Yua Vasnetsov illustrations for fairy tales. Illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov: biography, creativity, paintings and illustrations

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND YOUTH AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

PETROZAVODSK PEDAGOGICAL COLLEGE

Preschool department

Essay

Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov

Completed:

Irina Vladimirovna Bogomolova

Alena Nikolaevna Gurkova

Anna Valerievna Skrynnik

Natalya Vladimirovna Popova

students 431 groups

Checked:

Dranevich L.V.

PPC teacher

Petrozavodsk 2005

CHAPTER 1 Biography of Yu.A. Vasnetsov………………………………………..3-5

CHAPTER 2 Features of the image of Vasnetsov's illustrations……………6-7

CONCLUSION.………………………………………………………...................................8

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………9-12

LIST OF USED LITERATURE……………………………13

CHAPTER 1 Biography of Yu.A. Vasnetsov

Yu.A. Vasnetsov was born (1900 - 1973) in Vyatka, in the family of a Vyatka priest, he was distantly related to Viktor and Apollinary Vasnetsov. Mother knitted, embroidered, wove lace. The combination of cream, marsh greens, pale blue in lace could serve as a lesson to the young painter. Paternal influence is different: character is perseverance, in any business go to the end, be faithful, true to the word. Sisters - from them kindness, sacrifice, love. All roads for Yurochka. But he also gave, loved passionately. Kolya Kostrov, Zhenya Charushin are lifelong artist friends in Vyatka and Leningrad. With Arkady Rylov, an academician (student of Kuindzhi), Yuri wrote sketches as a boy, and then studied in his workshop at the Academy.

Obsessed with the desire to become an artist, he arrived in Petrograd in 1921 and entered the painting department of the State Art Museum (later VKHUTEMAS), studied with A.E. Kareeva, M.V. Matyushkina, K.S. Malevich and N.A. Tyrsy; successfully completed his studies in 1926. Matyushin's most interesting thing is color. You write a Christmas tree in the sunset sky, so you need to find a beautiful third color and lay it between the object and the environment so that all three colors play. And although materiality, objectivity, play with form, with the texture of the picturesque, Yuri studied in graduate school with Malevich, he never forgot Matyushinsky color-cohesion. In the best children's illustrations and in painting, of course, he used the principles of the Matyushin school.

In search of a job, the young artist began to collaborate with the department of children's and youth literature of the State Publishing House, where, under the artistic direction of V.V. Lebedev, he happily found himself in the interpretation of the themes and images of Russian folklore - fairy tales and mainly nursery rhymes, in which his natural craving was best satisfied to humor, grotesque and kind irony.

In the 1930s he was famous for illustrations for the books “Swamp”, “Humpbacked Horse” (see appendix) by P. P. Ershov, “Fifty Little Pigs”, “The Stolen Sun” by K. I. Chukovsky, “Three Bears” by L. I. Tolstoy. At the same time, he made excellent - smart and exciting - lithographic prints for children, based on the same plot motifs.

During the war years, spent first in Molotov (Perm), then in Zagorsk (Sergiev Posad), where he was the chief artist of the Toy Institute, Vasnetsov performed poetic illustrations for "English Folk Songs" by S. Ya. Marshak (1943), and then to his own book "Cat's House" (1947). A new success brought him illustrations for the folklore collections "The Miraculous Ring" (1947) and "Fables in the Faces" (1948). Vasnetsov worked extraordinarily intensively, many times varying the themes and images dear to him. The well-known collections "Ladushki" (1964) and "Rainbow-Arc" 1969 (see Appendix) became a kind of result of his many years of activity. Vasnetsov's bright, entertaining and witty drawings have found perhaps the most organic embodiment of Russian folklore, more than one generation of young readers have grown up on them, and he himself was recognized as a classic in the field of children's books during his lifetime.

Meanwhile, book graphics was only one side of his work. The main goal of Vasnetsov's life was always painting, and he went to this goal with fanatical persistence: he worked independently, studied under the guidance of K. S. Malevich in Ginkhuk, and studied postgraduate studies at the All-Russian Academy of Arts.

