Kardovsky moved to Munich in 1896 with Igor Grabar and studied at the private studio of Anton Ažbe.

Kardovsky explored various styles, including Impressionism and Jugendstil, but was more concerned with faithful representation than formal experiment.

From 1902, he was prolific as a book illustrator, and worked mainly on the Russian literary classics by Chekhov, Gogol, Lermontov and Tolstoy.

He also dabbled with political caricature, providing illustrations for the radical journals Zhupel (Bugbear) and Adskaya Pochta from 1905 to 1906.

In 1934 Isaak Brodsky, a disciple of Ilya Repin was appointed director of the National Academy of Arts and the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.