Artist Vasily Lebedev. Exhibition "Vladimir Lebedev - Russian avant-garde artist" in Yekaterinburg Lebedev in children's literature contribution
In 1912-1914. studied at the private art school of M.D. Bernstein. In 1918-1921. taught at the Petrograd state free art educational workshops. He was a member of the societies "Union of Youth" (since 1913), "Unification of new trends in art" (in 1922-1923), "Four Arts" (since 1928); took part in their exhibitions.
In 1917-1918. worked as a political cartoonist, collaborated with the satirical magazines "Satyricon" and "New Satyricon"; created many political cartoons of the Bolsheviks. He worked as a book graphic artist from 1918 to 1967, the first books with his drawings were published by the Raduga publishing house. In 1919-1920. together with V. I. Kozlinsky he worked in the Petrograd "windows" of ROSTA (Russian Telegraph Agency). Created a new style of propaganda poster intended for placement in factories, in clubs, in shop windows and on propaganda ships.
In 1924-1933. V.V. Lebedev headed the art editorial office of the children's department of the State Publishing House. Throughout his life he worked as an artist of children's books. Work in the publishing house and work on the book did not prevent V.V. Lebedev from realizing himself in painting and creating a number of outstanding paintings.
In 1936, articles about Lebedev's work appeared in the press, where his work was given the most derogatory assessment; articles could provoke persecution, the consequences of which for the artist could be the worst; these events greatly influenced the artist and broke him. Critics believe that Lebedev's best works were created by him before this turning point.
In 1941-1950. Lebedev lived in Moscow, where he collaborated with Windows TASS. He also worked in book graphics after returning to Leningrad. Among his post-war books, the best are: "Where did the table come from?" (1946) and "The Multicolored Book" (1947) by S. Ya. Marshak, "Three Bears" by Leo Tolstoy (1948).
After the war, in the 1950s and 60s. Lebedev lived in isolation, saw only a few friends and almost never appeared in public.
On Simeonovskaya Street in St. Petersburg (since 1923 - Belinsky Street), at number 11, where Lebedev lived, a memorial plaque is currently placed.
Children's book
The children's department of the State Publishing House, created in Petrograd at the end of 1924, was located at 28 Nevsky Prospect, in the House of the Singer Company. It was headed by two editors, literary and artistic: S. Ya. Marshak and V. V. Lebedev. Together, they set themselves the goal of creating a fundamentally new children's art book. Over the years of their work, a new children's book appeared in the publishing house, which has a completely different form and a different purpose than a children's book of the 19th century.
Critics consider the lithographed books of Russian futurists of the 1910s to be an example of the artistic form of a new children's book. The authors of these books abandoned typographic typesetting and used lithographic techniques common to text and illustrations. The Russian lithographic book is a unique phenomenon in the book art of the 20th century, which has no analogues in the West. Artists - M.F. Larionov, N. S. Goncharova, O. V. Rozanova, P. N. Filonov - relied in their lithographed books on the tradition of ancient Russian manuscript books and on folk popular prints.
She published lithographed books in Petrograd in 1918-1919. book-printing artel "Segodnya". , with which the artists V. M. Ermolaeva and N. F. Lapshin collaborated. A significant role in the creation of children's books in the 1920s. belongs to the private publishing house "Raduga", headed by the well-known journalist LM Klyachko. He also attracted K.I. Chukovsky and S. Ya. Marshak to the publishing house, who had never written poetry for children before. The publishing house was mainly collaborated by artists close to the "World of Art" circle: S. Chekhonin, N. Kuzmin, Yu. Annenkov, M. Dobuzhinsky, V. Konashevich, B. Kustodiev, E. Kruglikova, M. Tsekhanovsky. It was in this publishing house that the first "new" book was published - "The Elephant" by R. Kipling, translated by K. Chukovsky with illustrations by V. V. Lebedev. This modest book was highly appreciated by N. N. Punin.
The most famous books illustrated by V. Lebedev include, first of all, the books written by the poet Samuil Marshak: "Circus", "Ice Cream", "The Tale of a Stupid Mouse", "Mustache Striped", "Multicolored Book", "Twelve Months ", "Baggage".
As a master, Lebedev made a huge contribution to the development of the artistic construction of a children's book, to compositional and pictorial techniques and means, and supported a completely new attitude towards the very content of a children's book. S. Ya.Marshak attracted such writers and poets as Alexander Vvedensky, Daniil Kharms, Nikolai Oleinikov, Kornei Chukovsky, L. Panteleev, Boris Zhitkov, Evgeny Shvarts, Vitaly Bianki, Nikolai Tikhonov, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Olga Berggolts to cooperate in the new publishing house , Veniamin Kaverin and others. A special merit of writers and artists was also the creation of a new literary genre - "cognitive" books for children.
In September 1933, on the basis of this department and the children's sector of the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, the Children's Literature publishing house was created, originally called DETGIZ (Children's State Publishing House); S. Ya. Marshak and V.V. Lebedev also became its editors.
Children's Book Artists
A unique feature of the era of the late 1920s and 1930s. it was that many artists of the Russian avant-garde at that time were looking for opportunities to earn money outside their main, painting work, and willingly went to the publishing house to work with Lebedev. Without exception, all the wonderful masters of the book were great painters or graphic artists who managed to bring the achievements of their own painting and drawing into the mainstream of book specificity. The only condition set by Lebedev the editor was that the book should be a single, integral and constructively resolved organism. "Now all artists are working on the book, who are able to work in the book, that is, create clear and convincing images," Lebedev said.