In 1932-34. he finally created several works ("Lady with a Mouse", "Still Life with a Chess Board" (see appendix), etc.), in which he proved himself to be a very great master who successfully combined the refined pictorial culture of his time with the tradition of folk "bazaar" art, which he appreciated and loved. But this later self-confidence coincided with the campaign against formalism that had begun at that time. Fearing ideological persecution (which had already touched his book graphics), Vasnetsov made painting a secret occupation and showed it only to close people.

CHAPTER 2 Features of the image of Vasnetsov's illustrations

Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov created a bright, unique miter of fairy-tale images, close and understandable to every child.

The thoughtful forest region where the artist was born and grew up, childhood impressions of the Whistlers toy fair with elegant Dymkovo lady dolls, painted bright roosters, and horses had a noticeable influence on his work. Many characters in Yu.A. Vasnetsov are similar to the images born of folk fantasy. For example, the horses in the illustrations for the nursery rhymes "Ivanushka" and "Horse" are very similar to the Dymkovo horse.

The closer you get acquainted with the works of Vasnetsov, the more you admire the richness of his creative imagination: the artist painted so many animals and they are all very different. Everyone has their own character, their own manner of behavior, their own style of dress. In the illustration for the nursery rhyme "Mice", Yuri Alekseevich depicted a round dance of nineteen mice: the mouse girls have bright skirts decorated with stripes, and the boys have multi-colored shirts with buttons.

A lot of fun inventions, games were introduced by the artist in the illustrations for the nursery rhyme "Kisonka". The Fairy Windmill is very decorative. It is decorated with arcs, dots, wavy and broken lines. The wings of the windmill are woven from old light shingles. A cute little mouse lives in the mill. He climbed onto the windowsill and looks out the window with interest. Amazing magical flowers grow around the mill, which are so beautifully lit by the sun. Kisonka put the gingerbread cookies into a large wicker basket. Gingerbread cookies are white, with beautiful patterns and very appetizing! Despite the fact that the nursery rhyme says nothing about whom Kisonka met along the way, the artist himself invented and depicted this meeting.

Yu.A. Vasnetsov color. Often, it exudes joy from him. And in the illustrations for the nursery rhymes “Hop-Hop” and “Horse”, the bright yellow background not only conveys a picture of a warm sunny day, but also enhances the perception of the images created by the artist. On a yellow background, dark brown figures of baby squirrels are clearly visible, importantly walking along the bridge. Thanks to the light background, we see their fluffy fur, admire the tassels on their ears.

Although the drawings by Yu.A. Vasnetsov's birds and animals look like toys, but at the same time they are very original and expressive. Fairy-tale images, born of the artist's imagination, are close and understandable to children, because he has found an art form that most closely matches the characteristics of children's perception.

A born artist appears to the world with his own language and theme. When Yuri Vasnetsov was asked what his favorite colors were, he answered unexpectedly: “I love black paint, it helps contrast. Ocher is like gold. I like the English red for the materiality of the color.” That's right, these are paints, in ancient Russian icons denoting divine energy. The concept of the strength and materiality of the energy flow entered the subconscious of the artist in the temple while contemplating the icons: his father served in the Cathedral of Vyatka. Yuri Vasnetsov did not like to theorize, but, taking painting seriously, thoughtfully, he intuitively and experimentally went to the concept of "color tone" (tone - tension), achieving lighting effects not plein air or impressionistic, but making the very flesh of painting, texture, material glow. - colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, oil. Its color spot is consistent with the strength of light with its neighbors and the color is born deaf, velvety, restrained, open, bright, contrasting, different, but always harmonious.

CONCLUSION.

Yu.A. Vasnetsov is a wonderful artist - a storyteller. Kindness, calmness, humor are characteristic of his work. His drawings are always a feast for the little ones and the big ones. This is a master closely and organically connected with the traditions of Russian folk art and at the same time enriched with the experience of modern fine arts. The originality of Vasnetsov is that the themes of his paintings and drawings are deeply rooted in national folklore.

