KUPREYANOV Nikolay Nikolaevich

July 16, 1894 (Wloclawska, Warsaw province) — July 29, 1933 (near Moscow)

Graphic artist, painter

Kupreyanov was born to a family of official; he was grand-nephew of M. Y. Lermontov and nephew of M. A. Kuzmin. Kupreyanov spent his childhood in the village Selishche near Kostroma. Since 1901 he lived in St. Petersburg. Kupreyanov studied at the princess M. K. Tenisheva’s Commercial College (finished in 1912) and at the faculty of law at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) University (1912–1915). At the same time he studied at the workshops under D. N. Kardovsky (1912–1914) and K. S. Petrov-Vodkin (1915–1916). Kupreyanov studied technique of wood engraving under the guidance of A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1912–1917).

Since 1917 Kupreyanov participated in the exhibitions. He exposed his works at the Art Bureau of N. E. Dobychina (1917), at the First State Independent Art Exhibition in Petrograd (1919). In 1919 Kupreyanov lectured at the Higher Institute of Photography and Photo technique.

In 1920 Kupreyanov moved to the village Selishche. Since 1922 he lived in Moscow, and spent summer months in Selishche. Since 1922 Kupreyanov worked as an associate professor at the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS), and then in 1925–1930 he lectured at the Higher Art Technical Institute (VKhUTEIN) at the faculty of lithograph. In 1921–1924 Kupreyanov worked a lot in the genre of political caricature; he cooperated with the magazines Krokodil (“Crocodile”), Bezbozhnik (“Atheist”), Pioneer and others. Kupreyanov was also engaged in book graphic art, especially children’s book.

Since 1924 Kupreyanov was a member and exhibitor of the Society of Easel Artists (OST), since 1925 — the society Four Arts. In 1925 Kupreyanov participated in the World exhibition of new decorative and industrial art in Paris. In 1925–1927 he drew a series of drawings Factory, Transport, Railroad, in 1927–1928 — Evenings in Selishche. In 1926–1929 Kupreyanov worked on the series of drawings Herds.

In 1926–1927 the first personal exhibition of Kupreyanov was held in the Central museum of the Tatar SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) in Kazan.

In 1928 Kupreyanov visited Germany and Italy, where he drew a lot of travel sketches. In early 1930s he often made trips through the country in order to gather material for creative work; he visited the Caspian and Azov seas, the Caucasus. In 1932 Kupreyanov created a series of drawings Baltic Fleet. In 1932–1933 he taught the technique of drawing at the Polygraphic Institute. In 1933 Kupreyanov took part in the exhibition Artists of the RSFSR for 15 years at the State Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1933 Kupreyanov tragically died, he drowned in a river Urcha near Moscow. Kupreyanov was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

The book of Kupreyanov with notes and sketches Artist’s Diary was published in 1937.

Memorial exhibition of Kupreyanov’s works was held in 1933–1934 in Moscow. Retrospective exhibitions were organized in 1984 in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (dedicated to the 90th anniversary) and in 1994 in the State Tretyakov Gallery (dedicated to the 100th anniversary).

Kupreyanov began as a master of wood engraving. In early creative works he was under the influence of cubism and futurism (1915–1922); in mid 1920s he left cubism, engraving, and worked only in graphic art, he preferred India ink and watercolor drawings. He was considered one of the virtuosic and significant graphic artists of 1920s–1930s.

Despite a short life, Nikolay Kupreyanov created a lot of works. Significant collections of original and printed graphic works of an artist are in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov Gallery.