Bilibin illustrations for the fairy tale Snow Maiden. Illustrations for Russian fairy tales (Bilibin I.Ya.). Assignments for the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful"

", the author of paintings and colorful illustrations for Russian fairy tales and epics in a decorative and graphic ornamental manner based on the stylization of motifs of Russian folk and medieval art; one of the greatest masters of the national romantic movement in the Russian version of the Art Nouveau style.

Who hasn't read fairy tale books with his magnificent illustrations? The master’s works are an immersion into the world of childhood, fairy tales, and epics. He created his own world, so different from the surrounding one, allowing you to retire into your imagination and follow the heroes on dangerous and exciting journeys.

In 1895-1898 he studied at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

In 1898 he studied for two months in the studio of the artist Anton Aschbe in Munich. It was here that the study of drawing was given special importance and students developed the ability to find an individual artistic style.

While in Munich, 22-year-old Bilibin gets acquainted with the tradition of European painting:

In the Alte Pinakothek - with the works of classics: Durer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Raphael.

In the Neue Pinakothek - with modern trends, in particular with the symbolism of Arnold Böcklin and Franz Stuck

What he saw was extremely timely for the aspiring artist. And it was at the Ashbe school that Bilibin learned his signature line and graphic techniques. First, he sketched a sketch on paper, specified the composition in all details on tracing paper, then transferred it to whatman paper, after which, using a kolinsky brush with a cut end, he drew a clear wire outline in ink over the pencil drawing.

The development of Bilibin as a book graphic artist was influenced by other Western book masters: William Maurice, who was one of the first to reflect the harmonious architecture of the book - a synthesis of literature, graphics and typography, and his “Beautiful Book”;

Graphic artists Walter Crane and Aubrey Beardsley;

Inspired by the Art Nouveau curved line of Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon;

Expressive play of black and white spots by Felix Vallotton; the wit of Thomas Heine; Lace lines by Heinrich Vogeler.

And also noticeable is the influence (as in general on representatives of the Art Nouveau style) of Japanese engravings of the 17th-19th centuries, from which the shades of fill, contours, and isometry of space are drawn; ancient Russian icons and Byzantine painting.

For several years (1898-1900) he studied under the guidance of Ilya Repin at the school-workshop of Princess Maria Tenisheva, then (1900-1904) under the guidance of Repin at the Higher Art School of the Academy of Arts.

During Bilibin’s studies at the Higher Art School of the Academy of Arts, where Repin placed the young man, there was an exhibition of Viktor Vasnetsov, who wrote in a unique romantic manner on the themes of Russian myths and fairy tales. The exhibition was attended by many of our artists who would become famous in the future. Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich was among them. Vasnetsov’s works struck the student to the very heart; he later admitted that he saw here what his soul was unconsciously yearning for and what his soul was yearning for.

V. Vasnetsov Three heroes

Lived mainly in St. Petersburg. After the formation of the art association “World of Art”, it becomes an active member.

Group portrait of artists from the World of Art society Kustodiev

Here is what Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, one of his associates of the World of Art association, writes about Bilibin:

“He was a funny, witty conversationalist (he stuttered, which gave a special charm to his jokes) and had the talent, especially under the influence of wine, to write comic, pompous odes to Lomonosov. He came from an eminent St. Petersburg merchant family and was very proud of the two portraits of his ancestors, painted by Levitsky himself, that belonged to him, one of a young merchant, the other of a bearded merchant with a medal. Bilibin himself wore a Russian beard a la moujik and once, for a bet, walked along Nevsky in bast shoes and a tall felt buckwheat hat...”

So with a sense of humor and charisma in order)

Bilibin himself once said in his youth:

“I, the undersigned, make a solemn promise that I will never become like artists in the spirit of Gallen, Vrubel and all the impressionists. My ideal is Semiradsky, Repin (in his youth), Shishkin, Orlovsky, Bonna, Meyssonnier and the like. If I don’t fulfill this promise, I go to someone else’s camp, then let them cut off my right hand and send it preserved in alcohol to the Medical Academy!”

The era of the turn of the century—> late 19th and early 20th centuries—> Silver Age of Russian culture—> Art Nouveau style—> association and the magazine “World of Art,” to which Bilibin was close.