In his drawings for children Yu.A. Vasnetsov skillfully combined fairy tale and reality. And no matter what happens in these illustrations, it is always something good and bright, which neither children nor adults want to part with. In Vasnetsov's illustrations, as in the soul of a child, there lives an ingenuous perception of the world, brightness and spontaneity, so for children they are as if taken for granted, their own, familiar. For an adult, these drawings are a long-forgotten happiness to plunge into a joyful, naive, benevolent world, where the round-eyed hare dances so selflessly, the lights in the huts burn so comfortably, the magpie hosts homely, where the mice are not afraid of the cat, and the cat is not going to eat them, where such a round and elegant sun, such a blue sky, clouds that look like fluffy pancakes.

In his landscapes and still lifes, emphatically unpretentious in their motives and extremely sophisticated in terms of pictorial form, he achieved impressive results, reviving the traditions of Russian primitivism in a peculiar way. But these works were practically unknown to anyone. Only a few years after the death of the artist, his paintings were shown to the audience at an exhibition in the State Russian Museum (1979), and it became clear that Vasnetsov was not only an excellent book graphic artist, but also one of the outstanding Russian painters of the 20th century. Everything in the illustrations and paintings by Vasnetsov is chosen and taken from life. Life is a fairy tale. When Vasnetsov was asked about the most expensive gift he had received, he answered: "Life, life given to me." Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov died in 1973 in Leningrad.

APPLICATION:

Illustration for the fairy tale by P. P. Ershov "The Little Humpbacked Horse". 1935

Illustration for the book "Rainbow-arc. Russian folk songs, nursery rhymes, jokes". 1969

Still life with a chessboard. 1926-28. Oil

Mouse lady. 1932-34. Oil

Teremok. 1947. F., m

Illustration for "The Stolen Sun" by K. Chukovsky. 1958

Illustration for "Rainbow-Arc", a collection of Russian folk songs, nursery rhymes, jokes. 1969

LIST OF USED LITERATURE:

1. Doronova T.N. preschoolers about the artists of the children's book. M.: Education, 1991. - 126 p.

2. Kurochkina N.A. Children about book graphics. St. Petersburg: Accident, 1997. - 190 p.

Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov is rightfully considered the artist of the Russian fairy tale.
One of the main features of his artistic method is the inextricable organic connection with folk art. Moreover, Yu. Vasnetsov reworks the principles of folk art, bringing them closer to contemporary art. The images he created are marked by optimism, a life-affirming force that is characteristic of folk art.
Fantastic, fabulous landscapes are based on living impressions of real Russian nature. Birds and animals acting in fairy tales acquire special expressiveness from Yu. Vasnetsov precisely because the artist gives them movements and habits, vigilantly noticed in reality. A specific feature of the artistic method of Yu. Vasnetsov is a rare ability to create as if on behalf of his future viewer, the ability to relive a child's passion for a fairy tale and, as it were, to pass through the prism of children's perception of the traditions of folk art.
One of the artist's favorite compositional techniques is the repetition and roll call of motifs. At the same time, each Vasnetsov's book is a new version of figurative, compositional, coloristic solutions.
The emotional structure of Yu. Vasnetsov's drawings is organized by color, which plays a special role. It does not lose the decorative effect characteristic of folk art, but at the same time it becomes the bearer of the intense poetic feeling invested by the artist in the theme of a fairy tale.
The color of Vasnetsov's illustrations is like a color alphabet for a child. The color of the characters is defined, simple, it is easy to call it: a gray wolf, white geese, a red fox, etc. At the same time, Yu. Vasnetsov surprisingly accurately achieves the proportionality of real and fantastic colors, which contributes to the child’s correct perception of the image. In the book "Ladushki" the artist uses the color of the background boldly and inventively. Color becomes here, as it were, the environment in which the action takes place. Art historians conditionally called this technique the "principle of a magic lantern." Joyfully and festively illuminating funny scenes with yellow, red, blue or pink "light", the artist attracts the viewer's attention with the unexpectedness of the color background of the page, using the method of quickly changing impressions close to children. But each color spot of the illustration, "tuned" in accordance with the sound of the color background, lives its own life, being included in the overall composition.

