IVAN POKHITONOV (1850-1923)

Ivan Pokhitonov was born on a large farm in the Kherson Governorate (present-day Ukraine). His father was a retired military man who had received a title of nobility, was a member of the Kherson governing committee, supervised the local Zemstvo school and was an honorary magistrate. At the age of seven, he was already making copies of the Dutch engravings that decorated his home.

In 1860, he became one of the first students at a new private boy’s academy in Yelisavetgrad. He later attended several other schools. In 1871, he enrolled at Odessa University, where he took classes in drawing and watercolors in addition to his regular course of study. These classes would be his only formal art instruction. Shortly after, he travelled to Geneva with his mother and sister, where he exhibited his watercolors. They were a success so, after a brief period of employment at the “State Bank of Odessa”, he travelled to Italy, then settled in Paris and found a position working with Eugène Carrière.

He exhibited regularly at the Salon and several of his paintings were purchased by Pavel Tretyakov. Later, he would sign a lucrative contract with Georges Petit.

In 1901, he acquired an estate in the Minsk Governorate, where he lived and worked until 1906, when he returned to Belgium. He was elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1904. During World War I, he lived in Saint Petersburg until the beginning of the Revolution, then fled to Kuban, where he stayed for a year.

Back in Belgium in 1922, he had his exhibition. Another major retrospective was held in 1925.

His works are in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow and in many other museums and prominent collections of Russia, Europe, and the United States.