Ivan Karpoff, Russian, 1898 to 1970, an oil on canvas painting August, depicting farmers haying the field. Signed lower right in Latin. Inscribed verso in Cyrillic: August, Iv, Karpov. Housed in a richly ornate gilt wood and gesso frame with a metal name plate below. Circa the first half of the 20th century. As a child, Ivan Karpoff showed an extraordinary gift for drawing and painting. Encouraged by his father, a surgeon, he was assigned to a local painter. He graduated from the art school in Rostov and then moved to Kiev, where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1916, drafted into the army, he was forced to interrupt his studies. Wounded and taken prisoner by the Austrians first and then by the British, unable to flee to Bulgaria, in Sofia, he began to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. He received a scholarship and in 1925 Americans arrive in Italy, in Milan, where he attended the School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera. One of a kind artwork. Antique Russian Fine Art, Classic Paintings And Wall Decor Collectibles.