Pyotr Konchalovsky

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer, teacher. Studied at the Maria Rayevskaya-Ivanova School of Drawing in Kharkiv (until 1888), at the evening classes of the Stroganov School of Technical Drawing (early 1890s), under Jean Paul Laurens and Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant at the Académie de Rodolphe Julian in Paris (1896–98) and under Pawel Kowalewski, Vasily Savinsky and Hugo Salemann at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1898–1907). Travelled to Italy and lived in Rome (1901–02). Married Vasily Surikov’s elder daughter Olga (1902), who gave birth to a daughter Natalia (1903) and son Mikhail (1906). Visited Italy (1904), France (1907–08, 1910, 1913), France and Spain (1912), Germany and Italy with Vasily Surikov (1914) and Italy and France (1924–25). Founding member of the Knave of Diamonds (1910–16, chairman 1911), Moscow Painters (1924–25), Existence (1926–27) and the Society of Moscow Artists (1928). Member of the World of Art (1916) and the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1926). Designed for the Zimin Opera (1905, 1912), Bolshoi Theatre (1920–21, 1932, 1944–45), Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre of Music (1921), Experimental Theatre in Moscow (1932) and the Moscow Arts Theatre (1932). Taught at the State Free Art Studios (1918–21) and VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN (1926–29). Frequently visited the Crimea and travelled to Novgorod and Pskov (1925, 1926, 1928), Caucasus (1927, 1935), Murmansk and Arkhangelsk (1936). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1903). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1903, 1905, 1911), Salon d’Automne (1908, 1910), Salon des Indépendants (1908, 1910–12), Golden Fleece Salons (1909, 1911), Second Vladimir Izdebsky Salon (1910–11), Knave of Diamonds (1910–17), Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1911), Union of Youth (1911), World of Art (1911, 1912, 1915–22), Exhibition of Pictures of Left-Wing Tendencies (1915), Die erste russische Kunstausstellung in Berlin (1922), Exhibition of Russian Art in New York (1924), Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris (1925), Existence (1926–27), Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1928) and Artists of the RSFSR Over Fifteen Years (1933). Held fifteen one-man shows (1922–51), including an exhibition of 165 works at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1922). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1928), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1946), full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947), winner of the Stalin Prize (1942). Died in Moscow and buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (1956).