This approximate diagram brings us to the artist’s creative method. Bilibin turned out to be in the right place at the right time.

Russian Art Nouveau (European analogues: “Art Nouveau” in France, “Secession” in Austria, “Jugend Style in Germany”, “Horta Style” in Belgium, “New Style” in England, etc.) organically combines a search for new, modern forms with an appeal to national cultural and historical sources. The characteristic features of Art Nouveau are the aestheticization of the environment, decorative detailing and ornamentation, orientation towards mass culture, the style is filled with the poetics of symbolism.

Art Nouveau had a fundamental influence on Bilibin's art. The skill that the artist possessed, the subjects that he loved and used were entirely relevant and modern in this period for two main reasons.

Firstly, the gravitation of modernity (more precisely, one of the directions, there were others) towards the national epic, fairy tales, epics as sources of themes and plots, and a formal rethinking of the heritage of Ancient Rus', pagan art and folk art.

And secondly, the emergence of such areas of art as book graphics and scenography to a completely new highest aesthetic level. Also, it was necessary to synthesize and create an ensemble of books and theater. The association and the magazine “World of Art” have been doing this since 1898.

Most of those who were born in the USSR began to comprehend this world with Russian fairy tales “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “Marya Morevna”, “Feather of Finista-Yasna Falcon”, “White Duck”, “Princess” frog". Almost every child also knew the fairy tales of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”.

The first books with bright, beautiful illustrations by artists open a window for the child into the world of living images, into the world of fantasy. A young child reacts emotionally when he sees colorful illustrations; he clutches a book to himself, strokes the image in the picture with his hand, talks to the character drawn by the artist as if he were alive.

This is the enormous power of graphics to influence a child. It is specific, accessible, understandable to preschool children and has a huge educational impact on them. B.M. Teplov, characterizing the peculiarities of the perception of works of art, writes that if scientific observation is sometimes called “thinking perception,” then the perception of art is “emotional.”

Psychologists, art historians, and teachers have noted the uniqueness of children’s perception of graphic images: their attraction to colorful drawings, and with age they give greater preference to real coloring; the same is noted with regard to children’s requirements for the realistic forms of images.

At older preschool age, children have a negative attitude towards the conventions of form. The perception of works of graphic art can reach varying degrees of complexity and completeness. It largely depends on the person’s preparedness, the nature of his aesthetic experience, range of interests, and psychological state. But most of all it depends on the work of art itself, its artistic content, ideas. The feelings it expresses.

Parents and grandparents read fairy tales from children's books with pictures. And we knew every fairy tale by heart and every picture in our favorite book. Pictures from books with fairy tales were one of our first images that we naturally absorbed as children. Exactly as in these pictures, we later imagined Vasilisa the Beautiful.

And most of these pictures belonged to the brush of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin. Can you imagine what influence this artist had on our worldview, our perception of Russian myths, epics and fairy tales? Meanwhile, these illustrations are more than a hundred years old.

Illustrating fairy tales and epics since 1899 (“Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “Finist the Clear Falcon”, etc., Pushkin’s tales about Tsar Saltan and the Golden Cockerel), Ivan Bilibin created in the technique of ink drawing, highlighted with watercolor , his own “Bilibino style” of book design, based on motifs of folk embroidery, popular prints, wood carvings, and ancient Russian miniatures.

These graphic cycles, impressive for their ornamental richness, are still very popular among children and adults thanks to numerous reprints

Focusing on the traditions of ancient Russian and folk art, Bilibin developed a logically consistent system of graphic techniques, which remained fundamental throughout his entire work. This graphic system, as well as Bilibin’s inherent originality in the interpretation of epic and fairy-tale images, made it possible to talk about a special Bilibin style.

The process of I. Ya. Bilibin’s graphic drawing was similar to the work of an engraver. Bilibin's books look like painted boxes. It was this artist who first saw a children's book as a holistic, artistically designed organism. His books are like ancient manuscripts, because the artist thinks through not only the drawings, but also all the decorative elements: fonts, ornaments, decorations, initials and everything else.

