Stavropol Museum of Fine Arts possesses a small monographic collection of five landscapes by Andrei Shilder — a painter, illustrator, graphic artist. He worked extensively in panoramic painting and painted stage sets.
Andrei Shilder was born in the family of the Russian genre painter Nikolai Shilder. Andrei studied painting with famous Russian landscape artist Ivan Shishkin in his private studio. In 1879 Shilder took a trip to the Crimea together with his teacher and later went to Belovezha Forest — a large relict forest. Since 1884, he exhibited his paintings with the Association of Itinerant Art Exhibitions. It united Russian realist painters, masters of historic and genre painting involved in popular education.
The work and personality of Ivan Shishkin had a strong influence on Shilder — he often painted pine forests, cold wildwoods covered with snow, springs among tress and forest streams. According to memoirs of his contemporaries, working on a landscape he focused on the painting itself, its contents and plan. Shilder rarely painted from nature and almost never used studies — exact drawings from nature. He mixed various drawings and changed them beyond recognition. Sometimes this technique added artificial effect to his landscapes.
In 1903, Andrei Shilder was awarded the title of landscape painting academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts. At the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries he became one of the most sought after Russian painters.
The Museum collection of Shilder’s originals may be conditionally called ‘Four Seasons’, as the paintings portray all seasons of the annual cycle. Shilder painted three paintings, including Forest Stream as landscapes, and livened up two works with genre scenes. All the paintings came from the art collection of Stavropol merchants the Alafuzovs, specialists assume that they knew the painter. This assumption is confirmed by the landscape Forest Stream that resembles a location in Stavropol — Cold Spring. It is now the favorite recreation area of the citizens, which was the outskirts of the city in the early 20th century. Researchers of Shilder’s creative work believe that Forest Stream was commissioned to the painter in 1906.
Andrei Shilder was born in the family of the Russian genre painter Nikolai Shilder. Andrei studied painting with famous Russian landscape artist Ivan Shishkin in his private studio. In 1879 Shilder took a trip to the Crimea together with his teacher and later went to Belovezha Forest — a large relict forest. Since 1884, he exhibited his paintings with the Association of Itinerant Art Exhibitions. It united Russian realist painters, masters of historic and genre painting involved in popular education.
The work and personality of Ivan Shishkin had a strong influence on Shilder — he often painted pine forests, cold wildwoods covered with snow, springs among tress and forest streams. According to memoirs of his contemporaries, working on a landscape he focused on the painting itself, its contents and plan. Shilder rarely painted from nature and almost never used studies — exact drawings from nature. He mixed various drawings and changed them beyond recognition. Sometimes this technique added artificial effect to his landscapes.
In 1903, Andrei Shilder was awarded the title of landscape painting academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts. At the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries he became one of the most sought after Russian painters.
The Museum collection of Shilder’s originals may be conditionally called ‘Four Seasons’, as the paintings portray all seasons of the annual cycle. Shilder painted three paintings, including Forest Stream as landscapes, and livened up two works with genre scenes. All the paintings came from the art collection of Stavropol merchants the Alafuzovs, specialists assume that they knew the painter. This assumption is confirmed by the landscape Forest Stream that resembles a location in Stavropol — Cold Spring. It is now the favorite recreation area of the citizens, which was the outskirts of the city in the early 20th century. Researchers of Shilder’s creative work believe that Forest Stream was commissioned to the painter in 1906.