Yuri Alekseevich illustrated and designed books by V. Bianchi, S. Marshak, K. Chukovsky, Russian folk tales, etc.
Books designed by Yu. A. Vasnetsov are easily recognizable. The illustrations in them are of paramount importance, the text obeys them. Yu. A. Vasnetsov draws up the book as a whole, while the strict constructiveness and logical completeness of all its elements do not hamper the creativity and inexhaustible imagination of the master.
Yu. Vasnetsov's picture books introduce the child to life through art (L. Tolstoy "Three Bears", P. Ershov "The Little Humpbacked Horse", S. Marshak "Teremok", etc.). The best works of the artist are illustrations for the collections "Ladushki" and "Rainbow-Arc".

Chukovsky K. I. Fairy tales/ K. I. Chukovsky. ; rice. Yu. Vasnetsov, A. Kanevsky, V. Konashevich, V. Suteev.-M.: Art, 1982.- 164, p. : col. ill.

Vasnetsov Yu. A. 10 books for children/ Yu. Vasnetsov. ; [ed. foreword L. Tokmakov; ed. V. I. Silver; comp. G. M. Vasnetsova; formal. D. M. Plaksin] .-L .: Artist of the RSFSR, 1984.- 173, p. : ill., tsv. ill.

Ladushki: poems, songs, nursery rhymes, fairy tales/ artist Y. Vasnetsov. .-M.: Samovar, pec. 2005.-76, p. : col. ill.; 23 cm - (Thirtieth tales)

Russian tales/ rice. Yu. A. Vasnetsova. .- [Ed. 3rd].-L .: Children's literature, 1980.- 84, p. : ill.: 1.20 82.3 (2Ros) -6Р15

Rainbow: Russian folk tales, songs, nursery rhymes/ [rice. Yu. Vasnetsova]. .-M.: Children's literature, 1989.- 166, p. : col. ill.

Bianchi V. Karabash.- M. - L.: GIZ, 1929.

Bianchi V. Swamp. - L .: Mol. Guard, 1931.

Ershov P. The Little Humpbacked Horse. - L .: Children's publishing house, 1935.

Tolstoy L. Three Bears. - L .: Children's publishing house, 1935.

Chukovsky K. Stolen sun. - M.: Detizdat, 1936.

Children's folk tales. - L .: Children's publishing house, 1936.

Marshak S. Teremok.- M.: Detizdat, 1941.

English folk tales.- M.: Detgiz, 1945.

Bianchi V. Fox and Mouse. - L .: Det. lit., 1964.

Okay. Russian folk tales, songs, nursery rhymes. - M.: Det. lit., 1964.

Rainbow arc. Russian folk songs, nursery rhymes, jokes. - M.: Det. lit., 1969.

Chiki-chiki-chikalochki. Russian folk songs and nursery rhymes. Collected and arr. N. Kolpakova. - L .: Det. lit., 1971.

Artist's work

"Traditions of ancient times" came to life thanks to the brush of Viktor Vasnetsov. Bogatyrs and princesses went beyond book lines and illustrations. The artist grew up in the wilderness of the Ural forests on Russian fairy tales that sounded to the crackle of a torch. And already being in St. Petersburg, he did not forget his childhood memories and transferred those magical stories to the canvas. We examine fabulous canvases with Natalia Letnikova.

Alyonushka

A barefoot, simple-haired girl on the banks of a forest river. With inexpressible sadness, he looks into a deep pool. The sad picture was inspired by a fairy tale about sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka, and he painted an orphan from a peasant girl from the Akhtyrka estate, adding, as he himself admitted, the features of Verusha Mamontova, the daughter of a famous Moscow philanthropist. Nature echoes girlish sadness, intertwining with the poetry of folk tales.

Ivan Tsarevich on the Gray Wolf

Gloomy dark forest. And a gray wolf, quite expected for such a thicket. Only instead of an evil grin, the predator has human eyes, and on it are two riders. Cautious Ivanushka carefully holds Elena the Beautiful, submissive to fate. We recognize not only the plot of the Russian fairy tale, but also the image of the girl. The artist endowed the fairy-tale heroine with real features - Savva Mamontov's niece, Natalia.

