Ivan Soshenko

Who was Ivan Soshenko?

Ivan Maksymovych Soshenko was a Ukrainian painter.

Soshenko studied at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1834–8, then taught painting in gymnasiums in Nizhyn from 1839–46, Nemyriv from 1846–56, and Kiev. His work included portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, and religious icons.

In 1835 he met and befriended Taras Shevchenko. Along with teaching him the use of watercolors, Soshenko also introduced him to authors and painters Yevhen Hrebinka, Vasily Zhukovsky, Karl Briullov, and Alexey Venetsianov, and helped in the purchase Shevchenko's freedom from serfdom. Later, he helped Shevchenko to be admitted to the St Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Mykhailo Chaly published a biography of Soshenko in Kiev in 1876.