Bezperchy, Dmytro

Bezperchy, Dmytro [Bezperčyj], b 30 October 1825 in the village of Borysivka, Kursk gubernia, d 30 September 1913 in Kharkiv. (Self-portrait: Dmytro Bezperchy.) Painter and pedagogue. Born a serf, Bezperchy obtained his freedom in 1843 and received his artistic education at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, studying with Karl Briullov from 1841 to 1846. He taught painting at the Nizhyn Lyceum and in Kharkiv high schools (1850–1900). Among his students were Vladimir Beklemishev, Serhii Vasylkivsky, Petro Levchenko, Mykhailo Tkachenko, and H. Siemiradzki. Bezperchy painted portraits, including a self-portrait (1846); genre paintings, including Village Landscape, Matchmaking at Honcharivka, Banduryst, and From the Field; Crimean landscapes; etc. The influence of Taras Shevchenko is evident in Bezperchy's work.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]