Constantin Kousnetzoff

Constantin Kousnetzoff is a Russian painter of the School of Paris. He was born in 1863 in Jiolnino, in the government of Nizhny Novgorod, into a family of merchants. He began his artistic training in Russia before joining Paris in 1895 with the painters Victor Borissov-Moussatov (1870-1905) and Alexandre Chervachidze (1867-1968). He then continued his apprenticeship in the studio of the French painter Fernand Cormon (1845-1924), where he became familiar with the Parisian art scene. He settled permanently in Paris in 1900.

Constantin Kousnetzoff's painting is part of a post-impressionist aesthetic. Sensitive to variations in light and atmospheric effects, he favors a luminous palette dominated by blues, greens, and ochres. The landscapes of Paris, the Breton coasts, fishing ports, and Norman shores constitute the main subjects of his work. Among his most representative achievements are Les Pêcheurs de Concarneau (1900), Le Verdalet, Val-André (1915), and Le Port de Sauzon (1923).

From the beginning of the 20th century, Constantin Kousnetzoff actively participated in Parisian artistic life. He regularly exhibited at the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon d'Automne, and the Salon des Indépendants. Alongside his exhibitions, he undertook many trips to Brittany and Normandy. He stayed notably in Concarneau, Saint-Cast, Kerfany, Belle-Île-en-Mer, and Sauzon, where he created many port scenes.

Constantin Kousnetzoff's work is distinguished by a free touch and diffuse light. Through his compositions, he restores atmospheric variations and the changing effects of light on the sea, while developing a poetic vision of French landscapes.

Several exhibitions were dedicated to him after his death in 1936, notably at the Salon d'Automne in 1937, at the Katia Granoff gallery in 1968, at the Musée Carnavalet in 1984, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Pont-Aven in 1987, and more recently at the Tretyakov National Gallery in 2021.

Constantin Kousnetzoff's works are now preserved in several public collections, notably at the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée Carnavalet, the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Pont-Aven, the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Quimper, the Tretyakov National Gallery in Moscow, and the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Constantin Kousnetzoff died in Paris in 1936.