ubovskoy Nikolai Nikanorovich
(Novocherkassk, Russia 1859 - St. Petersburg 1918)
Stooks
Biography
Dubovskoy’s artistic talent was apparent from an early age, when he would copy pictures from illustrated magazines. At the age of seventeen, he was sent to St. Petersburg to the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied under one of the fathers of Russian landscape painting, Baron Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt von Jurgensburg. Having graduated in 1881, Dubovskoy decided to travel throughout Europe and the Middle East before returning to Russia, where he forged a reputation as one of the country’s greatest landscape painters.
Dubovskoy’s work within the landscape genre were extremely varied. In addition to agricultural scenes, such as Stooks, he depicted other humble, rustic landscapes with villages and cottages. In contrast to these calm simple subjects he also often depicted the sublime, through studies of storms, mountains and waterfalls. Numerous river and marine scenes also feature in his work, as do snow-covered, winter landscapes. This diversity also extended to his technique, which initially was tight and controlled, revealing the influence of Klodt, but became progressively looser and more fluid as his career progressed. However, his works were always underpinned by an excellent understanding of composition.
Dubovskoy joined the Peredvizhniki in 1884 and went on to become one of their most important and influential members. However, his reputation was not confined to Russia and his work was exhibited throughout Europe.