Lebedev considered Vera Ermolaeva, Nikolai Lapshin and Nikolai Tyrsu to be his comrades-in-arms.
Around Lebedev, artists united not just different, but even opposite, sometimes having nothing in common: Peter Sokolov Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Samokhvalov, Eduard Budogosky, Genrikh Levin, Nikolai Radlov, Viktor Zamirailo, Lev Yudin, Vladimir Sterligov, Eduard Krimmer, Elena Safonova, Alisa Poret, Tatiana Glebova, Pavel Kondratyev, Konstantin Rudakov, Vladimir Tambi, Pavel Basmanov, Yuri Syrnev. Among the artists of the former circle, Lebedev collaborated with Vladimir Konashevich and Dmitry Mitrokhin.
Lebedev School
VV Lebedev, already an experienced artist by that time, created his own "Lebedev school" in the twenties and thirties. Young artists began to learn from him to work in the book, many of them were talented painters: Alexey Pakhomov, Yuri Vasnetsov, Evgeny Charushin, Valentin Kurdov, many of his students, including Evgenia Evenbakh, Tatiana Shishmareva.
"All these masters, who worked a lot not only in graphics, but also in easel painting, called their creative method" picturesque realism " only on the tradition of critical realism of the 19th century, and widely using the experience and achievements of all new and modern artistic culture, both Russian and Western European ... under the direction of VV Lebedev, NA Tyrsa and NF Lapshin in the artistic edition of the children's department of the State Publishing House ". The aesthetics of "graphic realism" was formed not only from the system of artistic techniques. It can also be characterized as a real creative movement, in view of the existing agreed creative principles. It united many artists involved in the formation and development of children's books in the Leningrad graphics of the 1920s-1930s.
Creation
For most of Lebedev's books, his posters for the "windows" of ROSTA were the source and creative impulse. "The artist saw the poster as art of a large form, laconic artistic language, strict constructiveness and plastic simplicity of pictorial elements, leading to the impression of monumentality." Engraving posters and painting them by hand, Lebedev started from the traditions of the Russian folk popular print; but at the same time he immediately rejected any stylization and fake print. The link with the popular print remained, but as a "link of continuity or organic growth." In Lebedev's work "a new form and an old artistic tradition have fused." The laconic, geometrically generalized drawing found by the artist was transferred to a children's book, in addition, "he was the first among the artists of a children's book to use the font as a means of expression."
Painting and graphics
In the 1920s and 1930s. Lebedev created many easel graphic works that became classics of the Leningrad graphic art of the 1920s-1930s.
Series on "everyday" themes: "Laundresses" 1920-1925 (gouaches, applications), a series of 23 drawings "Panel of the Revolution", 1922 (B., ink), also called "Street of the Revolution", and the series "NEP" and " New Life "(mid-1920s). Series of pencil and ink drawings: "Models", "Ballerinas", "Acrobats". Paintings: early period - "Still life with a palette", 1919, RM; "Coffee pot, spoon, mug", 1920, "Saw and board", 1920, "Worker at the anvil", 1920-21, RM; series "Counter-reliefs", 1920-1921 (including "Selection of materials: iron, wood, cardboard", 1921).
Painting by Lebedev in the 1920s was determined in many ways by his friendship with Ivan Puni, and later - by friendship with N.F. Lapshin and N.A. Tyrsa, who constituted for him the artistic environment necessary for every artist. Lapshin and Tyrsa were fond of French art; also Lebedev was carried away by Seurat, Picasso, and later Renoir and Edouard Manet.
In the early 1930s. the series "Still lifes with a guitar", 1930-1932 (including "Red guitar and palette", 1930, Russian Museum) and "Fruit in a basket" 1930-31 were written. "Each of these still lifes is a small world, alive with its concreteness, sometimes funny, sometimes lyrical, sometimes with a touch of cheerful irony. A still life with a guitar, lemons and shells can serve as an example of the brilliantly done work on organizing the pictorial space. Color and its masonry, and not an aerial or linear perspective, it builds spatial fluctuations of objects on the limits of a very narrow, as it were, sandwiched between two parallel planes of distance - a feeling close to a sign. Anikiev).
Since the late 1920s. and until 1957 the artist created a significant number of female portraits, including: "Portrait of the Artist NS Nadezhdina" (1927), State Russian Museum; "Girl with a Jug" (1928), "Model with a Mandolin" (Malvina Stern; 1927), portrait of the artist Nina Noskovich (1934, also known as the portrait of Nina Lekarenko). One of the most famous paintings by Lebedev, "Woman with a Guitar" (1930), depicts a model, Elena Nikolaeva. Portrait
In 1933, a series of "ironic" portraits was written, called "Athletes" or "Girls with bouquets",.
Among other works of Lebedev in the 1930s. - a portrait of the artist Tatyana Shishmareva (1935, State Russian Museum), a portrait of the sculptor Sarah Lebedeva (1936), "Red Navy" (1937), "Turkish fighters" (1937), portraits of the writer Susanna Georgievskaya (1937). After the war, Lebedev wrote little, from his later works one can name a portrait of Ada Sergeevna Lazo (1954) and a portrait of a young girl in a headscarf (1957).
