Artist Bilibin illustrations. Ivan Bilibin - a great master of "Old Russian" illustration

2. Artist-storyteller

Almost every Russian person knows Bilibin's illustrations from books of fairy tales that were read to him at night as a child. And meanwhile, these illustrations are more than a hundred years old. From 1899 to 1902, Ivan Bilibin created a series of six "Tales" published by the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers. After that, Pushkin's tales about Tsar Saltan and the Golden Cockerel and the slightly less well-known epic "Volga" with illustrations by Bilibin are published in the same publishing house.

It is interesting that the most famous illustration to "The Tale of Tsar Saltan ..." with a barrel floating on the sea resembles the famous "Big Wave" by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. The process of performing I. Ya. Bilibin's graphic drawing was similar to the work of an engraver. First, he sketched a sketch on paper, refined the composition in all details on tracing paper, and then translated it onto whatman paper. After that, with a kolinsky brush with a cut end, likening it to a cutter, he drew a clear wire outline in ink over a pencil drawing.

Bilibin's books look like painted boxes. It was this artist who first saw a children's book as an integral artistically designed organism. His books are like old manuscripts, because the artist thinks over not only drawings, but also all decorative elements: fonts, ornaments, decorations, initials and everything else.

Few people know that Bilibin even worked in the field of advertising. Where the Polustrovo mineral water plant in St. Petersburg is now located, there used to be the New Bavaria Joint Stock Company. It was for this plant that Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin created advertising posters and pictures. In addition, the artist created posters, addresses, sketches postage stamps (in particular, a series dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty) and about 30 postcards for the Community of St. Eugenia Later, Bilibin drew postcards for Russian publishers in Paris and Berlin.

4. Double-headed eagle

The same double-headed eagle, which is now used on the coins of the Bank of Russia, belongs to the brush of Bilibin, an expert on heraldry. The artist painted it after the February Revolution as an emblem for the Provisional Government. The bird looks fabulous, not sinister, because it was drawn by a famous illustrator of Russian epics and fairy tales. The double-headed eagle is depicted without royal regalia and with lowered wings, the inscription “Russian Provisional Government” and a characteristic “forest” Bilibino ornament are made around the circle. Bilibin transferred copyright to the coat of arms and some other graphic developments to the Goznak factory.

5. Theater artist

Bilibin's first experience in scenography was the design of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden for the National Theater in Prague. His next works are sketches of costumes and scenery for the operas The Golden Cockerel, Sadko, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Boris Godunov and others. And after emigrating to Paris in 1925, Bilibin continued to work with theaters: he prepared brilliant scenery for productions of Russian operas, designed Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird in Buenos Aires and operas in Brno and Prague. Bilibin made extensive use of old prints, popular prints, and folk art. Bilibin was a true connoisseur of ancient costumes of different peoples, he was interested in embroidery, braid, weaving techniques, ornaments and everything that created the national color of the people.

6. The artist and the church

Bilibin also has works related to church painting. In it, he remains himself, retains his individual style. After leaving St. Petersburg, Bilibin lived for some time in Cairo and actively participated in the design of the Russian house church in the premises of a clinic arranged by Russian doctors. According to his project, the iconostasis of this temple was built. And after 1925, when the artist moved to Paris, he became a founding member of the Icon society. As an illustrator, he created the cover of the charter and the design for the society's seal. There is his trace in Prague - he made sketches of frescoes and an iconostasis for a Russian church at the Olshansky cemetery in the Czech capital.

7. Return to the Motherland and death

Over time, Bilibin reconciled with the Soviet regime. He draws up the Soviet embassy in Paris, and then, in 1936, returns by boat to his native Leningrad. Teaching is added to his professions: he teaches at the All-Russian Academy of Arts - the oldest and largest art educational institution in Russia. In September 1941, at the age of 66, the artist refused the offer of the People's Commissar of Education to evacuate from the besieged Leningrad to the rear. “They don’t run from a besieged fortress, they defend it,” he wrote in response. Under fascist shelling and bombing, the artist creates patriotic postcards for the front, writes articles and appeals to the heroic defenders of Leningrad. Bilibin died of starvation in the very first blockade winter and was buried in a mass grave of professors of the Academy of Arts near the Smolensk cemetery.

