Dmitrii Nikolaevich Kardovskii

Born Aug. 24 (Sept. 5), 1866, in the village of Osurovo, present-day Pereslavl’-Zalesskii, Yaroslavl Oblast; died Feb. 9, 1943, in Pereslavl’-Zalesskii. Soviet artist. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1929).

From 1892 to 1896 and from 1900 to 1902, Kardovskii studied under P. P. Chistiakov and I. E. Repin at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. From 1896 to 1900 he was a student at the A. Asbé school in Munich. He received a professorship at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1907; he became a full member of the academy in 1911.

Kardovskii, who worked in a realist style, was a skilled draftsman and a master book illustrator. He illustrated Chekhov’s Kashtanka (charcoal and india ink, 1903), Griboedov’s Woe From Wit (india ink, watercolor, and gouache; 1907–12), Nek-rasov’s To the Russian Women (india ink, watercolor, and gouache; 1922), Gogol’s The Inspector-General (watercolor, 1922; black lead pencil, 1933), and A. N. Tolstoy’s Peter I (india ink, 1932). Kardovskii was also a stage artist; he was the artist for the stagings of A. N. Ostrovskii’s The Forest (1921) and Poverty Is No Crime (1924) at the Malyi Theater in Moscow. His paintings, watercolors, and drawings were devoted to the era of Peter I, Pushkin’s times, and the Decembrists (On the Senate Square, watercolor, 1927, State Historical Museum, Moscow).

Kardovskii, who was an outstanding instructor, taught at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1903–18), the Moscow Vkhute-mas-Vkhutein (State Higher Arts and Technical Studios-Higher Art and Technical Institute, 1920–30), and the All-Russian Academy of Arts in Leningrad (1933–34). Kardovskii also taught with K. P. Chemko at their own studio in Moscow from 1922 to 1930. Among his students were the Soviet painters V. P. Efanov, D. A. Shmarinov, and P. P. Ben’kov.