Alexander Alexandrovich Kiselev
Russian, 1837-1911
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Alexander Alexandrovich Kiselyov, or Kiselev was a Russian landscape painter.
He was born to a military family at a Russian naval fortress and received his first schooling in the Arakcheev Cadet Corps. In 1852, he was transferred to the 2nd Saint Petersburg Cadet Corps, but resigned in 1858 before completing his training course and entered Saint Petersburg State University. The school was temporarily closed during a period of student unrest in 1861, so he transferred to the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1864, he was awarded the title of "Artist Third-Class". The following year, he married and moved to Kharkiv, where he worked for the Kharkiv Land Bank.
In 1875, he became a member of the "Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions" (Peredvizhniki). Two years later, he relocated to Moscow and taught at a grammar school for girls. For many years, he wandered throughout Russia and the Caucasus, making sketches for paintings that he would complete at his home in Moscow. In 1893, he was named a full member of the Academy and became a Professor in 1897.
In 1906, in Vologda, he was one of the founders of the "Northern Circle of Fine Art Lovers", an organization which, among other things, helped young artists to get their work exhibited at the Academy.
Later, as part of a team of artists, he helped to design the interior of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia.
His home in Tuapse (which he built in 1902) is now a museum. A large outcropping on the Black Sea coast between Cape Kadosh and Agoi is named after him, due to its appearance in one of his paintings.