From methodological advice to the textbook Literature. Grade 5
Since fifth-graders rarely pay attention to the names of illustrators, we will ask them to read the names of the artists whose illustrations are placed in the textbook. It would be nice to bring some illustrated collections of Russian fairy tales to class. As a rule, children like the illustrations of Ivan Bilibin the most. Children say that this artist best conveys the mystery and antiquity of the Russian folk tale.

BILIBIN, IVAN YAKOVLEVICH (1876-1942), Russian artist. Born in the village of Tarkhovka (near St. Petersburg) on ​​August 4 (16), 1876 in the family of a military doctor. He studied at the school of A. Azhbe in Munich (1898), and also with I. E. Repin at the school-workshop of M. K. Tenisheva (1898–1900). He lived mainly in St. Petersburg, was an active member of the World of Art association. Having set out on the instructions of the ethnographic department of the Russian Museum on a trip to the northern provinces (1902-1904), he was greatly influenced by medieval wooden architecture, as well as peasant artistic folklore. He expressed his impressions not only in images, but also in a number of articles (Folk Art of the Russian North, 1904; and others). He was also significantly influenced by traditional Japanese woodcuts.

Since 1899, creating design cycles for publishing fairy tales (Vasilisa the Beautiful, Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka, Finist the Clear Falcon, the Frog Princess, etc., including Pushkin's fairy tales about Tsar Saltan and the Golden Cockerel), he developed - in the technique of ink drawing, highlighted watercolor, - a special "Bilibino style" of book design, continuing the traditions of ancient Russian ornamentation. However, despite his artistic "nationalism", the master adhered to liberal anti-monarchist sentiments, which were vividly expressed in his revolutionary cartoons of 1905-1906 (published in the magazines "Zhupel" and "Infernal Mail"). From 1904 he was successfully engaged in scenography (including in the entreprise of S.P. Diaghilev).

In the summer of 1899, Bilibin left for the village of Yegny, Tver province, in order to see for himself the dense forests, transparent rivers, wooden huts, and hear fairy tales and songs. Impressions from the recent exhibition of Viktor Vasnetsov came to life in the imagination. The artist Ivan Bilibin began illustrating Russian folk tales from Afanasyev's collection. And in the autumn of the same year, the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers (Goznak) began to publish a series of fairy tales with Bilibino drawings.

For 4 years, Bilibin illustrated seven fairy tales: "Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka", "White Duck", "The Frog Princess", "Maria Morevna", "The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf" , "Feather of Finist Yasna-Falcon", "Vasilisa the Beautiful". Editions of fairy tales belong to the type of small large-format books-notebooks. From the very beginning, Bilibin's books were distinguished by patterned drawings and bright decorativeness. Bilibin did not create individual illustrations, he strove for an ensemble: he drew a cover, illustrations, ornamental decorations, a font - he stylized everything like an old manuscript.

The names of fairy tales are filled with Slavic script. To read, you need to look at the intricate pattern of letters. Like many graphics, Bilibin worked on a decorative font. He knew well the fonts of different eras, especially the Old Russian charter and semi-character. For all six books, Bilibin draws the same cover, on which he has Russian fairy-tale characters: three heroes, the bird Sirin, the Serpent Gorynych, the hut of Baba Yaga. All page illustrations are surrounded by ornamental frames, like rustic windows with carved platbands. They are not only decorative, but also have content that continues the main illustration. In the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful", the illustration with the Red Horseman (sun) is surrounded by flowers, and the Black Horseman (night) is surrounded by mythical birds with human heads. The illustration with Baba Yaga's hut is surrounded by a frame with grebes (and what else can be next to Baba Yaga?). But the most important thing for Bilibin was the atmosphere of Russian antiquity, epic, fairy tales. From genuine ornaments, details, he created a semi-real, semi-fantastic world.

