Background
Murashko was born in Hlukhiv, Ukraine, on May 20, 1844. His father was an icon carver.
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
In 1863 became a student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (today Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture) in Saint Petersburg, becoming eventually a certified art teacher in 1868.
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
In 1863 became a student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (today Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture) in Saint Petersburg, becoming eventually a certified art teacher in 1868.
Murashko was born in Hlukhiv, Ukraine, on May 20, 1844. His father was an icon carver.
Mykola Murashko showed an interest in art from an early age, producing copies of pictures from books. In 1858 his family moved to Kiev. In 1863 his teacher at the gymnasium, Ivan Soshenko, recommended that he pursue art training. That same year, he became a student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (today Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture) in Saint Petersburg.
However, his illness prevented Murashko from completing his course of study. He settled in Voronezh, but continued to send his artworks to the Academy, becoming eventually a certified art teacher in 1868.
Murashko began his career as an art teacher in a local primary school in Kiev in 1868, concurrently, working on his artworks. Over the years, Mykola Murashko taught in a number of different schools. Between 1875 and 1901 he ran his own drawing school in Kiev. The school was supported by many well-known artists; specifically Ilya Repin, Murashko's good friend. Mykola Pymonenko, Kostiantyn Kryzhytsky, Ivan Izhakevych, Fotii Krasytsky, and Sergiy Kostenko were among those who attended the school. On Mykola Murashko's initiative, Kiev put on an annual art exhibition, beginning in 1877.
The teachers and pupils of Murashko's art school participated in the restoration of the frescoes of the Church of Saint Cyril's Monastery and in the painting of Saint Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev. Also, exhibitions of Ukrainian and Russian artists were held at the school.
Meanwhile, he painted numerous landscapes, many of which were bought for the museum at the Imperial Academy of Arts (now Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture). He also created several portraits and illustrated the first Ukrainian edition of Hans Christian Andersen's tales.
However, teaching was always his prime concern; he organized individual exhibitions of his students' artworks. Moreover, he made numerous trips to Vienna, Paris, Rome and other pivotal art centres. There he studied the latest teaching methods and contributed articles for a variety of local and national periodicals.
When the school closed, Mykola Murashko retired to the village of Bucha and started to write "Memoirs of an Old Master". Two parts of the book were published, but it was never completed, due the artist's illness.
Mykola Murashko was an exquisite artist of his time, though he was mainly known as an art educator. He was a teacher and a source of inspiration for all subsequent generations of artists.
He was primarily known for such his artworks as Ukrainian Landscape, Dnipro River, View on the Dnipro River, Portrait of Oleksandr Kochubey as well as for his series created for Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.
In Kiev, Yurii Turchenko published a book about Mykola Murashko in 1956.
Mykola Murashko was the uncle of Oleksandr Murashko, a successful Ukrainian painter.
Oleksandr Murashko (1875-1919) was a Ukrainian artist. He represented the art movements of Realism and Impressionism.
Ilya Repin (1844-1930) was a Russian painter, who represented the art movement of Realism. Repin's realistic works often expressed great psychological depth and exposed the tensions within the existing social order.
