Shishkin, Ivan Ivanovich
(13(25).01.1832–08(20).03.1898)

An outstanding Russian landscape painter, painter, draftsman and aqua-Fortress engraver.
Born in the city of Yelabuga, Vyatka province. Descended from an ancient Vyatka last name.
Shishkin began his studies at the 1st Kazan Gymnasium, but, having reached 5th grade, he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. At the end of the course of this institution in 1857, he continued his education at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he was listed as a student of Professor S.M. Vorobyov.
Not content with classes at the Academy, Shishkin diligently painted and wrote sketches from nature in the vicinity of St. Petersburg and on Valaam Island. During his stay at the academy, he was awarded several gold and silver medals for drawing landscapes of Valaam and the outskirts of St. Petersburg.
For success in painting Shishkin received the right to travel abroad as a pensioner of the Academy. In 1861 he went to Munich, attended workshops of famous artists there, then, in 1863, he moved to Zurich, where, under the guidance of the famous animal painter Professor Koller, he trained in animals. In Zurich I tried for the first time to engrave with “strong vodka”. From here he made an excursion to Geneva in order to familiarize himself with the works of Dide and Kalam, and then moved to Düsseldorf and wrote there, on the order of N. Bykov, “View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf”. This picture was sent to St. Petersburg, for it he received the title of academician. Abroad, in addition to painting, he was engaged in a lot of drawings with a pen; his works of this kind were surprising foreigners, and some were placed in the Dusseldorf Museum next to the drawings of first-class European masters.
Having grieved for Russia, in 1866 Shishkin returned to St. Petersburg before the expiration of his pension period. From that time on, he often traveled for artistic purposes in Russia, almost annually exhibiting his works first at the academy, then at the exhibitions of the Association of the Wanderers. From 1870, Shishkin joined the aquaportists' circle formed in St. Petersburg and took up the engraving with “royal vodka”, which he never left until the end of his life, devoting him almost as much time as painting. Every year, all these works increased his reputation as one of the best Russian landscape painters and an unparalleled aquaportist.
In 1873, the Academy raised Shishkin as a professor for the workshop “Forest Wilderness” acquired by her. After the new charter of the academy came into effect, in 1892 he was invited to supervise her educational landscape workshop, but, for various reasons, he did not hold this position for long.
Paintings and drawings Shishkin unusually numerous. A lot of them were divided between art lovers after a retrospective exhibition of the artist's works arranged in 1891 for forty years of his activities and sales after his death, what was left in his studio. Among the public collections, the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery is the richest with them. It contains pictures: “Forest cutting”, “Midday in the vicinity of Moscow”, “Pine forest”, “Burnt forest”, “Rye”, “Wilds”, “Apiary in the forest”, “Spruce forest” and “Morning in pine forest"and, in addition, seventeen master drawings. The Russian Museum owns the paintings: “The Ship Grove”, “The Glade with Pines”, “The Forest Wilderness” and “The Forest Glade”, five sketches and two drawings.
He died suddenly in St. Petersburg, sitting at the easel. He was buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. In 1950 the tombstone was transferred to the Necropolis of Artists (former Tikhvin cemetery) of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.
Cape and the mountain on the north shore of the  Chekin Bay on the Kara coast of the northern island of Novaya Zemlya. The name was given in 1901-1902  Novaya Zemlya expedition of artist A.A. Borisov.