A family
Wife (until 1925) - Sarra Dmitrievna Lebedeva, nee. Darmolatova (1892, St. Petersburg - March 7, 1967, Moscow), a famous Soviet sculptor, portrait painter; worked in monumental and memorial sculpture. Corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Arts. She met V.V. Lebedev in 1912-1914. at the private art school of M. D. Bernstein. After her divorce from V.V. Lebedev, she continued to maintain friendly relations with him throughout her life.
Wife - Nadezhda Sergeevna Nadezhdina (1908, Vilno - 1979, Moscow). Daughter of the writer A. Ya. Brushtein. Ballerina, student of A. Ya. Vaganova; soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. Famous Soviet choreographer, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the Order of Lenin. In 1948 she created the dance "Birch", which became a discovery in the stage embodiment of Russian folk dance, which laid the foundation for a new choreographic style. She created the ensemble "Birch", which bears her name since 2000. NS Nadezhdina served as a model for V. Lebedev's graphic series "The Dancer" in 1927.
Wife (from 1940 to 1967) - Ada Sergeevna Lazo (1919, Vladivostok - 1993, Moscow). Philologist, writer, editor of Detgiz. Daughter of the famous military and political figure SG Lazo. She prepared a book about her father: Lazo S. "Diaries and Letters. Vladivostok, 1959.
Book illustration (selected editions)
- Christmas tree. Collection of poems, stories and fairy tales. Compiled by A. Benois and K. Chukovsky. Drawings by Y. Annenkov, A. Benois, M. Dobuzhinsky, V. Zamirailo, V. Lebedev, I. Puni, A. Radakov, I. Repin, V. Khodasevich, S. Chekhonin and others - Pg .: Parus, 1918 ...
- The Lion and the Bull: An Arabian Tale / Per. S.S. Kondrushkina. - Pg .: Lights. 1918.
- New Russian fairy tales. People's Library. Region D. Mitrokhin, ill. V. Zamirailo and V. Lebedev. - Pg .: State Publishing House, 1919.
- V.V. Lebedev The Adventures of Chuch-Lo. - Pg .: Epoch. 1921
- Kipling R. Elephant / Transl. K. Chukovsky. - Pg .: Epoch. 1922.
- Lebedev V. Medved. Russian fairy tale. - Pg .: Thought. 1923.
- Lebedev V. Three goats. Russian fairy tale.- M .: Thought. 1923
- Lebedev V. The Golden Testicle: A Tale. - Pg .: Thought. 1923
- Lebedev V. Hare, rooster and fox: A Tale. - Pg .: Thought. 1924.
- Lebedev V. Hunting. - M .; L .: Rainbow. 1925.
- Marshak S. Poodle. M.L .: Raduga, 1925, 1927.
- Marshak S. Ice cream. - M .; L .: Rainbow. 1925.
- Marshak S. Ice cream. - L. Azbuka. 1925.
- Marshak S. Yesterday and Today. L .: Rainbow. 1925
- Marshak S. About a stupid mouse. - L .; M .: Rainbow. 1925.
- Marshak S. Circus. - L .; Moscow: Raduga 1925.
- Lebedev V. ABC. - L .: GIZ. 1925.
- Marshak S. Baggage. - L .: Rainbow. 1926.
- Lebedev V. Who is stronger. - M .; L .: GIZ. 1927
- Marshak S. How the plane made the plane - L .: Rainbow. 1927.
- V. Lebedev. - M .; L .: GIZ. 1928.
- Marshak S. Merry Hour: Supplement to the magazine "Hedgehog". - L .: GIZ. 1929.
- Kipling R. Fairy tales / Transl. K. Chukovsky. Poems in the lane. S. Marshak. Rice. L. Bruni, A. Borisov, E. Krimmer, V. Lebedev, A. Pakhomov. - M .; L .: GIZ, 1929
- Marshak S. Mustache-striped. - M .: GIZ. 1930.
- Berggolts O. Winter - summer - parrot. - M .; L .: GIZ. 1930, 1933.
- Marshak S. Walk on a donkey. - M .; L .: GIZ. 1930.
- Orlova N. Paint and Draw. Issue 1, 2- L .: OGIZ: Young Guard. 1932.
- The first of May. Drawings by a team of artists: Y. Vasnetsov, Y. Mezernitsky, V. Lebedev, V. Ermolaeva, V. Kurdov. - M .: OGIZ: Young Guard, 1932.
- Marshak S. Mister Twister. - L .; M .: Young Guard. 1933.
- Marshak S. Here's how absent-minded. - L .: Detgiz, 1934.
- Marshak S. Fairy tales, songs, riddles. - M .: Academia. 1935.
- Marshak S. Petrushka is a foreigner. - L .: Detgiz. 1935.
- Marshak S. We are military. - M .; L .: Detizdat. 1938.
- Marshak S. Fairy tales, songs, riddles / Fig. V. Konashevich, V. Lebedev, A. Pakhomov. - M .; L .: Detizdat, 1938.
- Lebedev V. Toys and animals. Detizdat of the Central Committee of the Komsomol. 1939.
- Marshak S. Why was the cat named a cat? Miller, boy and donkey. - M .; L .: Detizdat. 1939.
- Marshak S. Merry day. Poems and fairy tales / Fig. V. Konashevich, V. Kurdov, V. Lebedev, A. Pakhomov, K. Rudakov, G. Shevyakov. - M .; L .: Detizdat, 1939.
- Marshak S. Living letters. - M .; L .: Detizdat. 1940.