“A strict, purely graphic discipline […],” the artist emphasized, “turns its attention not only to the drawing and the difference in strength of individual spots, but also to the line, to its character, to the direction of flow of a whole series of neighboring lines, to their sliding along form and thus to emphasize, explain and reveal this form by these conscious lines flowing around and enveloping it. These lines can sometimes be likened to a fabric that fits a form, where the threads or stripes take on the direction that is dictated to them by the given form.”

I. Ya. Bilibin developed a system of graphic techniques that made it possible to combine illustrations and design in one style, subordinating them to the plane of the book page. Characteristic features of the Bilibin style: the beauty of patterned designs, exquisite decorative color combinations, subtle visual embodiment of the world, a combination of bright fabulousness with a sense of folk humor, etc.

The artist strove for an ensemble solution. He emphasized the flatness of the book page with a contour line, lack of lighting, coloristic unity, conventional division of space into plans and the combination of different points of view in the composition.

Ivan Yakovlevich illustrated fairy tales in such a way that children seem to go on dangerous and exciting adventures with the fairy tale heroes. All the fairy tales we know are written with a special understanding of the folk spirit and poetry.

Interest in ancient Russian art arose back in the 20s and 30s of the 19th century. In subsequent decades, expeditions were organized to study monuments of pre-Petrine architecture, and albums of ancient Russian clothing, ornaments, and popular prints were published. But most scientists approached the artistic heritage of Ancient Rus' only from ethnographic and archaeological positions. A superficial understanding of its aesthetic value characterizes the pseudo-Russian style, which became widespread in architecture and applied art in the second half of the 19th century. Old Russian and folk art were perceived in a new way in the 1880s - 1890s by V. M. Vasnetsov and other artists of the Mamontov circle, whose national quest was distinguished by greater originality and creative originality. Bilibin’s words should be addressed to these artists:

“Only quite recently, like America, they discovered the old artistic Rus', vandalized, covered with dust and mold. But even under the dust it was beautiful, so beautiful that the first momentary impulse of those who discovered it is quite understandable: to return it! return!"

The dream of artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries about the revival of the high culture of the past, about the creation on its basis of a new “great style” was utopian, but it enriched art with vivid images and expressive means, contributed to the development of its “non-easel” types, which had long been considered secondary, in particular theatrical scenery and book design. It is no coincidence that it was among the Mamontov circle that new principles of decorative painting began to take shape. It is no coincidence that these same masters, who constantly communicated with works of ancient Russian art, were passionate about the idea of ​​reviving ancient crafts.

Books and theater turned out to be those areas where art directly served to satisfy modern social needs and where, at the same time, the stylistic techniques of past centuries found the most natural application, where it was possible to achieve a synthesis that remained unattainable in other types of artistic creativity.

In 1899, Bilibin accidentally arrived in the village of Egny, Vesyegonsky district, Tver province. Here he first created illustrations in what later became the “Bilibin” style for his first book, “The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf.”

In 1902, 1903 and 1904, Bilibin visited the Vologda, Olonets and Arkhangelsk provinces, where he was sent by the ethnographic department of the Museum of Alexander III to study wooden architecture.

In 1899-1902, the Russian Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers published a series of books equipped with excellent illustrations for folk tales. There were graphic paintings for the fairy tales “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “The White Duck”, “Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird” and many others. The author of the drawings was Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin. Illustrations for folk tales His understanding of the national spirit and poetry that breathes Russian folklore was formed not only under the influence of a vague attraction to folk art. The artist passionately wanted to know and studied the spiritual component of his people, their poetics and way of life. From his trips, Bilibin brought back a collection of works by folk artists and photographs of wooden architecture.

His impressions resulted in journalistic works and scientific reports on folk art, architecture and national costume. An even more fruitful result of these travels were Bilibin’s original works, which revealed the master’s passion for graphics and a completely special style. Two bright talents lived in Bilibin - a researcher and an artist, and one gift fed the other. Ivan Yakovlevich worked with particular care on the details, not allowing himself to falsify a single line.

Folk art also gave the master some techniques: ornamental and popular print methods of decorating artistic space, which Bilibin brought to perfection in his creations.

