Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, August 27, 1862 – September 25, 1930, was a Russian painter associated with the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) and later the Union of Russian Artists. Born into a peasant family in Ryazan Province, he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Vasily Perov, Vasily Polenov, and Vladimir Makovsky. He later became a professor at the Moscow School, where he taught many younger Russian painters.

Arkhipov first gained recognition for realist genre scenes depicting the lives of peasants, laborers, and workers, including his celebrated paintings of washerwomen and Volga boat travelers. Beginning around 1900, his work evolved toward increasingly brilliant color and expressive brushwork, especially in his portraits of peasant women in traditional dress from the Ryazan region. These later paintings remain among the most recognizable images of Russian Impressionism.

Today Arkhipov’s paintings are held by the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Scientific Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts, the Belarusian National Museum of Arts, and numerous regional museums throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. His work forms an important link between nineteenth-century Russian Realism and the more colorful, painterly tendencies of the early twentieth century.

Portrait of Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, date unknown
Oil on canvas, 29 x 21.5 in
Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT

On the Volga, 1889
Oil on canvas, 14.1 x 22.8 in
Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg

The Ice Has Passed, 1895
Oil on canvas
Ryazan Regional Art Museum, Ryazan, Russia

Washer Women, 1901
Oil on canvas, 35.8 x 27.5 in
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

On the White Sea, 1903
Oil on canvas, 25.4 x 35.4 in
Private Collection

Moscow Backyards, 1906
Oil on canvas, 24.2 x 32 in
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Murom, c 1910
Oil on canvas, 29.1 x 35 in
Private Collection

Spring Festival, 1913
Oil on canvas, 40.2 x 37.4 in
Kozmodemyansk Cultural History Museum Complex, Russia

Girl in Red, 1916
Oil on canvas, 35.2 x 30.9 in
Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia

Landscape, before 1924
Oil on canvas, 32.3 x 38.6 in
GAM Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, Genoa, Italy

Smiling Girl, 1920s
Oil on canvas
Belarusian National Museum of Arts, Minsk, Belarus

Peasant from the Ryazan Province, 1925
Oil on canvas, 33.5 x 26.8 in
Scientific Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts, Saint Petersburg

Pot Seller, date unknown
Oil on canvas, 21.5 x 15 in
Narva Museum, Narva, Estonia

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