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Ivan Aivazovsky

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Artist

The Resume

    (July 29, 1817-May 2, 1900)
    Born in Feodosia, Crimea
    Baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian
    Famous for his paintings of seascapes, naval battles, and Armenian themes
    Paintings include 'The Bay of Naples by Moonlight' (1842), 'Stormy Sea at Night' (1849), 'The Ninth Wave' (1850), 'The Black Sea at Night' (1879), 'The Black Sea' (1881), 'Jesus Walking on Water' (1890), 'The Baptism of the Armenian People' (1892), 'Brig 'Mercury' Attacked by Two Turkish Ships' (1892), and 'Among the Waves' (1898)
    Elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1847)
    Awarded Legion of Honor (1857), Order of the Redeemer (1859), Order of St. Vladimir (1865), and Order of Osmanieh (1874)
    Elected to Stuttgart's Royal Academy of Fine Arts as an honorary member (1878)
    Died in Feodosia

Why he might be annoying:

    His second wife, Anna Burnazian, was 40 years his junior.
    His isolation from the outside world upon settling in his native Feodosia left him out of touch with the times, dealing a blow to his art career as he continued to paint in the Romantic style while Russian art was moving to Realism.
    Because he mostly painted seascapes, art critics have complained that his works appear repetitive and lacking in variety.
    His paintings were also criticized for being overly melodramatic and sentimental.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His skill as a painter was so famous that the phrase 'worthy of Aivazovsky's brush' was popularized by Anton Chekhov to describe something extremely lovely.
    It was said that he could capture a memory of a scene and reproduce it in his paintings without even drawing preliminary sketches.
    At the time of his birth, his family lost much of their wealth to a plague.
    He raised awareness of the Ottoman Empire's persecution of Armenians through some of his paintings.
    He spent most of his money for charity, especially for his hometown, where he established its first school of arts.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying