Society of South Russian Artists

Society of South Russian Artists (Obshchestvo iuzhnorusskikh khudozhnikov). An association of artists who lived in Southern Ukraine, established in Odesa in 1890. Among its founders were Kyriak Kostandi (its president from 1902 to 1921), Mykola Kuznetsov, Gennadii Ladyzhensky, Mykola Skadovsky, M. Kravchenko, Borys Edvards, A. Popov, and A. Rozmaritsyn. Later members included Ivan Aivazovsky, Yuliian Bershadsky, Yevhen Bukovetsky, Pavel Volokidin, Danylo Krainiev, Petro Levchenko, Mykola Pymonenko, Volodymyr Zauze, and Petro Nilus. The society organized annual general exhibitions and more frequent solo shows of works by its members. It participated in the work of the Odesa Art School and helped found the Odesa City Museum of Art (see Odesa Art Museum). Its activities ceased in 1922 after the death of Kostandi. A book about the society by Vasyl Afanasiev was published in Kyiv in 1961.