- Marshak S. English ballads and songs. - M .: Soviet writer. 1941.
- Marshak S. One, two, three, four. - M .: Detizdat. 1941.
- Red Army. Collection of stories, fairy tales, games and poems dedicated to the Red Army / Fig. VV Lebedeva and others - M .; L .: Detgiz, 1942.
- V.G. Korolenko Without language. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1942.
- Kuprin A.I. White poodle. - Kirov: Detgiz. 1942.
- Marshak S. Twelve months: Slavic tale. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1943.
- Marshak S. Pigeons: Fairy Tales. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1946.
- Marshak S. Where did the table come from ?. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1946.
- Marshak S. Heather honey: English ballads, songs and lyric poems / M .; L .: Detgiz. 1947.
- Marshak S. Multicolored book. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1947.
- Marshak S. Poems for children. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1947.
- Marshak S. Children in a cage. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1948.
- Tolstoy L.N. Three Bears. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1948.
- Marshak S. Giant. - M .: Detgiz. 1949, 1950.
- Mikhalkov S. Kittens. - M .: Detgiz. 1949.
- Marshak S. All year round. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1949.
- Marshak S. Forest Book. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1950.
- Marshak S. Poached hen and ten ducklings. - M .: Detgiz. 1953, 1954.
- Mayakovsky V. Every page is an elephant, then a lioness. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1954.
- Marshak S. What was Petya afraid of? - M .: Detgiz. 1955.
- Marshak S. The Tale of the Clever Mouse. - M .: Detgiz. 1956,1959.
- Tolstoy L. Stories for small children. - M .; L .: Detgiz. 1956.
- Marshak S. Quiet Fairy Tale. - M .: Detgiz. 1958, 1961.
- Marshak S. What horses, hamsters and chickens talked about. - M .: Detgiz. 1962.
- Marshak S. Who will find the ring ?: Fairy tale game. - M .: Detgiz. 1962, 1965.
- Marshak S. Circus. - M .: Children's literature. 1964.
- Marshak S. Children. - M .: Children's literature. 1967.
L.-M., Rainbow. 1925.16 p. with silt. Circulation 10,000 copies. In col. publishing lithographic cover. 29x22.5 cm. Undoubtedly one of the brightest masterpieces of Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev in the field of illustration of the Soviet children's book!
An illustrated book for children over the years of the existence of the Soviet state has gone through a long and difficult path of development, sometimes going through difficult periods, often rising to significant heights of the fine arts. Many painters and graphic artists who worked in the children's book not only fulfilled the tasks of educating the younger generations, but also modified and found new principles for organizing the book itself. Moreover, they often solved pictorial and plastic problems in the field of children's books, which are important for the visual language in general. Many examples of this can be found in our time, but especially many in the 1920s - the time of the formation of the Soviet children's book. Among the artists who worked and are working for children, there were and still are masters who played a significant role in the development of Soviet art. K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, B. M. Kustodiev, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, S. V. Chekhonin, D. I. Mitrokhin, then V. V. Lebedev, A. F. Pakhomov, P. I. Sokolov, V. M. Konashevich, V. S. Alfeevsky, N. A. Tyrsa, Yu. A. Vasnetsov, A. N. Yakobson, E. I. Charushin, V. I. Kurdov - the list is easy to continue, but those few artists listed make up the imposing Areopagus. Their creative essence is largely reflected in the works for children. However, the books of these masters for the most part have long since become a bibliographic rarity. The publishing house "Khudozhnik RSFSR" made an experiment by releasing several old books, for example, "The Diving Base" by A. N. Samokhvalov or "This is how absent-minded" S. Ya. Marshak with drawings by V. V. Lebedev. Their success made it possible to start publishing collections of children's books with drawings by one or more artists. A series of such collections, perhaps, will constitute a kind of anthology on the history of the Soviet illustrated book for children. This collection opens the series, and it is no coincidence: V.V. Lebedev is one of the most significant artists and reformers of children's books. The author of the text of almost all the books included in the collection is S. Ya. Marshak. In numerous reprints, the poet often changed his poems, which ultimately differ significantly from the original version. This circumstance did not allow us to use the latest edition of S. Ya. Marshak, because illustrations by V. Lebedev would have turned out to be far from the text and even out of any connection with it. Thus, all books, except for R. Kipling's fairy tale "The Little Elephant", are printed according to the first edition, keeping all the inscriptions on the covers and those "backs" that have artistic or other meaning.
In the twenties of the current century, children's illustrated books experienced a period of extraordinary rise and growth of artistic qualities. At international exhibitions, the works of Russian masters of children's books attracted close attention of the world art community and entered the circle of indisputable achievements of the young Soviet visual culture. In the practice of leading artists, a consistent and orderly system of design and illustration of children's books was formed at that time; it received theoretical justification in articles and speeches by critics. In the heyday of children's books in the twenties, there were many unexpected things, but nothing accidental. Success that surpassed all expectations would hardly have arisen only as a result of the spontaneous development of the art of book graphics. The key to success was not only that artists gifted with creative ingenuity and outstanding talent began to work for children at that time. Children's book has risen to a new, yet unprecedented level as a result of conscious and purposeful collective work, in which numerous cultural figures, artists, writers, critics, and heads of publishing houses participated. It was in the twenties that the enormous importance of children's books for the ideological, moral and aesthetic education of the younger generations was especially acutely realized. A new understanding of reality was to be expressed in a children's book, a new, integral and well-thought-out system of socio-political ideas generated by the October Revolution was to be embodied in a figurative form. for at least a century noble and bourgeois children, on the path of big problems, open the gates to the life of adults for children, show them not only the goals, but also all the difficulties of our work, all the dangers of our struggle. It was not easy to switch from a familiar cozy whisper to a voice intelligible to millions, from a roomy "soulful word" to a broadcast designed for the most remote corners of the USSR. " This is how S. Ya. Marshak, one of the leaders of the creative movement that created a new children's book, defined this task later. The literary environment then brought forward a group of outstanding poets and prose writers. The names of S. Ya. Marshak, KI Chukovsky, BS Zhitkov rightfully entered the history of Soviet children's literature. No less active were the artists, designers and illustrators of children's books, the creators of books for toddlers who do not yet have literacy - picture books, in which the story is conducted only by means of drawing.