His illustrations for epics and fairy tales are surprisingly detailed, lively, poetic and not without humor. Taking care of the historical authenticity of the image, which was manifested in the drawings in the details of costume, architecture, and utensils, the master knew how to create an atmosphere of magic and mysterious beauty. In this, it is very close in spirit to the creative association “World of Art”. They were all united by an interest in the culture of the past, in the alluring charms of antiquity.

Bilibin's artistic talent was clearly demonstrated in his illustrations for Russian fairy tales and epics, as well as in his work on theatrical productions. In addition to the “fairytale” style with ancient Russian ornamental motifs, there was the production of the opera “The Golden Cockerel” designed by Bilibin in 1909 at the Zimin Theater in Moscow.

In the spirit of the French mystery, he presented “The Miracle of St. Theophilus" (1907), recreating a medieval religious drama; The costume designs for Lope de Vega's drama "The Spring of the Sheep" and Calderon's drama "The Purgatory of St. Patrick" - theatrical production of the "Ancient Theater" in 1911. A humorous caricature of the same Spain emanates from Fyodor Sologub’s vaudeville “Honor and Revenge,” staged by Bilibin in 1909.

Splashes, endings, covers and other works by Bilibin are found in such magazines of the early 20th century as World of Art, Golden Fleece, and in publications of Rosehip and Moscow Book Publishing House.

In exile

On February 21, 1920, Bilibin was evacuated from Novorossiysk on the steamship Saratov. Due to the presence of sick people on board, the ship did not disembark people at

It's been more than twenty years since I've been in the tiny kitchen of our first apartment. It’s been a long time, but I can still remember in great detail a picture of a Russian hero that my grandmother cut out from some magazine and pasted on the refrigerator. It always seemed that this marvelous Russian hero was about to fly out on his wonderful horse through the window, hit Vanka with a mace from the third entrance, and then certainly marry me. And the picture was drawn by Ivan Bilibin, a magnificent master of “Old Russian” illustration.

The special “Bilibinsky” style is recognizable today at first sight: it is a perfect mastery of the art of book graphics, when the cover, text, font, drawings, andornamentsare subordinated to one general idea of ​​the Book, and the masterly depiction of ancient Russian clothing and household items, Andreturn to the traditions of ancient Russian and folk art, with theirpatterned and decorative, Anda unique interpretation of epic and fairy tale images.

But the main thing is that Bilibin, from the awkwardness of peasant buildings, carved frames, embroidered tablecloths and towels, painted wooden and pottery, was able to create the atmosphere of Russian antiquity, epic and real fairy tale.

Ivan Bilibin became famous for his illustrations of Russian folk tales. Over the course of four years, he illustrated seven fairy tales: “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “White Duck”, “The Frog Princess”, “Marya Morevna”, “The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf”, “ Feather of Finist Yasna-Falcon" and "Vasilisa the Beautiful".

The editions of fairy tales that I have preserved are small, large-format notebooks. All six books have the same cover from which Russian fairy-tale characters look. In the reissue from IDM, everything is also under one cover. The names of the fairy tales are written in Slavic script, the page illustrations are surrounded by ornamental frames, like village windows with carved frames.

Pushkin's fairy tales with the master's drawings were also a huge success. The Russian Museum of Alexander III bought illustrations for “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, and the entire illustrated cycle “Tales of the Golden Cockerel” was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery. “The luxurious royal chambers are completely covered with patterns, paintings, and decorations. Here the ornament so abundantly covers the floor, ceiling, walls, clothes of the king and boyars that everything turns into a kind of unsteady vision, existing in a special illusory world and ready to disappear.”

The words of Bilibin himself are perfectly suited to the re-release of books with his illustrations by the Meshcheryakov Publishing House: “Only quite recently, like America, was discovered the old artistic Rus', covered with dust. But even under the dust it was beautiful, so beautiful that the first momentary impulse is quite understandable who opened it: return it!