V.M. Vasnetsov. Alyonushka. 1881

V.M. Vasnetsov. Ivan Tsarevich on a gray wolf. 1889

Bogatyrs

Viktor Vasnetsov. Bogatyrs. 1898

Vasnetsov devoted 20 years of his life to one of the most famous paintings in Russian painting. "Bogatyrs" became the artist's largest painting. The size of the canvas is almost 3 by 4.5 meters. Bogatyrs are a collective image. Ilya, for example, is a peasant Ivan Petrov, and a blacksmith from Abramtsevo, and a cab driver from the Crimean bridge. At the heart of the picture are the childish feelings of the author. “So it was before my eyes: hills, space, heroes. Wonderful dream of childhood.

Song of Joy and Sorrow

Viktor Vasnetsov. Sirin and Alkonost. A song of joy and sorrow. 1896

Alkonost and Sirin. Two half-birds with ghostly promises of a cloudless paradise in the future and with regrets about the lost paradise. Vasnetsov embellished sexless birds, giving mythical creatures beautiful female faces and rich crowns. Sirin's singing is so sad that the leaves of a century-old tree turned black, the delight of an alkonost can make you forget about everything ... if you linger on the picture.

Carpet plane

Viktor Vasnetsov. Carpet plane. 1880

Painting for the Railroad Administration. Not a train, not even a postal troika. Carpet plane. This is how Victor Vasnetsov responded to the request of Savva Mamontov to paint a picture for the industrialist's new project. The fabulous flying machine, a symbol of victory over space, puzzled the members of the board and inspired the artist himself. Mamontov bought the painting, and Vasnetsov discovered a new world for himself. In which there is no place for the ordinary.

Three princesses of the underworld

Viktor Vasnetsov. Three princesses of the underworld. 1884

Gold, copper and coal. Three riches that are hidden in the bowels of the earth. Three fabulous princesses are the embodiment of earthly blessings. Proud and haughty gold, curious copper and timid coal. Princesses are mistresses of mountain mines, accustomed to command people. There are two pictures with such a plot at once. On one of them in the corner - as petitioners, the figures of two men obsequiously looking into beautiful cold faces.

Koschei the Deathless

Viktor Vasnetsov. Koschei the Deathless. 1917–1926

Rich mansions with chocolate, red and gold hues. The luxury of brocade and rare woods is a worthy frame for heavy chests with treasures, and the main treasure that Koshchei is not given in his hands is a young beauty. The girl is interested in the sword, which, however, cannot defeat Koshchei. The image of the main fairy-tale villain Viktor Vasnetsov wrote for nine years. Chronologically, the picture was the last for the artist.

"As a child, my mother read all the books, fairy tales. And the nanny too. The fairy tale entered me ...
The publisher gives me the text. I take the one I like. And it happens that there is no fairy tale in it. It happens that it is only four or even two lines, and you can’t make a fairy tale out of them. And I'm looking for a fairy tale ... I always remember for whom the book will be. " Yu. Vasnetsov

One example of a combination of a book of remarkable quality + competent popularization of creativity and preservation of heritage is the books about Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov, which are published by his daughter Elizaveta Yuryevna Vasnetsova.

A long time ago, I showed the first book from the Vasnetsov series "Unknown Yuri Vasnetsov". She came out in 2011. A year later, a sequel was released: "The Famous Yuri Vasnetsov"!

"Famous Yuri Vasnetsov". Materials for the biography of the great artist. 106 lifetime editions: description, official press, feedback from readers and colleagues. Pskov regional printing house, 2012. 480 p. Under the general editorship of E.Yu. Vasnetsova.

The publisher's preface is so good that I feel sorry for quoting it. Let it be in full:

"This book is nostalgia. For all forty- and other-year-olds who carefully keep their children's books, books of their parents, grandparents; for collectors, in search of Detgiz masterpieces, spend hours on the Internet and spend time in second-hand bookshops. Children's thin book - a perishable product. It has multi-million copies, a penny price. Getting into children's hands, the book deteriorates, is torn, dirty, read out and rarely survives to children's children. In the "dashing" seventies and eighties of the XX century, books of our childhood, along with the magazines "Murzilka" and "Funny Pictures", tied with twine, weighed on a scale and sent for processing for the so-called waste publications. Masterpieces survived. Who among us did not have "The boat floats and floats" with drawings by Konashevich, "The Stolen Sun" with drawings by Vasnetsov, " Luggage" with illustrations by Lebedev! And who kept them? Do you remember the series "Kindergarten Library"? How many good, beautifully designed books there were! What a remark solid format, what colors, what paper!

