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Alexis Gritchenko

  • During the two years of his life that he spent in Istanbul, Alexis Gritchenko produced more paintings dedicated to the city than many artists produce in an entire lifetime.
  • Alexis
  • Gritchenko
  • Алексей Грищенко, Олексі́й (Олекса) Васильович Грищенко, Alexey Gritchenko, Oleksa Hryshchenko

  • 02-04-1883
  • Krolevets (UA)
  • 28-01-1977
  • Vence (FR)
  • PainterArt Historian
  • During the two years of his life that he spent in Istanbul, Alexis Gritchenko produced more paintings dedicated to the city than many artists produce in an entire lifetime.

    Word Count: 29

  • Portrait of Alexis Gritchenko by Turkish painter Namık İsmail, 1920. Private collection. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
  • During the two years of his life that he spent in Istanbul, Alexis Gritchenko produced more paintings dedicated to the city than many artists produce in an entire lifetime. Gritchenko is also particularly known for his memoirs titled Deux Ans à Constantinople (Two Years in Constantinople), an invaluable source that tells us about his life as a Russian-speaking émigré painter in the occupied city. However, despite the fact that Gritchenko left the Russian Empire to escape the civil war which followed the Russian Revolution, he, by his own admission, decided to flee partly out of a long-held desire to live and work in Istanbul, a city of which he had a surprisingly deep knowledge and which excited his imagination. The reality of life in Istanbul turned out to be much harsher than he had expected, but this did not stop him from working tirelessly and making a colossal number of works. He and his closest friend in Istanbul, Dimitri Ismailovitch, explored the city together and studied many of the local Byzantine monuments. As someone who generally got along well with people, he also formed close friendships with a number of Turkish artists and even lived for some time at the home of Turkish painter Ibrahim Çallı. After Istanbul he set off to conquer Paris with the money he received for the 66 artworks featuring Byzantine city walls and churches that he sold to the American archaeologist Thomas Whittemore (who stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel and worked with Nikolai Kluge at Hagia Sophia). He managed to conquer Paris almost immediately, starting with his first solo exhibition Constantinople Bleu et Rose (Constantinople Blue and Rose), which took place in 1922. He continued to live in France, but travelled frequently to other countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy in search of inspiration. Gritchenko organised many solo exhibitions in Paris and other cities around the world. In 1953, his works were exhibited in London's Redfern Gallery at the Russian émigré artists in Paris exhibition, and in 1958 the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York organised a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the artist’s 75th birthday. Today, the artist’s works can be seen in the most famous museums in the world (National Art Museum in Kiev, National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, museums in Lviv, Copenhagen, Montreal, Boston, etc.). In 2020, works from his Istanbul period were brought together from all over the world and exhibited in Istanbul. Last but not least, Gritchenko developed his own art direction, tsvetodynamos (or dynamocolor/colordynamos, a combination of “colour” and dynamics”).

    Word Count: 428

  • Portrait of Alexis Gritchenko by Turkish painter Namık İsmail, 1920. Private collection. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
    Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
    Byzantine Church Converted Into a Mosque, March 1920. Collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
    Landscape with Domes, October 1920. Collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
    Street in Eyüp, November 1920. Ömer Koç Koleksiyonu. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
    Three Turks in a Coffeehouse, February 1921. Ömer Koç Koleksiyonu. Istanbul, Meşher Art Gallery, “Alexis Gritchenko – İstanbul Yılları” Exhibition (Photo: Ekaterina Aygün, 2020).
  • Alexis Gritchenko. The Constantinople Years, edited by Ayşenur Güler and Vita Susak, exh. cat. Meşher, Istanbul, 2020.

    Gritchenko, Alexis. İstanbul’da İki Yıl 1919–1921 – Bir Ressamın Günlüğü. Translated by Ali Berktay, Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2020.

    Hewitt, Simon. “Slaughtered Genius: Alexis Gritchenko – Dynamocolor. Book Available.” 26 December 2017, russianartandculture.com, https://www.russianartandculture.com/slaughtered-genius-alexis-gritchenko-dynamocolor/. Accessed 20 June 2020.

    Vzdornov, Gerol’d. “Russkiye hudojniki i vizantiyskaya starina v Konstantinopole.” Tvorchestvo, no. 2, 1992, pp. 30–32.

    Word Count: 71

  • Ekaterina Aygün
  • Istanbul, Ottoman Empire/Turkey (1919–1921); Paris, France (1921–1924); Southern France (1924–1977).

  • Overnight shelter in Harbiye, Istanbul (residence); camp controlled by the British Occupation Forces in Büyükada between March and July 1920 (residence and studio in Istanbul); family mansion in Beşiktaş of Turkish painter Namık İsmail in 1920 (studio in Istanbul); attic in the house in Çemberlitaş belonging to Turkish painter Ibrahim Çallı between October and December 1920 (residence and studio in Istanbul).

  • Istanbul
  • Ekaterina Aygün. "Alexis Gritchenko." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2949/object/5138-10436381, last modified: 16-09-2021.
  • Leon Trotsky
    Politician
    Istanbul

    Banished by Stalin, the revolutionary politician Leon Trotsky and his entourage arrived in Istanbul in 1929. He settled on Büyükada, one of the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara.

    Word Count: 31

    Dimitri Ismailovitch
    PainterArt Historian
    Istanbul

    In Istanbul, Ismailovitch became one of the leaders of the Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople, organised three solo exhibitions, and made contribution to the study of Byzantine art.

    Word Count: 29

    Nikolai Kalmykoff
    PainterScene DesignerMuralist
    Istanbul

    Kalmykoff played an active part in the Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople and at the same time worked as a stage designer. Later he acquired the Turkish citizenship.

    Word Count: 29

    Russkiy v Konstantinopole/Le Russe à Constantinople
    Guide-book
    Istanbul

    The guide-book was created for Russian-speaking refugees who had to leave their country and settle in Constantinople.

    Word Count: 17

    Nikolai Kluge
    PainterPhotographerArt restorerArchaeologistCopyist
    Istanbul

    As a non-regular employee at the Russian Archaeological Institute of Constantinople before the Russian Revolution, Nikolai Kluge was perhaps the émigré artist most familiar with Istanbul.

    Word Count: 26

    Pera Palace Hotel
    Hotel
    Istanbul

    The Pera Palace was the gem of Pera district where people gathered to wine and dine and be entertained, as well as to discuss the issues of the day.

    Word Count: 29