Therefore, when preparing questions on illustrations, you can ask:

• What do you see in the ornament of the illustration?
• What role does the ornament play and how does it relate to the image?

The ornament was a favorite motif of ancient Russian masters and the main feature of the art of that time. These are embroideries of tablecloths, towels, painted wooden and earthenware, houses with carved architraves and chapels. In the illustrations, Bilibin used sketches of peasant buildings, utensils, and clothes made in the village of Yegny.

• What household items and buildings typical for the life of a peasant do you see in the illustrations?
• How does an artist show us how our ancestors lived?

From methodological advice to the textbook Literature. Grade 5 Fairy tale "The Frog Princess"

Bilibin's illustrations framed by floral ornaments very accurately reflect the content of the tale. We can see the details of the costumes of the heroes, the expression on the faces of the surprised boyars, and even the pattern on the kokoshniks of the daughters-in-law. Vasnetsov in his picture does not dwell on the details, but perfectly conveys the movement of Vasilisa, the enthusiasm of the musicians, who, as it were, stamp their feet to the beat of a dance song. We can guess that the music Vasilisa dances to is cheerful, mischievous. When you look at this picture, you feel the nature of a fairy tale.

Tasks for illustrations for "The Frog Princess"

Students work with I. Bilibin's illustrations, determine which episode the artist illustrated, which of the illustrations most accurately conveys the magical world of a fairy tale, the characters of the characters, determine how I. Bilibin's illustrations differ from paintings on a fairy tale plot by V.M. Vasnetsov. Thus, children learn the comparative analysis of illustrations and paintings, gain skills in comparing the images of literary characters with those created by artists.

Tasks for the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful"

Consider I.Ya. Bilibin's illustrations for the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful". Match them with appropriate captions from the text.

What signs of a fairy tale did you notice while reading "Vasilisa the Beautiful"?

How do illustrations by I.Ya. Bilibin convey the magical world of a fairy tale?

Consider the illustration by I.Ya. Bilibin to the final episode of the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful". Describe the appearance of Vasilisa. Does your idea of ​​the heroine match the way the artist portrayed her?

Consider the illustration depicting the Baba Yaga. How did you imagine this witch?

Illustrations for the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin

Bilibin's passion for ancient Russian art was reflected in the illustrations for Pushkin's fairy tales, which he created after a trip to the North in 1905-1908. Work on fairy tales was preceded by the creation of scenery and costumes for Rimsky-Korsakov's operas "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" and "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" by A. S. Pushkin.

Bilibin achieves special brilliance and fiction in his illustrations for the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin. Luxurious royal chambers are completely covered with patterns, paintings, decorations. Here, the ornament so abundantly covers the floor, ceiling, walls, clothes of the king and the boyars that everything turns into a kind of unsteady vision that exists in a special illusory world and is about to disappear.

And here is a drawing where the king receives shipbuilders. In the foreground, the king sits on a throne, and the guests bow before him. We can see them all. The final scene of the feast: in front of us are the royal chambers, in the center there is a table covered with an embroidered tablecloth. The whole royal family sits at the table.

In the watercolor illustrating Saltan's reception of shipbuilders, the space of the "stage" goes into perspective in depth, and in the foreground the tsar and his entourage are decorously seated on the throne. The guests bow before him in a ceremonial bow. They move from right to left, one after the other, so that it is convenient for us to examine them, not so much for the king as for us, move to the middle of the stage. Their brocade, velvet attire, a large ornament of precious fabrics turn the foreground into some kind of moving carpet.

The illustration for the final scene of the feast is even more theatrical. Its center is the plane of the tiled floor of the royal refectory. Archers with reeds stand in lines converging in depth. The background is closed by an embroidered tablecloth, a table at which the entire royal family sits. Attention is attracted only by the boyar sitting on the floor and playing with the cat. Perhaps this is the image of the narrator, who concludes the tale with a traditional ending.

I was there: honey, drinking beer -
And his mustache just wet.)

Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich is a Russian painter, the author of many paintings, graphic drawings and vivid illustrations for Russian folk tales, legends and epics. In addition, he was engaged in the design of theatrical productions. Ivan Bilibin's illustrations for fairy tales are especially unique and colorful, as they are created in a unique manner.

Path to creativity

Then he went to Munich, where he studied in the studio of the then popular artist Anton Ashbe. Upon graduation, he returned to his homeland, to his beloved St. Petersburg, where he continued his studies in the art of painting with Ilya Efimovich Repin himself.

The expression "Russian folk tale" - no doubt - gives rise in the fantasies and understanding of a person to a terrible and terrible Baba Yaga in a mortar, the beautiful Vasilisa and Ivan Tsarevich.

Yes, this is certainly true, because they were born and cut into the memory of many generations, thanks to the imagination, work and artistic skill of the Russian painter - Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin. Without exception, all his paintings are imbued with the spirit of modernism and love for their land, its culture, rituals and legends.

During his short life, Ivan Bilibin created many paintings, but among them, of course, there are the most famous works that are appreciated all over the world. Below are the most famous paintings-illustrations of Bilibin for fairy tales and epics.

"Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird" (1899), to the fairy tale "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf"

True magic is this Firebird, unlike the others. It is this bird that Ivan Tsarevich manages to watch for and grab by the tail (as luck). But still it is not possible to catch it, only the feather of a marvelous bird remains in the hand. This canvas combines tangible images and important ideas, thanks to which the picture is filled with great meaning.

"Vasilisa the Beautiful leaves the house of Baba Yaga" (1899), to the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful"

The picture shows a completely different side of the evil Baba Yaga, who, despite her temper, still helps the beautiful Vasilisa in her daily work and problems. The picture has a large number of bright colors, in addition, the unity of man with mother nature is proportionally represented.

"Baba Yaga" (1900), to the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful"

In this picture, the image of the evil Baba Yaga is displayed in a mortar that flies above the ground itself. Such an image testifies to the mundane beliefs of the people of that time. In addition, the image of the old Yaga is symbolic, because in her hand is a broom, with which at that time many beliefs of the Russian people were associated.

“Once upon a time there was a king” (1900), to the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”

The Russian Tsar is the Russian soul. The whole scene is filled with brilliant color and embellished with numerous shades, resulting in a pleasant inner harmony.

“Ivan Tsarevich is a good fellow and his three sisters” (1901), to the fairy tale “Marya Morevna”

It can be seen with the naked eye that the artist created this canvas based on old Russian manuscripts. The result was a beautiful picture that continues to delight our contemporaries with its beauty.

"Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka" (1901), to the fairy tale of the same name

Here everything starts with the beauty of the Russian land. Landscape, nature, flora and fauna - a whole ensemble is depicted on this canvas, against which the brother and sister, the main characters of the fairy tale plot. Thus, the master expresses his love for his native country, its nature, history and culture.

"Volga with a squad" (1903), to the epic "Volga"

The central plot of this canvas was Russian life in ancient times and the struggle of the Russian people for the right to be free. Ornamental wealth is striking and remains relevant even today.

“During the whole conversation he stood behind the fence” (1904), to “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”

This illustration for the fairy tale shows the individuality and dissimilarity of Bilibin's style to the work of other authors. Tsar Saltan is endowed with individual qualities, a complaisant disposition and a special soul. The picture impresses with an abundance of ornaments and ancient Russian patterns that adorn even the smallest parts of the canvas.

Stargazer before Dadon (1906), to The Tale of the Golden Cockerel

A complex plot composition that has its own character and a special color of illustrations. It is noticeable that every detail is worked out by the artist, therefore it is inimitable and unique. All the characters in the picture are pronounced, which makes the canvas much more natural.

Archer in front of the king and retinue (1919), to the fairy tale “Go there - I don’t know where”

A real Russian plot, vividly reflecting the whole depth of the Russian soul, the culture of the Russian people, their traditions and foundations of that time. This canvas is filled with a huge amount of colors, so it looks like a single whole.