And what great artists! People related to printing understand that what was printed on captured post-war equipment cannot be repeated on ultra-modern Japanese-German machines. The colors have changed, the paper has changed, the attitude towards the book has changed. All in the past. This book is dedicated to the work of one of the best children's book illustrators of the 20th century, Yuri Vasnetsov. We were prompted to work by a recently published book - materials for the biography of the great artist "Unknown Yuri Vasnetsov". Since the title of the book was somewhat provocative, since the name of the artist is widely known, we had no choice but to name ours - "Famous Yuri Vasnetsov", especially since this is a book about books, the first attempt in domestic book science to systematize the work of Yuri Vasnetsov as an illustrator of children's books. (A story about Yuri Vasnetsov, a painter, creator of a series of magnificent prints and author of drawings in the children's magazines Murzilka, Funny Pictures, Bonfire, is in the future.) This publication, as we see it, is the first attempt to systematize all the work of one artist - from the first edition, the book "Karabash" in 1929, to the last lifetime edition, "What are we doing" in 1973. The publishers conscientiously collected all that they could find, but they rightly believe that there may be editions of the period of the Great Patriotic War, editions of the 20-30s that we did not take into account. We will be grateful for the help of bibliographers and collectors - for additions, corrections and any information about unknown facts and lifetime editions of Yuri Vasnetsov. The appearance of such masterpieces of illustration as "The Stolen Sun", "Three Bears", "Cat's House" and so on and so forth could not have taken place without a brilliant environment - his artist friends and teachers in creating a children's illustrated book: V. Lebedev , V. Konashevich, V. Tambi, V. Kurdov, A. Pakhomov, E. Charushin, N. Tyrsa. I would like to think that we will set an example for our colleagues to publish such publications about the work of artists of the golden age of children's illustrated books. The history of the children's book of the XX century is waiting for its Karamzin. We publish materials for the biography of only one of the artists. The principle of publication is as follows:

A scientific description is given, the cover is reproduced, the back (as a rule, if it contains a drawing element);
- the best, in our opinion, illustrations are given, as well as
- sketches, sketches, drawings;
- the most striking critical articles are published, including abusive ones of the 30s and 40s;
- in addition, photographs are published;
- letters, memoirs, business documents related to the publishing process. Mostly previously unpublished materials were selected. In order not to complicate the reading process, not all illustrations are provided with captions. In the Lifetime Editions section, which contains obligatory elements - cover, back, title page, illustrations from a particular book, these elements are given without signatures. For the rest of the illustrations - photographs, sketches, letters, objects of applied art and others - signatures are given. A bibliographic list of sources used with an extended description is presented in chronological order at the end of the publication. Intratext and subscript references to sources are given in abbreviated form.

The publishers express their gratitude to the keepers of the family archive - daughters Elizaveta Yuryevna and Natalya Yuryevna Vasnetsov, the library of the publishing house "Young Guard" and personally E.I. Ivanova and L.V. Petrov, as well as S.G. Kosyanov for help in publishing this book.

Let's look at the book first. Horizontal layout, fabric binding, lace. The cover is fully consistent with the style of the series.

Vasnetsov's relief drawing on fabric: The Little Humpbacked Horse

And the endpapers are very entertaining: they show a fragment of a tapestry from an unidentified factory based on illustrations by Yu. Vasnetsov. Counterfeit product of the early 21st century!

From the publisher
Erast Kuznetsov "About the book graphics of Yuri Vasnetsov"
Elizaveta Vasnetsova "How dad worked on the book"
Lifetime editions (main part of the book from pp. 49-419)
Key dates of life and creativity
List of lifetime publications
Valentin Kurbatov "Knocking, strumming down the street..."