And in this impulse, quite recently the IDM published a book, which included all the works with illustrations by Bilibin, previously published in two separate editions: andPushkin's fairy tales, and Russian folk tales, and epics. Having seen this publication live, I thought - should I buy it? And this despite the fact that I already have all the same things in separate books. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the old editions with me to compare in detail, but the new collection differs offhand only in that the paper is coated, not offset, and the magenta color balance is normal this time. The quality of the book is excellent. Inside is the same as under the cut, only bigger. In general, I recommend it to everyone.

in "Labyrinth"
IDM also took care of those who want a little Bilibin to add variety to their children's library, and released a new product - a budget option in the "Library of the Far Far Away Kingdom" series - a collection that includes two fairy tales by Pushkin: "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" and "The Tale of the Fisherman" and fish."
in "Labyrinth"
And again Amphora in my favorite series “Artists for Children”, about which I have already written laudatory posts a million times. The quality of the books is excellent: a cozy smaller format, which is convenient for children to view independently, a hard glossy cover, very thick white offset paper, large font. It’s a pity that there are only two books in the series with illustrations by Bilibin, each with two fairy tales: The Frog Princess and Marya Morevna, Vasilisa the Beautiful andFeather of Finist Yasna Falcon.

There is for sale a collection of Russian folk tales with drawings by Bilibin for “Tales from the Hut,” published in 1936 in Paris. In Russia, this book with works from the artist’s French period has not been published in its entirety before. But I haven’t seen her live, so I can’t judge the quality.
An illustrated collection of Pushkin, where Bilibin’s drawings include:
Andersen, about whom I already wrote:

Illustrations by the talented artist Ivan Bilibin for Russian fairy tales (and not only). Before looking at his wonderful works, I suggest, friends, to read this excellent article

7 main facts from the life of the fabulous artist Ivan Bilibin

Ivan Bilibin is a modernist and lover of antiquity, an advertiser and storyteller, the author of the revolutionary double-headed eagle and a patriot of his country. 7 main facts from the life of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin

1. Artist-lawyer

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin intended to become a lawyer, diligently studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University and successfully completed the full course in 1900. But in parallel with this, he studied painting at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, then in Munich with the artist A. Ashbe, and after another 6 years he was a student of I.E. Repina. In 1898, Bilibin saw Vasnetsov’s “Bogatyrs” at an exhibition of young artists. After that, he leaves for the village, studies Russian antiquity and finds his own unique style, in which he will work for the rest of his life. For the refinement of this style, the energy of his work and the impeccable firmness of the artist’s line, his colleagues called him “Ivan the Iron Hand.”

2. Storyteller

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

It is interesting that the famous illustration for “The Tale of Tsar Saltan...” with a barrel floating on the sea is reminiscent of the famous “Great Wave” by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. The process of I. Ya. Bilibin’s graphic drawing was similar to the work of an engraver. First, he sketched a sketch on paper, specified the composition in all details on tracing paper, and then translated it onto whatman paper. After this, using a kolinsky brush with a cut end, likening it to a chisel, I drew a clear wire outline with ink along the pencil drawing.

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

Few people know that Bilibin even worked in advertising. Where the Polustrovo mineral water plant is now located in St. Petersburg, there used to be the Joint Stock Company Beer and Mead Factory “New Bavaria”. 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 for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov) and about 30 postcards for the Community of St. Eugenia. Later, Bilibin painted postcards for Russian publishing houses in Paris and Berlin.

4. Double-headed eagle

The same double-headed eagle that is now used on the coins of the Bank of Russia belongs to the brush of the heraldry expert Bilibin. The artist painted it after the February Revolution as a coat of arms for the Provisional Government. The bird looks fabulous, not ominous, 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 the characteristic “forest” Bilibinsky ornament are written in a circle. Bilibin transferred the copyright to the coat of arms and some other graphic designs 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: preparing brilliant sets for productions of Russian operas, designing Stravinsky’s ballet “The Firebird” in Buenos Aires and operas in Brno and Prague. Bilibin widely used old engravings, popular prints, and folk art. Bilibin was a true connoisseur of ancient costumes of different nations; he was interested in embroidery, braid, weaving techniques, ornaments and everything that created the national flavor of the people.

6. The artist and the church

Bilibin also has works related to church painting. In it he remains himself and maintains his individual style. After leaving St. Petersburg, Bilibin lived for some time in Cairo and actively participated in the design of a Russian house church in the premises of a clinic set up by Russian doctors. The iconostasis of this temple was built according to his design. 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 a sketch of the society's seal. There is also a trace of him in Prague - he completed sketches of frescoes and an iconostasis for the Russian church at the Olsany cemetery in the capital of the Czech Republic.

