Konstantin Somov Drawings: Colour Plates

Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (1869 – 1939) was a Russian artist associated with the Mir iskusstva. Somov studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Ilya Repin from 1888 to 1897. While at the Academy, he befriended Alexandre Benois, who would introduce him to Sergei Diaghilev and Léon Bakst. When the three founded the World of Art, Somov liberally contributed to its periodicals. Somov was homosexual, like many of the World of Art members. Inspired by Watteau and Fragonard, he preferred to work with watercolours and gouache. During the 1910s, Somov executed a number of rococo harlequin scenes and illustrations to the poems by Alexander Blok. Many of his works were exhibited abroad, especially in Germany, where the first monograph on him was published in 1909.