Konstantin Savitsky

Painter, draughtsman, engraver, illustrator. Father of Georgy Savitsky. After the sudden death of both parents, lived with an uncle in Daugavpils in Latvia (from 1854). Studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1862, 1867–73) and instructed by Leo Lagorio and Alexander Beideman (1863–67). Spent a summer with Ivan Kramskoi at the small village of Kozlovka-Zaseka near Tula (1873). Lived in Paris, studying the Impressionists and working alongside Ilya Repin in Normandy (1874–75). Returned to Daugavpils after his wife committed suicide in Paris (1875). Painted a series of works inspired by the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). Member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (from 1878). Academician (1897). Taught at the Baron Stieglitz Central School of Technical Drawing in St Petersburg (1883–89), Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1891–97) and the Penza School of Art (1897–1905). Founded the Nikolai Seliverstov School of Art in Penza (1897) and the Penza Museum of Art (1898). Died in Penza and buried at the St Mitrophan Cemetery (1905). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions, Society of Russian Watercolourists (1882, 1896) and the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1878).