Konstantin Korovin Biography | Oil Paintings

In 1875 at the age of fourteen, Konstantin Korovin attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and studied with both Vasily Perov and Alexei Savrasov. His three year older brother Sergei Korov was also in the school, the Korovins became friends with fellow students Valentin Serov and Isaac Levitan, Konstantin remained friends with them his whole life.

In 1881, Korovin spent a year in St. Petersburg at the Imperial Academy of Arts, he was not happy with the antiquated teaching methods and returned to his former school in Moscow, this time he studied with a new teacher Vasily Polenov until 1886.

Polenov introduced Konstantin Korovin to Savva Mamontov whose circle of friends included Ilya Repin, and in 1888, Korovin traveled with Mamontov to Italy and Spain, where he produced the oil paintings On the Balcony Spanish Women Leonora and Ampara. Konstantin Korovin traveled within Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He painted in the Impressionist and later in the Art Nouveau style.

Korovin's other influence was his travels to the North when in 1889 he was enamored by the northern landscapes as seen in Hammerfest Nothern Lights. On his second trip to the North in 1894, he and his fellow schoolmate Valentin Serov went by train on the newly constructed Northern Railway and there, Korovin painted a large number of monochromatic landscapes, painted in a variety of grays.

With materials he gathered during his northern trip, Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin designed the Northern Railway pavilion at 1896 All Russia Exhibition in Novgorod. He painted ten big oil paintings for this pavilion, portraying different aspects of the Northern and Arctic lifestyles.

For the Paris World Fair in 1900, Korovin designed the Central Asia section of the Russian Empire pavilion and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government. Between 1909 to 1913 he was a professor of painting at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, the school where he was a student thirty-five years earlier.

During World War I Korovin consulted officers at one of the Russian army headquarters on the use of camouflage and was observed on the front lines.

In 1923 Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin moved to Paris to cure his heart condition and help his handicapped son who had both feet amputated. There was going to be a large showing of Korovin's artwork but the works were stolen in transit and with nothing to show and sell, Korovin was left penniless. For years he produced many Russian Winters and Paris Boulevards souvenir type oil paintings to support himself.

Art Movement: Impressionism, Art Nouveau.
Artists Influencing Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin: Vasily Perov, Alexei Savrasov.
He Traveled To France, Spain, Italy, Norway.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.