Sergey Solomko

Sergey Sergeyevich Solomko (; 22 August 1867 – 2 February 1928) was a Russian painter, watercolorist, illustrator and designer.

Life and work

He was the son of Colonel (later, Major-General) Sergey Solomko (1835-1897), who was employed in the service of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, and he grew up in the Konstantinovsky Palace.

From 1883 to 1887, he attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture then, for a year, audited classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Around this time, he began work as a magazine illustrator. His first known work of this type was for Север (North) a weekly literary journal that began publication in 1888. Shortly after, he was employed by Нива (Grainfield),

In 1910, he moved to Paris, but continued to exhibit in Russia and contribute to Russian magazines. During World War I, under the direction of the "Комиссия для сбора и хранения трофеев настоящей войны" (Commission to Collect and Store the Spoils of War), he painted portraits of the officers of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France for eventual use in a war museum.

After the Revolution, he fell out of favor with the new government, became a self-imposed exile, and began to work with those who had recently left Russia. Drawing on his earlier costume design experience, he created costumes for the dancers Mathilde Kschessinska and Anna Pavlova. He also created illustrations for books by French authors, including Émile Gebhart, Ernest Renan and Albert Samain.

In 1921, he participated in an exhibition staged by exiles from the former Imperial Academy of Arts (renamed the "Petrograd Free Art Educational Studios"). Four years later, he helped establish the "Russian Art and Industry Institute". He became seriously ill not long after, and died while convalescing at the "Maison Russe", a retirement home for White émigrés just south of Paris.

During the Soviet period, he was criticized for "decadence" and "bourgeois vulgarity". In the 1990s, interest in his work was renewed. It is especially valued for its accurate and detailed depictions of old Russian culture.

Selected postcards