LUKOMSKY George Kreskentievich (Konstantinovich)

March 2, 1884 (Kaluga) — March 25, 1952 (Nice)

Graphic artist, watercolorist, art critic, art historian

Lukomsky came from a noble family. His father was technological engineer, who headed administrative positions of the province. He received his general education at a non-classical secondary school. He studied at the P. I. Sychev School of Drawing in Orel (1890s), Y. S. Goldblatt preparatory classes in St. Petersburg (1901). After unsuccessful attempt to enter the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under the Imperial Academy of Arts, Lukomsky moved to Kazan, where he continued his education under K. L. Mufke and F. R. Amlong at the faculty of architecture at the Art school (1901–1903). In 1903 he entered the Higher Art School; studied at the architectural department (1903–1915). In 1908–1909 Lukomsky lived in Moscow; studied at the Rumyantsev Library, the Historical Museum and the Stroganov School of Industrial Art. He attended lessons at the K. F. Yuon studio in Moscow. In 1915 he defended the diploma at the Higher Art School and was conferred the title of architect and artist.

Lukomsky lived in St. Petersburg (Petrograd). In 1904, 1905, 1907, and 1909 he traveled around France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Poland. He also visited many old towns in Russia. Lukomsky studied old and new architecture, created architectural sketches. He also created graphic and watercolor series: Drevlyane songs, Old Paris, Palaces, Villas and Gardens, Through Cities of Italy, Temples and Houses, From the Middle Ages, Old and New Petersburg, Monuments of antique architecture in Russia, Old Warsaw, Kazan and others. He was also engaged in ex-libris and book graphic art.

Lukomsky was close to the aesthetics of the society Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”). In 1909 he made his debut as an artist at the S. K. Makovsky’s Salon. He held his personal exhibition at the editorial office of the magazine Apollon (“Apollo”, 1909). Lukomsky participated in the exhibitions in the halls of the Imperial Academy of Arts, exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists (1909), New Society of Artists (1912, 1913, 1915, and 1917), the International art exhibition in Brussels and the exhibition of Russian Art in Paris (1910).

Lukomsky’s works were published since 1908. He collaborated with the magazines Zodchiy (“Architect”), Starye Gody (“Past Years”), Apollon (“Apollo”), Stolitsa i Usadba (“Capital and Estate”), and Iskusstvo v Yuzhnoy Rosii (“Art in the South of Russia”). In 1908–1909 he created a series of reports about architecture of Western Europe and Russia. He also was the author of monographs Walks through the old quarters of Paris (St. Petersburg, 1912), Kostroma (together with V. K. Lukomsky; St. Petersburg, 1913), Vologda in its antiquity (Petrograd, 1914), Old Petersburg. Walks through the old quarters (Petrograd, 1916), Monuments of ancient Russian architecture in types of its artistic construction (Petrograd, 1916) and others.

In 1914–1915 Lukomsky participated in trench works at the front in Galicia, where he drew illustrations to his book Galicia in its antiquity (St. Petersburg, 1915).

After the February Revolution, Lukomsky became a member of the Special Conference on the Arts; headed works on inventory and restoration of monuments in Tsarskoe Selo. In November 1918 he moved to Ukraine. He studied monuments of the Byzantine antiquity in Kiev, collaborated with the Ukrainian publishing house Vseizdat. Lukomsky organized and headed the art museum, which he created on the basis of B. I. Khanenko private collection (now — Kiev Museum of Eastern and Western Art). Before the arrival of the Volunteer Army, Lukomsky left Kiev because of threat of repressions. He spent winter in Yalta; in the spring of 1920 he emigrated. Then he lived in Constantinople (1920), Berlin (1921–1925), Paris (1925), and London (since 1940).

Living abroad, Lukomsky combined art and literary activities. In 1920s he collaborated with emigrant magazines Spolokhi (“Flashes”), Zhar-ptiza (“Firebird”), Nakanune (“On the Eve”); he also was a foreign correspondent for soviet editions Sredi Kollekzionerov (“Among the Collectors”), Zhizn Iskusstva (“Life of Art”), Krasnaya Panorama (“Red Panorama”). He wrote articles for periodicals Apollo, The Studio, Beaux-Arts, Emporium and others. Lukomsky also published monographs: Russian Porcelain, Russian Architecture (both — Berlin, 1924), Andrea Palladio. Life and Work (Paris, 1927), Charles Cameron (London, 1943), History of Russian Painting. 1840–1890 (London, 1945), and Jewish Art in European Synagogues (London 1947).

Lukomsky’s works were exposed at exhibitions in Soviet Russia, in particular at the exhibition of original drawings of Petrograd bookplates (1923), exhibition of works on revolutionary and Soviet themes (1930) and others. In 1928 the retrospective exhibition of the artist was organized in Kazan. Personal exhibitions of Lukomsky were held in Paris (1935) and in London (1936).

Works by George Lukomsky are in many museum collections, including the State Russian Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Luxembourg Museum, the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris, the Museum of the Sforzesco Castle in Milan, the National Gallery of ancient art in Rome.