In Leningrad, artists formed a large group, headed by Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev (1891-1967), a remarkable master of painting, easel drawing and book graphics. It was Lebedev who played a leading role in the development of a new system of decoration and illustration for children's books. When the Children's Department of the State Publishing House was formed in Leningrad at the end of 1924, Lebedev headed its artistic editorial office. Lebedev's associates rallied around the new publishing organization; they were part of the masters who belonged to his generation, and partly representatives of the artistic youth who became his students. Children's books, designed and illustrated by Lebedev in the twenties, are among the best and most characteristic achievements of graphic art of that time. They laid the foundation for a new, Soviet book-graphic tradition. These are Soviet classics, which to this day have an influence on the development of book art in our country. Children's books with drawings by Lebedev have long been a bibliographic rarity. Meanwhile, the artist's drawings fully retained the power of a direct aesthetic impact on the audience and did not lose anything of their inherent pedagogical qualities. They are equally interesting for adults and children. This, however, is the unchanging fate of genuine art: it never becomes obsolete. Children's books, designed and illustrated by Lebedev between 1923 and 1930, belong to the heyday of the artist's activity, reflect the evolution of his pictorial manner and the nature of his creative searches. Lebedev began working for children in pre-revolutionary times. As a twenty-year-old boy, he became a regular contributor to the children's illustrated magazine "Galchonok". Later, in 1918, he participated in the illustration of the children's almanac "Christmas tree", compiled by A. N. Benois and K. I. Chukovsky, edited by M. Gorky. This performance by the young artist was later highly appreciated by art critics. The almanac “Yolka”, as E. Ya. Danko justly remarked, “mechanically united the remnants of the children's book's past and the beginning of the path of its future development. The title picture by A. Benois is a pale patterned Christmas tree and pretty winged elves around it, right there - roses, herbs and the boneless, faceless baby S. Chekhonin. Then, the pictures of Yu. Annenkova to the fairy tale K. Chukovsky, where fragmented samovnels, butters, cups, cups, and suddenly, is completely unexpected, the first real image in the children's book for many years, the first real image in the children's book " V. Lebedev. Vibrantly cheerful, built with simple strong lines, with a whisk under the arm, with a donut in a beautifully drawn hand, it almost stuns with its concreteness amid the skinny pattern of other pages. " The critic's response subtly notes the main creative feature that characterizes Lebedev and sharply distinguishes him from among other masters of book graphics of that time, stylists and decorative artists. The concreteness, vital reliability of the image was that fundamentally new quality that Lebedev sought to introduce into the illustration for a children's book, turning it from stylization to a live and direct observation of real nature. Lebedev put into his drawings all his vast, long-accumulated experience of a realist artist, a keen and often ironic observer, who closely and systematically studied the surrounding reality. The artist possessed deep and versatile professional knowledge. He perfectly studied the plasticity of the human figure in all the variety of its movements. Sports, ballet and circus, finally, human labor processes with their peculiar rhythms were a constant object of his attentive and passionately interested observations. Lebedev became a connoisseur of many crafts and, perhaps, valued nothing as highly as professional skill. When Lebedev started working at Detgiz, he already had considerable experience in the creative interpretation of his knowledge, the ability to generalize observations and masterly express them with a variety of graphic techniques. He was already a recognized master of watercolors and easel drawing, magazine graphics and political posters. Behind him were hundreds of cartoons, fluent sketches and carefully finished genre compositions published in Novy Satyricon and other magazines, as well as extensive cycles of pencil and brush sketches depicting nudity; the series of easel drawings created in 1920-1921 under the general title "Washerwomen" attracted close attention of art criticism; finally, in the same 1920-1921 years, he created about six hundred poster sheets of "ROSTA Windows", which played a huge role in the development of Soviet posters. During the same period, Lebedev turned to constant and systematic work in a children's book.
In 1921 he made an experimental color lithographic book "The Adventures of Chuch-Lo", with text written by the artist himself. The search for "children's specifics" determined the look and content of this little book. Its text is written as if on behalf of a child and recreates the intonation of a child's speech. The artist painted the entire book on a lithographic stone, imitating the irregularities and negligence of children's handwriting; many illustrations imitate the techniques of children's drawing. Lebedev took the wrong path here, which he himself later condemned. According to his own statement, "if an artist deliberately thinks like a child, then nothing will work for him, and his drawing will be easily exposed as artistically false and tendentious pedological." However, despite the failure of this book, it contained qualities that later found fruitful development in Lebedev's graphics. The best illustrations are free from deliberate "childishness" and can serve as an exemplary example of pictorial drawing, sharp and expressive, in which the aesthetic possibilities inherent in the technique of color autolithography are consciously and purposefully used. The failure of "The Adventures of Chuch-Lo" did not turn the artist away from the quests outlined in this book.