Without exception, all illustrations by Ivan Bilibin are filled with meaning and unique graphics, have their own structure and special mood. From real and real ornaments, as well as detailed details, the artist created a half real, half fictional world. In addition to the illustrations listed above, the wonderful Russian artist Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin also created a huge number of different illustrations for the fairy tales of Great Rus' and its epics.

Childhood and youth

Ilya Yakovlevich Bilibin was born on August 4 (16), 1876 in the village of Tarkovka (now part of Sestroretsk), near St. Petersburg, into a noble and educated family. The first mentions of the Bilibins family date back to the reign period.

Father Yakov Ivanovich served as a military doctor: he started as a junior ship's doctor, then rose to the chief doctor of a naval hospital in the Latvian city of Libau. He took part in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Mother Varvara Alexandrovna is also connected with the sea - she was the daughter of a military engineer. She loved music, was fluent in playing the piano, studying with the famous composer Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein.

Parents gave Ivan a decent education. In 1888, the boy entered the First St. Petersburg Gymnasium, which he graduated with a silver medal.

Young Bilibin drew from an early age, his work was distinguished by the liveliness of colors and realistic plots. But he did not consider the occupation of creativity the main one. Only in 1895, while studying at St. Petersburg University in the direction of jurisprudence, he entered the art school at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists and seriously thought about a career as an illustrator.

In his student years, Ivan Yakovlevich drew knowledge from Anton Ashbe in Munich, from the famous Ilya Repin - first in the workshop of Princess Maria Tenishevskaya, and after receiving a law degree, from 1900 to 1904, at the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Perhaps it was Repin who left a special imprint on Bilibin's biography: admiring the talent of Ilya Efimovich, trying to impress him, the young artist did not leave the table for 10 hours, improved sketches and paintings, for which he received the nickname Iron Hand.

In 1898, Ivan Bilibin joined the World of Art association, which at first helped him organize exhibitions.

Painting

According to the memoirs of a contemporary Grigory Klimov, an architect and a close friend of Ivan Yakovlevich, a visit to the Tver province in the summer of 1899 became a decisive stage in the life of Bilibin the artist. Klimov wrote:

“The sketches and sketches he made of the surrounding Russian landscape - huge paws of old fir trees, red fly agarics on emerald moss, quiet forest streams and rivers, intricate wooden carvings on peasant huts in the village of Yegny involuntarily led him to the idea of ​​illustrating Russian fairy tales.”

Left an imprint and the picture "Bogatyrs". Without leaving the Tver province, Ivan Bilibin created his debut book illustration for The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf.

Even at the beginning of his work, the artist worked in the unique Bilibino technique: first he drew a contour, and then filled it in with watercolors, without shading. To do this, he used a kolinsky brush with an oblique tip. At the same time, the painter believed that it was enough for a conscientious graphic artist to draw no more than five square centimeters a day.

The drawings created for three fairy tales - "About Ivan the Tsarevich...", "The Frog Princess" and "Vasilisa the Beautiful" - the novice illustrator brought to the Expedition of Procurement of State Papers. They made a splash, and Bilibin was offered to buy the rights to the publication. So the Bilibino style became widely known.

In subsequent years, the illustrator was engaged in the design of the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful", creating a portrait that to this day adorns the pages of textbooks on literature, "revived" the fairy tales "Marya Morevna", "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka", "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", a poem "Sadko".

Inspired by Vasnetsov's painting "Heroes", Bilibin painted his own, and, supplementing their union with an image. He also tried his hand as a holiday card designer (for Angel Day and Christmas) and a PR man, drawing ads for New Bavaria beer.

During the revolution of 1905, the Provisional Government turned to Ivan Yakovlevich with a request to create a coat of arms. The famous double-headed eagle, which was the official symbol of Russia in 1917-1918, appeared from the master's pen. And although the image satisfied the officials, the people called the eagle a “plucked chicken”, since the bird had neither a scepter nor an orb in its paws.

In 1907, Bilibin returned to the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists, this time as a teacher. For 10 years he taught the art of graphics. Among his pupils were Georgy Narbut, Konstantin Eliseev, Nikolai Kuzmin and his future wife Rene O "Connel.

