Rufin Sudkovsky was born in the city of Ochakovo of the Kherson Province in 1850. His father was a priest; therefore, Sudkovsky received his first education at the Odessa Theological Seminary in order to follow his footsteps. However, at the seminary he became interested in painting and began to attend the Odessa Drawing School at the local Art Society.
At the age of eighteen, Sudkovsky entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. However, due to the state of his health, he had to return to his hometown without finishing the course. Sudkovsky lived all his life in Ochakovo but he always kept in touch with the Academy and regularly participated in exhibitions.
Even in his student days, Sudkovsky’s landscape studies were highly appreciated by his teachers. The Academy awarded the young artist with large and small silver medals. However, in his early works Sudkovsky tried too hard to imitate famous masters, so the audience did not see originality in his paintings, thus success did not come the artist immediately.
Therefore, Sudkovsky began to perfect his technique, studied the Black Sea nature and went on a trip abroad to find his own style. At the 1880s exhibitions, he managed to show himself a mature painter. At that time, Sudkovsky moved from the romantic landscape to the realist one. The dominant theme of his work was Russian nature. Bright and catchy colours of sunsets and sunrises disappeared from Sudkovsky’s canvases — instead appeared a masterful image of wave movements and play of light on water.
The landscape Before the Storm was created in 1882 on the Dnieper estuary — at a bay in the northern part of the Black Sea. Sudkovsky depicted the sea as still calm but already anxiously tense before the upcoming storm.
At the age of eighteen, Sudkovsky entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. However, due to the state of his health, he had to return to his hometown without finishing the course. Sudkovsky lived all his life in Ochakovo but he always kept in touch with the Academy and regularly participated in exhibitions.
Even in his student days, Sudkovsky’s landscape studies were highly appreciated by his teachers. The Academy awarded the young artist with large and small silver medals. However, in his early works Sudkovsky tried too hard to imitate famous masters, so the audience did not see originality in his paintings, thus success did not come the artist immediately.
Therefore, Sudkovsky began to perfect his technique, studied the Black Sea nature and went on a trip abroad to find his own style. At the 1880s exhibitions, he managed to show himself a mature painter. At that time, Sudkovsky moved from the romantic landscape to the realist one. The dominant theme of his work was Russian nature. Bright and catchy colours of sunsets and sunrises disappeared from Sudkovsky’s canvases — instead appeared a masterful image of wave movements and play of light on water.
The landscape Before the Storm was created in 1882 on the Dnieper estuary — at a bay in the northern part of the Black Sea. Sudkovsky depicted the sea as still calm but already anxiously tense before the upcoming storm.
Sudkovsky’s works were often praised by critics in the 1880s. Sudkovsky’s works were often praised by critics in the 1880s.