In 1923-1924, in the publishing house "Mysl", four books of Russian folk tales in the design of Lebedev were published one after the other: "The Bear", "Three Goats", "The Golden Egg" and "Hare, Rooster and Fox", in color lithographs covers and with lithographic illustrations, black in the first two books and colored in the last. Three of them are reproduced in this publication. The design of these tales is the result of Lebedev's innovative searches in the field of book art. The artist underwent a decisive restructuring of all the basic principles of the classic linear contour drawing with its volumetric forms modeled by chiaroscuro. No less deeply reworked by the artist and the techniques of decorative-plane silhouette drawing, characteristic of Russian book graphics of the first two decades of the XX century. The contour line that closes the silhouette of the form is only of secondary importance in Lebedev's graphics. The main structural role is played not by the line, but by the color spot with elusive outlines, spreading out in the light-space environment; instead of linear relations, there are relations of painting masses and tonalities, and the form is not modeled, but, as it were, permeated with light. The most important means of emotional-figurative expression is color. But in contrast to the painted pictures, which were not uncommon in the practice of Russian book illustration at the beginning of the 20th century, the color in Lebedev's drawings is not superimposed on the finished form, but merges with it into an indissoluble artistic unity. The search for "children's specifics" and images of a fairy tale is now directed completely differently than in "The Adventures of Chuch-Lo". The artist refuses to imitate the techniques of children's creativity. Turning to the folklore theme, he seeks support for his searches in the traditions of fine folklore, which have common origins and common fundamental foundations with the folk tale. For him, Russian popular prints with their laconic and apt generalization of form, with their characteristic bright multicolor and expressive characteristics of fairy-tale characters, become a model for him. However, in Lebedev's illustrations there is neither imitation nor stylization. The techniques of folk popular print are barely perceptible in the drawings and are reworked by the artist quite independently and creatively. In 1921, simultaneously with "The Adventures of Chuch-Lo", Lebedev made drawings for R. Kipling's fairy tale "Little Elephant", which, like the illustrations for "The Adventures of Chuch-Lo", served as a starting point for further creative searches of the artist. It was in this work that the features of Lebedev's new book-graphic system were most clearly formed. In the design of The Elephant, the artist relied on the experience of his work on the poster sheets of the "ROSTA Windows". The language of his graphics is emphatically laconic, it conveys only the basic connections of phenomena. The form unfolds on a plane, nowhere disturbed by motives of illusory depth. There is no subject background, no landscape, no ornament - a white book sheet becomes the environment in which the characters of Kipling's fairy tale live and act. Rejecting the contour line, the artist builds the drawing on the combination and opposition of gray and black planes that generalize the form and plasticity of the depicted nature. An extensive group of Lebedev books, including Circus, Ice Cream, Yesterday and Today, and How the Plane Made a Plane, adjoins the techniques developed in the design of The Elephant. All these books were published by the "Rainbow" publishing house, the first three - in 1925, the last - two years later. During this period, the rapprochement between Lebedev and Marshak began, which later turned into a close and long-term creative community. The difference in creative temperaments did not interfere with teamwork. Marshak's soft lyricism and Lebedev's sharp irony complemented each other perfectly. The texts of all the books listed above were written by Marshak.
Membership card of the trade union of art workers of the USSR Vladimir Lebedev
The first of them - "Circus" - was more Lebedev's than Marshakov's. The poet made only verse signatures to the artist's finished watercolors. This is one of the funniest and most ingeniously constructed color books by Lebedev. The means of depicting the characters of the "Circus" - athletes, equilibrists, clowns and trained animals - is a comparison of contrasting, brightly colored planes, going back to poster techniques. Their color, always local, intense and pure, forms a harmonious, delicately thought-out decorative harmony in the book. Far from imitating the techniques of children's drawing, the artist managed to convey the style of perception and thinking inherent in children. The figures of people and animals are generalized almost to the edge of the diagram; but the main thing is captured in the scheme - the swiftness and eccentricity of the movement. A series of color illustrations for "Ice Cream" was solved in similar principles. There is no plot action in the pictures, the characters are not endowed with individual characteristics. The artist creates not images, but generalized representations - an old bearded ice cream man, a cheerful skater, a dashing skier and other characters in Marshak's poetic story; the main character, "the fat man", combines the features of a clown and a caricatured Nepman. Thanks to the power of typing, which the artist achieves here, his drawings become understandable and fascinatingly interesting for a small viewer. The best work in this group is the design of the book "Yesterday and Today". It would hardly be an exaggeration to call it one of the pinnacles in the art of children's books. The artistic system created by Lebedev reveals here all the possibilities inherent in it. In the book of Marshak and Lebedev, a poetic and at the same time satirical dialogue of things is developed. An electric bulb argues with a stearin candle and a kerosene lamp, a typewriter with a pen and inkwell, a plumbing with a rocker and buckets. The idea of the poet and artist can be called, in a certain sense, programmatic for children's literature of the twenties. In the forms of a fairy tale, accessible to the smallest children, it tells about the most important processes taking place in the country, about changes in the way of life, about the struggle of the old way of life with the new and about the inevitable victory of the new. To this idea Lebedev subordinated all means of artistic expression, found and used with inexhaustible invention. The