In 1908-1911, Ivan Yakovlevich created sketches of costumes and scenery for the opera The Golden Cockerel, designed scenery for The Miracle of St. Theophilus and Honor and Revenge, and drew costumes for the drama Fuente Ovehuna.

In 1917, difficult times began for Russia. Running away from the raging crowd, Bilibin traveled around Africa and the Middle East: he lived in Egypt, then in Cairo, Syria and Palestine. In August 1925 he moved to Paris and immediately returned to decorating. Bilibin created scenery for the ballet The Firebird, painted pictures for fairy tales and The Thousand and One Nights.

From time to time, Ivan Yakovlevich painted “for the soul”: landscapes (“Egypt. Pyramids”, “Street in Cairo”, “Olive trees”, “South of France. Dunes”), portraits (Lyudmila Chirikova), mythical paintings (“Bird Alkonost "and" Bird of Paradise Sirin").

In 1936, the soul of the artist wished to return to his homeland. Having settled in Leningrad, he worked until the war came. Bilibin refused to be evacuated and remained in the city besieged by the Germans. The last work was a sketch of an illustration for the epic "Duke Stepanovich" in 1941.

Personal life

Ivan Bilibin was married three times. Each of his spouses was a creative person, the artist met each in the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists.

The first wife was an Englishwoman with Irish roots, Maria Chambers. In 1902, the couple got married, and a year later their first son, Alexander, appeared. Ivan was born in 1908. The Chambers-Bilibin family existed for almost ten years, and in 1911 Maria, unable to endure her husband's drunkenness, filed for divorce. In 1914 she left for England, taking her children with her.

The second time Ivan Yakovlevich also married the Englishwoman Rene O "Connel. Their marriage lasted five years, from 1912 to 1917. They had no children.

The third and last wife of Bilibin was Alexandra Shchekatikhina, who had a son, Mstislav, from her first marriage. Their personal life was rich in travel: they visited Egypt, Palestine, Cairo, France all together, returned together to Leningrad. Alexandra was widowed in 1942. She survived her husband by 25 years, never marrying a third time.

Ivan Bilibin was a Freemason, a member of the Russian lodge "Northern Star" in Paris. Later, he created his society "Free Russia" and in 1932 was its ceremonial leader.

Death

Returning to Leningrad in 1936, Bilibin, together with his wife and son, settled in house number 25 on the street. Gulyarnaya (now - Lisa Chaikina St.). There are two memorial plaques on the house (judging by the photo, they hang side by side, although they contradict each other). One:

"Here, from 1937 to 1942, the theater and book artist Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin lived and worked."

"The great Russian artists Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich (1876-1942) and Schekatikhina-Pototskaya Alexandra Vasilievna (1892-1967) lived in this house since 1936."

When, due to Nazi bombing, the apartment turned out to be uninhabitable, Ivan Bilibin moved to the basement of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists, which became his second home. On February 7, 1942, he was taken to the hospital at the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he soon died of frostbite and starvation.

The illustrator found his last rest in the mass grave of professors of the Academy of Arts near the Smolensk cemetery.

Artworks

Illustrations for fairy tales:

• 1899-1901 - The Frog Princess
• 1899 - "The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf"
• 1899-1900 - "Vasilisa the Beautiful"
• 1901 - "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka"
• 1902 - "White Duck"
• 1905 - "The Tale of Tsar Saltan"
• 1906 - "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel"

Sketches of costumes and scenery for performances:

• 1908 - "Action about Theophilus"
• 1908 - "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish"
• 1908-1909 - "Golden Cockerel"
• 1908 - Honor and Revenge
• 1914 - "Sadko"
• 1930 - "Boris Godunov"
• 1937 - "The Tale of Tsar Saltan"

B. Kustodiev. Portrait of Ivan Bilibin. 1901

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin was a real star of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. A famous graphic artist, glorified by the World of Arts magazine, a designer of high-profile theatrical productions and an illustrator of the best book novelties, he was a successful man, lived in a big way, loved to have fun and joke...