First, about what is around. Around lifetime publications - a lot of interesting things! Photos published for the first time, and not ceremonial portraits, which are easy to insert into any publication, even in an article in a magazine, even in a book. And these are momentary, random, which, it seems, are not suitable as a "title photo", but for those who cherish any grain of information and memory about the artist, these photographs will bring joy, they fit perfectly here in the accompanying materials - that's how this picture of 1960- X

or a photo from a small home feast (not noisy Vasnetsov festivities, but together with Vladimir Vasilyevich, modestly. And then a masterpiece artistic telegram to the hero of the day from the Lebedevs:

Elizaveta Vasnetsova's articles are richly illustrated with archival materials: photographs, documents, sketches, sketches. For example, here are sketches for S. Marshak's book "English Folk Songs", 1943

and here is a sketch for it - and an excerpt from such a warm and sincere article by Elizabeth Yuryevna "How dad worked on a book"

Or a "storyboard" of the illustration "A ship runs across the blue sea" for the book "Rainbow-arc" 1965-1968: first, a sketch of the illustration (glass, watercolor, whitewash)

then a drawing (paper, graphite pencil)

and then the illustration itself (paper, watercolor, whitewash, ink)

Well, now the main part of the book is a reproduction of 106 lifetime editions, accompanied by press clippings, responses from readers and colleagues, as well as numerous additional materials. From the very first book "Karabash" to the last lifetime. The career path of the artist from 1929 to 1973, almost half a century!

Finally, there is an opportunity to look at the fantastic book "Swamp", which Erast Davydovich Kuznetsov spoke about so temptingly in "The Bear is flying, wagging its tail":

"... The book" Boloto "was published in 1931 - the third, but I want to consider it the first, because Vasnetsov began, of course, not with" Karabash "and not with" How Dad Shot My Ferret ", namely with" Bolot " .<...>

In fact, this book is strange, some kind of monster, if you look at it with an open mind. Do not compare with either the first or the second - all of it is awkward and awkward. It is not clear what she is talking about and why. Doesn't fit into any genre. The language does not dare to rank it among the "informative books from the life of nature": the pictures are not very clear, mixed, confused.<...>

Many wrote with admiration about the originality of the "Bolot". This admiration can be understood by anyone who was lucky enough to see Vasnetsov's drawings at one of his exhibitions or in the funds of the Russian Museum, where they are stored, and appreciate their rare pictorial wealth - the richness of color, the richness of texture.

Each book has a cover, back

Sometimes - inside pages, sometimes - additional materials - sketches

toys and objects that Yuri Alekseevich held in his hands

the artist's work is very interesting: for example, on the illustration page for the book "Shah-Rooster"

there are sketches of the artist: it is known that when Vasnetsov illustrated folk tales, he worked very carefully in museums and libraries, studied ethnographic sources

The imprint and description are very complete: even information is included where the book was printed

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the very important words from the publishers' preface: "I would like to think that we will set an example for our colleagues to publish publications of this kind about the work of artists of the golden age of children's illustrated books. The history of children's books of the 20th century is waiting for its Karamzin. We publish materials to the biography of only one of the artists". I liked that the publishers are so welcoming to share their thoughts and invite everyone to follow them and start releasing similar books about other masters of the book. It's great that they don't put a bold sign of a patent and copyright on their idea of ​​systematizing the artist's publications.

A wonderful book, thanks to Elizaveta Yurievna Vasnetsova!

"I really like to remember my childhood. When I write, I draw, I live by what I remember and saw in my childhood." Yuri Vasnetsov

Outstanding Russian artist: painter, graphic artist, stage designer, children's illustrator, master of color lithography. In 1921-1926. studied at the GSHM (VKhUTEMAS). He was a student of V.V. Lebedev and K.S. Malevich, like the first, he applied his gift of an ironic, inventive artist to the art of children's books. Like the second, he showed in his work a penchant for the avant-garde and experiment. Yu. Vasnetsov is distinguished by his unique and easily recognizable style, familiar to several generations from children's books: "The Little Humpbacked Horse", "Three Bears", "Ladushki", "Cat's House", "Rainbow-Arc", etc.
Like many book illustrators who made it to the pre-offset era, Vasnetsov was fluent in the technique of lithography. Thanks to this, not only books, original drawings and paintings, but also beautiful color lithographic prints remained after him.

Books with illustrations by the artist