Arkady Rylov

Arkady Rylov
1870 - 1939

Arkady Alexandrovich Rylov was born in the village of Istobenskoye in the Vyatka province on January 29, 1870. Rylov's biological father was mentally ill so Rylov was broght up by a stepfather who was a notary. At the age of 18 he moved to St. Petersburg and began to study at the Technical Design School of Baron Schtiglitz under the professor K.Y. Kryzhitsky. He studied here until 1891. He then studied at the Graphic Art School of the Society for the Promotion of Artists. He went on to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts under A.I. Kuindzhi from 1894-1897. As was indicated by his diploma piece at the Imperial Acadmey (entitled Assault of Perchenegs on a Slav Village) Rylov began his career as a historical painter. (His later works focused more on nature though many said that even his landscapes made allusions in some manner to Russian history.)

After graduating he traveled across Germany, France, and Austria. He then instructed the animal painting class at the Graphic Art School for a period. He taught from 1902-1918 at the School of Drawing at the Artists Encouragement Fund and then at the Academy of Arts from 1918-1925. His recollections of teaching were published after his death (1960). In 1915 he was bestowed the title Academician of Painting. The official Soviet Art theory ranks Rylov as one of the founders of the Soviet landscape painting. He loved nature so much that while teaching at the Academy of Arts he created what some referred to as a nature reserve in his studio. Here he kept live squirrels, rabbits, monkeys, countless un-caged wild birds, and two anthills.

Rylov was a member of the Mir iskusstva movement and its spin-off The Union of Russian Artists. He was also a member of the Association of Artists of the Revolutionary Russia (1925-1926) and the World of Art Association. He was a founding member of the Society named after A.I. Kuindzhi and served as its President from 1925-1930. Rylov went on to work as an illustrator for the childrens magazine Chizh (1936), V.V. Bianki's Teremok (1936), and Trapper's Tales (1937). Also in 1936, he wrote a book of essays about nature entitled When It Happens and illustrated it with his own water-colors. Arkady Rylov died June 22, 1939