Ivan Shishkin

 Ivan Shishkin (January 1832 – March 1898) - A Russian landscape painter

Ivan Shishkin, a Russian landscape painter, was born on 25th January 1832 in Yelabuga, Vyatka Governorate, and Russian Empire. Shishkin's full name was Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. He was a popular Russian painter who created many Russian landscape paintings. 

All about Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin:

Ivan belonged to a family of merchants in the small provincial town of Yelabuga. His father was a self-made man who supported his son to a great extent. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was popularly known for his amazing paintings that inspired many artists to a great extent. Some of the Notable works of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin were Morning in a Pine Forest and A Rye Field. The popular Russian Landscape painter received many awards; a Silver medal in 1858, a minor Golden Medal in the year 1859, and Grand Golden Medal in the year 1860. During his lifetime, he made many amazing paintings that are still well-known. 

Education and Profession of Ivan Shishkin:

Ivan Shishkin graduated from the Kazan gymnasium and then studied for four years at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture and Architecture. From the year 1856 to 1860, he studies at Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts. He graduated with a gold medal and with the highest honors from Kazan gymnasium. Later on, he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture for four years. 

Being a popular painter, Ivan Shishkin was also associated with the Peredvizhniki movement. It is a society of Itinerant Art Exhibitions where the Itinerants or the wanderers believe that it could accurately reflect their social and political views by representing their everyday artwork. 

For his future studies, Ivan Shishkin received the imperial scholarship. This imperial scholarship helped him to study further in Europe. This popular painter also became a member of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg and was a professor there from 1873 to 1898. During those days, he focused on his landscape paintings. He moved further in his studies at the Highest Art School in St. Petersburg. For some years, he stayed in Switzerland and Germany and then returned to St. Petersburg to become a member of the society. The society in which Ivan Shishkin participated was known as the society of Russian Watercolourists. Here, he participated in many exhibitions that were organized by society. Ivan Shishkin was popular for his painting method as it was mainly based on nature's analytical studies. His forest landscape painting made him popular all over. 

 Ivan Shishkin was also an outstanding printmaker and draftsman. In Vyra, Ivan Shishkin also owned a Dacha, a seasonal home located in the post-soviet countries. The best thing about his paintings was that it represents the seasons in the woods, animals, birds, and wild nature. In Academy's Advanced Art School, he became a professor-director of the landscape class in 1891. He was notable for some of his popular poetic paintings of birds, wildlife, a season in the wood, and animal paintings. His last completed painting was The Pine Grove, which got completed in the year 1898. He was also working with his new paintings, but he died on 20th March 1898 in St. Petersburg before completing those paintings. Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova discovered a minor plant 3558 Shishkin and named this little plant after Ivan Shishkin's name in 1978. In his lifetime Ivan Shishkin made many great paintings that became successful.