Konstantin Fyodorovich Bogaevsky was born in 1872 into the family of a clerk in Feodosiya. In 1880 he entered a grammar school and from 1881 was brought up in the family of the manufacturer Ivan Egorovich Schmitt. The boy tried to master painting in the studio of the famous artist Ivan Aivazovsky, but to no avail. After that he entered the Petersburg Academy of Arts and studied from 1891 to 1895 in the class of Arkhip Kuindzhi. He went for open-air etudes to the Volga River in 1890, and then went to Germany, France and Austria together with Kuindzhi and his students in 1897. There he got acquainted with modern European art. Starting from 1900, Bogayevsky was exhibited, first in St. Petersburg, then in Venice, Munich (Setsession), Paris and Moscow.
In 1902 - 1903 the artist created a series of paintings based on Crimean landscapes so well known to him. In 1904 he joined the New Association of Artists, and then was called up for military service, served in Kerch fortress till his demobilization in 1906.
Afterwards he got married to Josephine Duranta. Same year Konstantin Bogayevsky built an art studio in Feodosia and worked there till the end of his life. Starting from 1906, after long isolation in his military service in Kerch, his creativity conveyed philosophical motives regarding the loneliness and minuteness of the person.
According to his contemporaries, the artist was a self-contained, conscientious, peaceful and extremely naive person. His closest friends were the artist Konstantin Kandaurov and the poet Maximilian Voloshin.
In 1906 Konstantin Bogayevsky participated in the Exposition del Art Russe arranged by Sergei Diaghilev at Salon d'Automne in Paris. He traveled across Germany in 1908, across Italy and Greece in 1909 and got to know the art of old masters better and better. In 1910 he was acknowledged a member of the Moscow Association of Artists. The same year saw the publication of Maximilian Voloshins collection of poetry Years of Wanderings illustrated by Konstantin Bogaevsky.
In 1911 - 1914 he participated in exhibitions of The World of Art association. In 1912 he made his most well-known work, namely three panel paintings for M. P. Ryabushinsky's Mansion in Moscow.
After his travel to Europe, from 1910, Konstantin Bogayevsky painted classical landscapes, which reveal obvious influence of German and Italian Renaissance artists on him.
Similar motives can be traced in Bogayevsky's works of the 1920s and 1930s as well. His creativity became part and parcel of the heritage of the Cimmerian painting school.
In 1914 the artist was again called up for military service and served near Sevastopol until his demobilization in 1918. In the 1920s the artist tried to tackle upon the subject of industrial construction with an obvious intention to create an artistic image of the city of the future.
After the October revolution he stayed in Feodosia, and went on participating in art exhibitions. In 1923 he worked on a panel painting for the Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow.
In 1933 Konstantin Bogayevsky was entitled the Honored Artist of RSFSR. From 1936 to 1939 he worked in
Tarusa and then returned to Feodosia.
In 1941 the artist found himself under occupation by the German Nazi. He was lost during the bombing of Feodosia by Soviet aircrafts in 1943. Konstantin Bogayevsky was buried at the old city cemetery in Feodosia.
Add to favorite
Konstantin Bogaevsky
