Most of those reading these lines right now, upon seeing the delightful paintings accompanying the text, will surely think of the great marine painter Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. However, for better or worse, the artist behind these paintings is a completely different person. Although the influence of the great Aivazovsky is undoubtedly evident in the artist’s style and in the way he depicts the element of water.

Translated from Latin, the term “Terra incognita” means “unknown land.” To this day, the history of our beloved city remains just such a unique land—a land fabulously rich in events, facts, and people, yet completely unexplored and shrouded in mystery. And today’s hero is proof of that.

They say there is an interesting monument preserved at the old Yalta City Cemetery with the inscription: “Artist Mikhail Alexandrovich Alisov. Jan. 5, 1860 — June 15, 1933. Seascape painter, Aivazovsky’s best student. From the collective farm, 1960.”

There is very little information about him; not even a portrait of him remains.

It is known that he was born in Kharkiv. He studied at M. Raevskaya’s private school of drawing and painting in Kharkiv, and then at the Academy of Arts (1887–1888) under Y.Y. Klever.
He later worked in Feodosia under the guidance of I.K. Aivazovsky and was his student.

In 1900, 1902, and 1903, M.A. Alisov held solo exhibitions in Kharkiv.
In fact, at the Kharkiv exhibition, held to mark the artist’s 40th birthday, 132 of his paintings were on display.

In 1912, a series of postcards featuring works by Mikhail Alisov depicting various types of Crimean flora was published in Yalta.

In 1914, Alisov was a leading member and exhibitor of the Yalta Art Circle.
Most of his paintings have been lost, and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, his name has been consigned to oblivion…

Just how many more hidden secrets and geniuses does our beloved city hold? How much longer will it remain a terra incognita to us?

This is the kind of beauty that was born in Kharkiv…