He was born in 1876, in the village of Tarkhovka near St. Petersburg, in the family of a naval doctor. After graduating from high school with a silver medal, he entered law school, but at the same time studied at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and then at Repin himself, so by the time he graduated from the university he was already a member of the new association of artists "World of Art".

In addition, already in 1899, Bilibin found his own, "Bilibin" style. Having accidentally arrived in the village of Yegny, Vesyegonsky district, Tver province, he creates illustrations for his first book, The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf.

Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird. 1899

The impeccable thin black line of contours in his paintings was drawn not with a pen, but with the thinnest kolinsky brush, and for its clarity and hardness it was called "steel wire". Within a clear contour, Bilibin applied coloring in solid tones - it turned out like in a stained glass window. It seemed that everything that Bilibin's hand touched became beautiful, and Bilibin's fairy tales immediately became fashionable.

No one painted the characters of Russian fairy tales like him. The refined technique of drawing in his works was combined with the elegance of newfangled modernism, while it was felt that Russian fairy tales were his own, dear to Bilibin.

Vasilisa the Beautiful. 1899-1900

Illustrations for Russian fairy tales and epics went one after another: folk tales, Pushkin's tales ... Mastery was supported by excellent knowledge of the subject: Bilibin spent a lot of time on ethnographic expeditions, where he studied primary sources and collected antiquities. Bilibino's fairy tales, beautifully illustrated, beautifully published and at the same time inexpensive, gained nationwide fame. They were an achievement in the field of book design - a real ensemble with a typical cover, drop caps, ornaments. On the covers were three heroes, the bird Sirin, the Serpent Gorynych, a hut on chicken legs, and along the edges - flowers, Christmas trees, birch trees, fly agaric mushrooms ... Books with these illustrations were published fifty and a hundred years later.

In parallel, Bilibin worked a lot for the theater. He made sketches of scenery for Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel (Zimin's Moscow Opera), and for the operas Sadko and The Golden Cockerel (People's House Theater in St. Petersburg), participated in the design of Boris Godunov for Diaghilev's entreprise .. .

B. Kustodiev. Portrait of Ivan Bilibin. 1914

It is surprising that with such a love for Russian culture, Bilibin married an Englishwoman. The father of the artist Masha Chambers was an Irishman and his name was James Stephen Chambers, and her mother was a pure Englishwoman (Elizabeth Mary Page), but Masha (Mary Elizabeth Veronica) was born in St. Petersburg and bore the middle name Yakovlevna. Having given birth to two sons, in 1911 his wife left Bilibin - she could not stand his binges. This misfortune - drunkenness - accompanied the artist all his life, and he managed to escape from it only by work.

His second wife, a civilian, was also an Englishwoman, Renee O'Connell. Bilibin once captured her in the image of Strelchikha in illustrations for the fairy tale “Go there - I don’t know where ...”

Archer in front of the king and retinue. Illustration for the fairy tale "Go there, I don't know where"

Ivan Yakovlevich welcomed the revolution. A venerable artist, after the change of power, he entered a special meeting on arts and the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities. He went to meetings, led almost the same life, drank - good, he managed to get alcohol, and then ... then Bilibin stopped liking the Bolsheviks and he left - both from the Bolsheviks and from his wife - to the Crimea, where he had a house in the country house cooperative of artists and other intelligentsia Batiliman. The difficulties of the Time of Troubles hardly touched him. He painted a little, walked a lot, liked to talk and drink on the shore with the fishermen.

Ivan Bilibin. About how the Germans released a Bolshevik to Russia. Poster. 1917

There he fell in love with a neighbor in the country. Lyudmila Chirikova was almost 20 years younger. Her father, the writer Yevgeny Chirikov, went to Perekop to rescue his high school student mobilized into the White Army, and his wife left with him. They could not return to Novorossiysk: the Whites were losing the Civil War, trains stopped running. Bilibin visited Lyudmila and her sister, who were left without support, twice a day. To get food for them, he sold his sketches for next to nothing. But he did not achieve reciprocity from Lyudmila.

