Aleksei Mikhailovich Korin

Alexei Korin was born into a renowned family of Palekh icon painters. He studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow under such well-known professors as the Sorokin brothers, Vladimir Makovsky and Vasily Polenov. Korin first exhibited with the Itinerants in 1891 and became a member of this association in 1894, the same year that he was appointed a drawing teacher at the Moscow School of Painting. In 1900-1910s the artist was active as a portraitist and enjoyed plentiful commissions.

In the Artist's Studio offers a rare insight into the Russian art world at the turn of the last century. Korin has depicted himself as the artist at the centre of the composition wearing a traditional white tunic. His work on a portrait has been interrupted by an art dealer who, leaning on a chair, is seemingly negotiating his next transaction much to Korin's displeasure. At the table to his right the artist has depicted his younger brother, Andrei, at that point a young artist embarking on his career as a landscape painter. It has been suggested that the man seated to his right is Korin's close friend and fellow member of the Itinerants, Vasily Baksheev.