Portrait of Alexander Ivanov - Sergey Postnikov
1886
1888
1909
Sergey Vasilyevich was born on April 6, 1864 in the city of Ruza, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation. His father was a tax collector for the Customs Service. He came from the family of nobles of the Voronezh oblast (grandmother, Vera Ilyinichna Ivanova, owned the estate on the farm Krinichny of Bogucharsky district).
He displayed an early talent for art, but his father was opposed on the grounds that it would not be a secure way to make a living so, at the age of eleven, he was enrolled at the Konstantinov Land Surveying Institute.The Institute was not to his liking and he was an indifferent student, so a family friend who was an amateur artist encouraged his father to send him to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). With a recommendation from Vasily Perov, he began auditing classes there in 1878, studying with Illarion Pryanishnikov and Evgraf Sorokin. He left there in 1882 to attend the Imperial Academy of Arts. Dissatisfaction with the school's administration and financial difficulties forced him to return to Moscow in 1884. He went back to the MSPSA and graduated in 1885.
In 1885-1889 he created a series of works "Migrants". Since 1895 he worked on paintings of a predominantly historical and everyday plan, among which were the paintings “Arrival of the Governor” (1907), “The archers” (1907).
From 1885 to 1889, he toured the provinces of Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan and Orenburg, documenting the migrants' lives. This was followed by a series on convicts. In the mid 1890s, he began to focus on historical works.
In 1899, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki, but was soon dissatisfied with their emphasis on "lovely scenes". In 1903, he was one of the founders of the "Союз русских художников" (Union of Russian Artists), temporarily replacing the better-known "Mir Iskusstva". In 1905, the Imperial Academy named him an "Academician". Later that year, during the Moscow Uprising, he made numerous sketches while also helping the wounded.
From 1903 to 1910, he taught at the MSPSA. He was also known as an illustrator; creating drawings for classics by Gogol, Lermontov and Pushkin, among others.
He died of a heart attack at his dacha near the Yakhroma River.
Female Migrant
1886The Council of Uvetichi
A Peasant Leaving His Landlord on Yuri's Day
The Streltsy
Guards at the Southern Border of Muscovy
Zemsky Sobor
painting
painting
painting
painting
painting
painting
Tsar
Boyarsky vozok
1909Boyarsky vozok
The arrival of voevoda
painting
Reverse migrants
1888Winter campaign
painting
