniversary of his birth), and in 1976 in Moscow (locations unknown). Stepanov is one of the largest landscape and animal painters of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In his early work, genre paintings prevailed, executed in the traditions of the Wanderers under the influence of his teachers—Prjanishnikov and Sorokin—depicting events of everyday life. At the same time, even then, a poetic perception of life and a special warmth of soul, which distinguish the best works of the artist, were already evident. In his works from the 1900s to 1910s, Stepanov paid special attention to conveying various moods of nature: light sadness, tranquility, and cheerfulness. In his painting, he used many techniques of the Impressionists, painting en plein air in a free manner, broadly and sketchily. The artist's favorite graphic technique was gouache, whose opaque paints have a matte, velvety hue. With just a few brushstrokes, he managed to convey very accurately the light-air environment in his paintings and sometimes barely noticeable changes in the atmosphere. The freshness of color and the immediacy of live perception in the master's paintings impress, creating an impression of the spontaneity of what is happening. The artist's work is represented in museum and private collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.