(b Pereslavl’-Zalessky, Yaroslavl’ province, 6 Sept 1866; d Pereslavl’-Zalessky, 9 Feb 1943). Russian illustrator and stage designer. After studying law at Moscow University, he enrolled in 1892 at the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, where his principal mentors were Pavel Chistyakov (1832–1919) and Il’ya Repin. In 1896 he moved to Munich and with Grabar’ attended the private studio of Anton Azbé. In 1900 he returned to St Petersburg, receiving his Academy diploma (1902) and in 1907 becoming a professor there. Kardovsky was one of the foremost students of the great draughtsman Chistyakov, whose graphic principles he maintained in his precision, sobriety and sense of measure. Although Kardovsky explored various styles, including Impressionism and Jugendstil, and enthusiastically supported Mikhail Vrubel’, whose posthumous exhibition he organized in 1912, he was concerned more with faithful representation than with formal experiment, demonstrating his consistency and common sense from 1902 in his prolific output as a book illustrator. Occasionally Kardovsky explored the discipline of political caricature, as in his illustrations for the radical journals Zhupel (Bugbear) and Adskaya pochta (Hellish Post) of 1905–6, but he was devoted primarily to the Russian literary classics: Chekhov, Gogol’, Lermontov and Tolstoy. He is remembered especially for his interpretations of Griboyedov’s Gore ot uma (Woe from Wit; St Petersburg, 1913) and Tolstoy’s Voyna i mir (War and Peace; St Petersburg, 1912), in which he combined historical accuracy with sharp irony.

• Kardovsky, Dmitry (Nikolayevich)
  • St Petersburg, §II: Art life and organization
  • Slendzinski, Ludomir
  • pupils
    • Anisfel'd, Boris (Izrailovich)
      • Anisfel’d, Boris
    • Grigor'yev, Boris (Dmitriyevich)
      • Grigor’yev, Boris
    • Kowarski, Felicjan (Szczesny)
      • Kowarski, Felicjan
    • Kupreyanov, Nikolay (Nikolayevich)
      • Kupreyanov, Nikolay
    • Lentulov, Aristarkh (Vasil'yevich)
      • Lentulov, Aristarkh
    • Ryangina, Serafima (Vasil'yevna)
      • Ryangina, Serafima
    • Semashkevich, Roman (Matveyevich)
      • Semashkevich, Roman
    • Shmarinov, Dementy (Alekseyevich)
      • Shmarinov, Dementy
    • Shukhayev, Vasily (Ivanovich)
      • Shukhayev, Vasily
    • Yakovlev, Aleksandr (Yevgeniyevich)
      • Yakovlev, Aleksandr