7. Return to homeland and death

Over time, Bilibin came to terms with Soviet power. He formalizes the Soviet embassy in Paris, and then, in 1936, returns by boat to his native Leningrad. Teaching is added to his profession: 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 proposal of the People's Commissar of Education to evacuate from besieged Leningrad to the rear. “They don’t flee 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 hunger in the first winter of the siege and was buried in the mass grave of professors of the Academy of Arts near the Smolensk cemetery.

On June 6, admirers of the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin celebrated his birthday. Today we would like to show you illustrations for the writer’s fairy tales, made by a wonderful Russian artist Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin. Of course, some people know this name from childhood. It will be even more pleasant to look at the drawings you once loved.

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942) made illustrations for Russian folk tales “The Frog Princess”, “The Feather of Finist-Yasna Falcon”, “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “Marya Morevna”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “White Duck” , to the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin - “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1904-1905), “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” (1906-1907), “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (1939) and many others.

The artist developed a system of graphic techniques that made it possible to combine illustrations and design in one style, subordinating them to the plane of the book page. Characteristic features of the Bilibin style: the beauty of patterned designs, exquisite decorative color combinations, subtle visual embodiment of the world, a combination of bright fabulousness with a sense of folk humor, etc.

Bilibin strove for an ensemble solution. He emphasized the flatness of the book page with a contour line, lack of lighting, coloristic unity, conventional division of space into plans and the combination of different points of view in the composition.

One of Bilibin’s significant works was illustrations for “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by A. S. Pushkin. Ivan Yakovlevich illustrated it first. Here is the page where Tsar Saltan overhears a conversation between three girls. It’s night outside, the moon is shining, the king hurries to the porch, falling into the snow. There is nothing fairytale-like about this scene. And yet the spirit of the fairy tale is present. The hut is a real one, a peasant one, with small windows and an elegant porch. And in the distance there is a tented church. In the 17th century Such churches were built throughout Rus'. And the king’s fur coat is real. In ancient times, such fur coats were made from velvet and brocade, brought from Greece, Turkey, Iran, and Italy.

This fairy tale with its colorful pictures of ancient Russian life provided rich food for Bilibin’s imagination. With amazing skill and great knowledge, the artist depicted ancient costumes and utensils. He reflected the main episodes of Pushkin's fairy tale.

However, different sources of stylization are noticeable between the sheets of the series. The illustration depicting Saltan looking into the little room is emotional and reminiscent of I. Ya. Bilibin’s winter landscapes from life. The scenes of receiving guests and feasts are very decorative and rich in motifs of Russian ornament.

The illustration of a barrel floating on the sea is reminiscent of the famous “Great Wave” by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.

Katsushiki Hokusai. Woodcut “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” 1823-1829.

The process of I. Ya. Bilibin’s graphic drawing was reminiscent of the work of an engraver. Having sketched a sketch on paper, he clarified the composition in all details on tracing paper, and then translated it onto whatman paper. After this, using a kolinsky brush with a cut end, likening it to a chisel, I drew a clear wire outline with ink along the pencil drawing. In his mature period of creativity, Bilibin abandoned the use of the pen, which he sometimes resorted to in his early illustrations. For his impeccable firmness of line, his comrades jokingly nicknamed him “Ivan the Steady Hand.”

In I. Ya. Bilibin’s illustrations of 1900-1910, the composition, as a rule, unfolds parallel to the plane of the sheet. Large figures appear in majestic, frozen poses. The conditional division of space into plans and the combination of different points of view in one composition make it possible to maintain flatness. Lighting completely disappears, color becomes more conventional, the unpainted surface of the paper plays an important role, the way of marking a contour line becomes more complicated, and a strict system of strokes and dots takes shape.

The further development of the Bilibin style is that in later illustrations the artist moved from popular print techniques to the principles of ancient Russian painting: the colors become more sonorous and richer, but the boundaries between them are now marked not by a black wire outline, but by tonal thickening and a thin colored line. The colors appear radiant, but retain locality and flatness, and the image sometimes resembles cloisonne enamel.