contrast between the old and the new is given not only in the theme, but also in the very language of drawing, in color, rhythm and image techniques. The juxtaposition of yesterday and today begins with the cover. Beneath the large black inscription “Yesterday,” the hunched silhouettes of the past are outlined in black and gray blurred spots; an old woman in a cap and shawl with a kerosene lamp in her hands, a bearded water-carrier and a dilapidated clerk in a tailcoat carrying a feather and inkwell. And below, along the red letters of the sign "Today", the clear, brightly colored figures of an electrician, a plumber and a girl with a typewriter march vigorously. In color and rhythm, the cover resembles ROSTA posters; and the next sheet, depicting "old world" objects and deliberately careless handwritten script, goes back to the tradition of the art of signage. The dispute between the old and the new runs through the entire book. The artist inventively reveals a kind of "psychology of objects", expressed, however, not by the plot action (it is not in the pictures), but by the graphic composition, color and manner of drawing. The burnt stearin candle is broken and grimaced, the kerosene lamp is hunched over like an old woman, its lampshade and rickety glass are painted in faded tones. In depicting a light bulb, the artist intensified the color and used the contrasts of red, white and black so skillfully that the entire page appears to be luminous. Figurative and decorative design elements, all its heterogeneous and deliberately multi-style motifs - from a genre satirical picture to a drawing scheme, from a carefully recreated "handwritten" page to a brightly colored and poster-simplified depiction of village girls with rockers, from the cover to the final illustration - are linked between a unifying rhythm and are formed into a harmonious whole. Lebedev managed to achieve the mutual conditioning of all the graphic elements of the book and achieve architectonic clarity, which he considered the main goal and the best achievement of the system he created. The pictorial design of the book "How the plane made the plane" is no less programmatically in terms of its ideological content and just as deeply and strictly thought out. Text and graphics merge here into an indissoluble unity, there is no image of a person in the book. A sophisticated master of still life, Lebedev shows the viewer only things, but achieves an impression of such materiality and concreteness, which until then had no equal in book graphics. In Lebedev's drawings, texture is conveyed - and the smooth surface of a wooden plane, the flexibility and shine of a steel saw, the weight and density of an unplanned tree trunk. The theme of the book is the poetry of labor, which inspires working tools. Revealing the guiding principles of his work in a children's book, Lebedev wrote: “Trying to truly approach the interests of the child, somehow get along with his desires, and remember himself in childhood is one of the main tasks of an artist. .. Consciously and with unrelenting energy to maintain a certain rhythm throughout the entire book, now accelerating, then slowing it down with smooth transitions - this is also almost the main condition ... The page should rivet the entire attention. Details are read only after understanding the general idea ... The drawing and text should be resolved as intensely as possible ... The book should evoke a joyful feeling, direct the playfulness to the child's activity and the desire to learn more ... "Somewhat earlier Lebedev said:" Of course, drawing for children should be understandable pattern. But nevertheless, the drawing should be such that the child could enter the artist's work, that is, he would understand what was the backbone of the drawing and how its construction proceeded. " These principles and artistic techniques, formulated by Lebedev and developed by him in the design of children's books - which, without fear of exaggeration, can be called classical - formed the basis of the creative activity of not only Lebedev, but also a large group of his students and followers. Young Leningrad graphic artists of the twenties and thirties developed and in a peculiar way reworked the ideas and principles of their teacher, bringing about the high flowering of the Soviet illustrated book for children. The author of the article: V. Petrov.
Evgeny Schwartz
Printing yard
G Ode in the twenty-seventh, when the work in the Children's Department of the State Publishing House got into a rut, we often went to the printing house "Printing House", to make up a magazine or another book. In those days I was especially anxious, offended by close friends, my home life, but these trips are remembered as if glowing, like cardboard boxes with a candle inside. They shine with their imaginary toy happiness. On the days of such trips, I enjoyed a toy, fragile and undeniable freedom.Due to the fatal, as if uttered, inactivity of my, I reluctantly embarked even on this easy path. Postponed the trip for the very last time. And at Geslerovsky Lane, among the unfamiliar streets of the Petrogradskaya Side, I was suddenly struck by the feeling of being freed from home and editorial harness, not God knows how heavy, but still rubbing my shoulders. And I could not understand why I was hiding, hiding from the holiday. I walk down an alley that resembles - I don't want to guess what. It's freer this way. As if Ekaterinodar was in my earliest childhood. I don’t peer. Here is a brick fence and brick walls of the "Printing House". And the charm of the typography, tangible, visible work, which has been my favorite since the Donbass times, since the All-Union Stoker, covers me. After handing over the material for layout, having talked with the metranpage and typesetters, I went to wander around the entire building of the "Printing House"; submitting to the same sense of freedom. Offset just brought from Germany, they are starting to master it, it is on the go. I look and look, and I cannot catch the repetition, the machine-like movements of its many levers. And suddenly, in the glitter of the nickel-plated parts, in the bridges and staircases, I strongly, but briefly, just for a moment, remember something festive, long experienced. What? So I looked on a clear day, feeling the deck trembling, into the glazed glazed hatch of the engine room on the ship and ...
And fear grips me. I am afraid to frighten off a memory full of joy, I am afraid to lose the feeling of freedom. I do not dare to reconstruct, to discern what I have experienced once, I postpone it. Then, then! And I run away.
