Painter, master of landscape painting. Born to a family of a Greek shoemaker. He studied painting at the studio of I.K.Aivazovsky under the supervision of his student artist A.I.Fessler. He tried twice to gain entry to the Academy of Arts but was unsuccessful. It is believed, he attended classes at the Academy of Arts as an unaccredited student. In 1868 he received an unclassed art degree for the painting he submitted to the academy’s board. It was entitled "Tartar Village in Moonlight on the Crimea Shore". In 1878 he received a first class art degree for his paintings entitled "On the Island of Valaam" (1873), "Ox Cart Track in Mariupol" (1875, Yaroslavl Art Museum), "Ukrainian Night" (1876) and "The Steppe" (1875). From 1892 he was a professor of landscape painting, and from 1893 a Full Member of the Academy of Arts. From 1875 to 1880 he was a member of the STAE. From 1880-1900 he attended meetings (Wednesdays) of the Peredvizhniki artists and scientists at the apartment of D.I.Mendeleyev. He studied the effect of light on the behaviour of paints in pictures, under the supervision of physicist F.F.Petrushevsky. In 1874 he visited France, Germany, England and Switzerland. In 1909 he initiated the creation of the Society of Artists (later renamed in his honour) to provide financial assistance to artists. He was one of the best teachers of Russian art and created the "Kuinji school", he initiated the creation of a number of awards for young artists with his own money. His students include such famous artists as N.K.Roerich, K.F.Bogayevsky, V.I.Zarubin, A.A.Rylov and others. A.I.Kuinji’s work is characterized by its panoramic approach, which allows the spectator to view the landscape like a bird in flight, with decorative power in the spread of colour in wide contrasting masses and the dramatic composition of space. Researchers named Kuinji "the artist of light", a "sun lover" for his love of light and shade contrasts and his illusory depiction of sunsets, moonlit nights and noon tide light. The style in the artist’s work combined the characteristics of romanticism, effectiveness and naturalism of the Russian academic school. In his mature work he endeavoured to avoid his previous illusory images and encapsulate form and colour in the spirit of French painting of the time. Kuinji avoided "optical decorativeness" in his early work, moving to more transparency and airiness in light, which liberated his painting from extreme light contrasts.