"Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin; important Russian and Soviet painter and writer." (Wikipedia) Kuzma Sergeyevich Petrov-Vodkin / Кузьма Сергеевич Петров-Водкин (Oct. 24 [Nov. 5, New Style], 1878, Khvalynsk, Saratov oblast, Russian Empire - Feb. 15, 1939, Leningrad, Russia, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]). Russian painter who combined many traditions of world art in his work and created an original language in painting that was both deeply individual and national in spirit. Born into the family of an impoverished cobbler. He spent his youth there, living in harsh conditions reminiscent of those described by Maksim Gorky in My Universities. But his talent overcame his provincial surroundings, and his determination to be an artist led him first to art classes in Samara and then to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, where he studied with painter Valentin Serov. (http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2016/03/Kuzma-Petrov-Vodkin.html) He was first exposed to art as a child, when he took a few lessons from a local sign maker and icon painter.... began “Art Classes of Fedor Burov,” in his late teens. After the death of Burov two years later, Petrov-Vodkin took odd jobs painting in the city. Through his jobs and with his mother’s help, he was able to get an invitation to study in St. Petersburg, from 1895 to 1897. In art school, he later moved to Moscow and then Munich, graduating in1904. Petrov-Vodkin often entered in open conflict with the Russian-Orthodox Church, which considered his paintings too erotic... He was also an accomplished violinist. After contracting pulmonary tuberculosis in 1927, he was forced to quit painting. He thus turned to writing... including 3 semi-autobiographical novels, the first 2 considered some of the finest Russian literature of the time. His works were largely ignored after his death from tuberculosis, until the mid-1960’s when there came ... (https://www.wikiart.org/en/kuzma-petrov-vodkin) undefined

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