I. Bilibin. Crimea. Batiliman. 1940

Soon the parents of the Chirikov sisters left Russia. The girls decided to follow them. And Bilibin, in order to be close to Lyudmila, ended up on board the Saratov steamer, packed with people fleeing from Russia. On March 13, 1920, the ship arrived in Egypt, in the port of Alexandria. Former Petersburg ladies, officers, university professors settled in a refugee camp.

Bilibin quickly showed merchant ingenuity. He got acquainted with compatriots from the Russian consulate, they introduced him to the customers. The artist moved from the camp to the city, became a completely respected person. Lyudmila Chirikova also found a job - she danced in nightclubs as part of a Russian troupe. In the hope of winning her heart, Bilibin rented a room for her, offered her the job of his assistant.

I. Bilibin. Egypt. Pyramids. 1924

For some time, Bilibin lives by work, but soon Lyudmila leaves for Berlin to her parents, and the artist starts drinking again. Everything changed when suddenly in 1922 Ivan Yakovlevich received a letter from Russia, from a friend of his ex-wife, the artist Alexandra - more precisely, as everyone called her, Shurochka - Shchekotikhina. Shurochka was a widow, worked at a porcelain factory in Petrograd, lived with her little son in the former house of the Eliseev merchants, which became the hostel of the House of Arts. The poets Osip Mandelstam and Vladimir Khodasevich, the prose writer Alexander Grin, the artist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky also lived here, there were potbelly stoves everywhere, which drowned themselves with books and stretchers.

Shurochka's simple and kind letter touched the yearning artist so much that he sent her a telegram: “Be my wife. Waiting for an answer". Shurochka agreed. In February 1923, she and her son arrived in Alexandria.

Alexandra Shchekotikhina-Pototskaya

Shurochka brought success to Bilibin: orders rained down on him. She herself did not sit idle either: she equipped a small porcelain workshop and began to trade in painted services. She also sold plates with sickles and hammers: the British were willing to buy revolutionary exotics.

Bilibin in the 1920s

Soon the couple decided that it was time to move to Europe. Subsequently, Bilibin was not very pleased with this decision: in Europe, his art was primarily of interest to emigrants like him, and they were mostly poor people. And although he and his wife lived in grand style, kept an atelier and even built a small cottage on the Mediterranean coast, more and more often one could hear from Ivan Yakovlevich that he was disappointed with life in Paris. In the early 1930s, he began to communicate closely with people from the Soviet embassy, ​​in 1935 he already had a Soviet passport, and in 1936 he arrived in Leningrad with his wife and son.

The book "Tales of the hut". Russian folk tales in French. Paris. 1931

They were well received, they were given an apartment on Gulyarnaya Street, the current Liza Chaikina Street. Ivan Yakovlevich became a professor at the graphic workshop at the Academy, designed The Tale of Tsar Saltan for the Kirov Theater, made illustrations for this tale and for the Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov for a publishing house, and was involved in decorative work for the Palace of Soviets in Moscow. Shurochka returned to the porcelain factory.

When the war began, Bilibin refused to evacuate and remained in hungry and cold Leningrad.

I. Bilibin. Dobrynya Nikitich frees Zabava Putyaticna from the Serpent Gorynych. 1941

According to the memoirs of the artist A.I. Brodsky, who also lived during the siege in Leningrad, once the head of the city propaganda department, Colonel Tsvetkov, promised to treat Brodsky and Bilibin with millet porridge and herring. To do this, they had to cross the frozen Neva and walk for two hours. Having fed the guests, the colonel asked Bilibin to inscribe for him postcards with reproductions of Bilibino watercolors. The inscriptions were:

“What a salmon in these places! Whoever has not tried fresh salmon cannot imagine what kind of divine fish it is! Written during the hunger strike: December 1941 Leningrad. I. Bilibin "

“These would be fungi, but now in a pan with sour cream. Eh-ma!.. December 30, 1941.

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin died on February 7, 1942, and was buried without a coffin in the mass grave of professors of the Academy of Arts near the Smolensk cemetery.