Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich (1832-1898) is an outstanding Russian landscape painter, painter, draftsman and engraver-aquafortist. Representative of the Düsseldorf Art School. Academician, professor, head of the landscape workshop of the Imperial Academy of Arts.
Shishkin was born in 1832 in the city of Elabuga, among the untouched and majestic forests of the Kama region, which played a huge role in the formation of Shishkin the landscape painter. From his youth he had a passion for painting, and in 1852 he left his native place and went to Moscow, to the School of Painting and Sculpture. He directed all his artistic thoughts to the image of nature.
In 1860, for two Valaam landscapes, Shishkin received the Great Gold Medal and the right to travel abroad.
in 1862 Shishkin goes on a trip to Europe, he visits Berlin, Dresden and Prague.
In 1863, in Zurich, Shishkin visited the workshop of the painter and engraver R. Koller, where he got acquainted with the technique of etching.
In 1865 Shishkin returned to Russia and received the title of academician for the painting "View in the Environs of Dusseldorf" (1865, State Russian Museum).
Shishkin′s works "Cutting the Forest" (1867, Tretyakov Gallery), "At Sunset" (1869, State Russian Museum), "Noon in the Environs of Moscow" (1869, Tretyakov Gallery), which reveal the peculiarities of the national landscape, corresponded to the direction that was subsequently developed by the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions ... Together with I. N. Kramskoy, V. G. Perov, G. G. Myasoedov, A. K. Savrasov, N. N. Ge and others, in 1870 he became a founding member of the Partnership.
In 1873, for the painting "In the Wilderness", presented at the exhibition of the Itinerants, Shishkin received the title of professor.
Along with paintings, a special place in Shishkin′s work belongs to graphics. The artist masterfully mastered the art of drawing and engraving. His drawing has undergone the same evolution as painting. The drawings of the 80s, which the artist made with charcoal and chalk, are much more picturesque than the pen drawings of the 60s. In 1891, more than six hundred studies and prints by Shishkin were exhibited at the Academy.
The creative activity of I. I. Shishkin was completed with the majestic composition "Ship Grove".
Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich died on March 8, 1898.