Olga Della-Vos-Kardovskaya

Painter, graphic artist, illustrator, teacher. Granddaughter of Carlo Della-Vos, an Italian who settled in Odessa (early 19th century). Studied at Yegor Schreider’s studio in Kharkiv (1891–94), under Vasily Savinsky, Ivan Tvorozhnikov and Ilya Repin at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1895–99) and at Anton Ažbè’s school in Munich (1899–1900). Married Dmitry Kardovsky (1900). Visited the Crimea (1901–02), Switzerland (1912) and Italy (1913). Illustrated the works of Anton Chekhov (1903). Member of the New Society of Artists (from 1903). Influenced by Symbolism and Art Nouveau (1900s–10s), but later returned to a more Realist style (1920s). Taught at her own studios in Tsarskoe Selo (1908–17) and Pereslavl-Zalessky (1918–24) and the VKhUTEMAS in Petrograd (1921–24) and Moscow (from 1924). Elected to the International Institute of Art and Literature in Paris (1914) and one of the first women (along with Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Zinaida Serebryakova and Alexandra Schneider) to be considered for election to the Imperial Academy of Arts, only for the ballot to be cancelled by the revolution (1917). Evacuated to Pereslavl-Zalessky (1941–45), lived in Leningrad (1945–52). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1896). Contributed to the Exhibition of Experiences of Artistic Creativity (Studies) of Russian and Foreign Artists and Students (1896), spring exhibition of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1903), New Society of Artists (1904–17), Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1908–11, 1918), Union of Russian Artists (1911–15), Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1923), Fire-Colour (1925–28), World Fair in Saint Louis (1904), international exhibitions in Rome (1911) and Venice (1914) and the exhibitions of Russian art in the United States (1924–25). One-woman shows in Moscow (1938, 1953).