At the entrance to the lithograph, a car roars deafeningly, washes lithographic stones. A heavy square trough shakes and shakes, rolls glass balls over the stones. I enter the light and airy lithograph room. Here, on my visits, I certainly meet someone from the guard of Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev. He was in charge of the art department of Detgiz in those days. And he kept young artists strictly. They were obliged to make drawings on lithographic stones themselves, to monitor the printing of their books. In those days, Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev was considered the best Soviet graphic artist. One artist said: "Lebedev was so ahead of the rest, he pulled away, that it is difficult to say who is next." He worked by all means every day, not missing. In the morning a model came to him. Then he worked on illustrations for books. Then he went to the editorial office, where he carefully, carefully, strictly analyzed the illustrations of the students. And he was engaged in boxing just as intently, judiciously. He was even a champion in some weight before the revolution. And in the twenties, in competitions, he took places at the very ring, along with the judges. And at home, near the bed, he had a sandbag for training. And he trained as earnestly as others pray. But, despite his fine figure, he did not seem to be a trained person, an athlete in shape. Probably, most of all, the bald spot in the entire head and a somewhat flabby face with flabby skin interfered. Thick, brushed eyebrows, thick hair around the bald head increased the feeling of disorder. Lack of tidiness. Unsportsmanlikeness. And he dressed diligently, deliberately, confidently, but worried about the look, and did not please, like a well-dressed man. And then there was something not quite right, as in his face. A checkered cloth cap with a visor like a French soldier's cap, a checkered short coat, some unprecedented paramilitary boots long to the knees with lacing - no, the eyes on it did not rest, but tired. Lebedev's talent was not in doubt, - after all, the spirit of God blows wherever it wants, even in the souls of demonic, devilish. But in this case, this was out of the question. Lebedev's soul was free from both God and the devil. The Spirit of God breathed in the soul of a snob who would find all faith shameful. Except for one. Like Shklovsky, like Mayakovsky, he believed that time is always right. And this is sometimes, among other things, also a sign of a dandy, a snob. He dressed in time .. Lebedev believed in today, loved what is strong in this day, and despised, as something unacceptable in good society, any weakness and failure. That which is strong, and the people who personify this power, he sincerely loved, admired them like a good boxer in the ring. And he recognized them and assigned them to their ranks with such infallibility, as if they had the appropriate diplomas or titles. He loved only one thing more than such people - things. He had a passion for all kinds of things. Especially for leather ones. A whole line of boots, shoes, boots stood under his bed. He also collected leather belts. Harness. His extensive workshop was not at all like a collector's room. How can you! But great wardrobes hid great things. And in Kirov at the time. war Lebedev shocked me with the statement that he felt sorry for the things that perished in besieged Leningrad, more than people. Things are the best thing a person can do. And he started an album in which he drew the treasures remaining in the Leningrad apartment. Some wonderful ladle. Pans. Shoes. Wardrobe in the hallway. Kitchen cabinet. All these things survived by his prayers, the bomb did not hit his apartment. How clear and pure from remorse, hangover, sin such a soul should have been! How calmly, with what whole, complete pleasure Lebedev should have had in kind, boots, suitcases, ladles, old popular prints, women, wardrobes! Meanwhile, close people complained about his femininity, capricious character. It happens to courageous, strong people of his kind. They love their desires no less than their own things. And spoil themselves. They listen too much to their own whims, get tired, strained. In those days, Lebedev often said: "I have such a property." He spoke respectfully, even as if religiously, wondering at himself, as if at a miracle. "I have this property - I hate vinaigrette." "I have this property - I do not eat herring." But his disciples laughed terribly at this. This phrase was at one time used as a proverb. "I have such a property ..." Yes, yes, despite his snobbish isolation, ability to maintain a distance, the students knew him through and through and loved to talk about the shortcomings, about the funny sides of the teacher. Its merits were not discussed. Yes, Lebedev was a great artist, but everyone knew this for so long. What is there to talk about? But Lebedev's stinginess was discussed tirelessly. And his suits. And his novels. And his character. And if they talked about him as an artist, they preferred to talk about failures. For example, that easel painting he fails. Pyotr Ivanovich Sokolov, however, was by no means a student of Lebedev - he also condemned his drawings.
With a pencil, you can convey the softness of fluff and such coarseness, before which the coarseness of a tree, the coarseness of a stone are worthless. And Lebedev knows that the softness of down is more pleasant, and only uses it.
Whether Lebedev knew or did not know what his students were saying about him. Of course, I didn’t know how it usually happens. But he also spoke about his loved ones under an angry hand, or even just for no reason, with merciless malice. Worse than an envious person. People annoyed him by the very fact of their existence, embarrassed him, like roommates around the room.
So he walked, a magnificent artist, free from faith and unbelief, walked his way, respecting the strength and its bearers, thoughtfully and respectfully obeying himself, being capricious and foolish.
So, in lithography, I certainly met the graphic artists from the guard Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev,
It was the golden age of the picture book. The artist's last name was not hidden among the imprint, along with the name of the technical editor, but flaunted on the cover, next to the writer's name.
As is often the case, the flowering of the Lebedev group was accompanied by intolerance, a sharp rejection of the previous school. The most offensive, destructive curse was "the world of art". Bakst caused a grimace of disgust, he simply did not know how to draw. Somov - a contemptuous grin. Golovin was a "decorator", like all theater artists, by the way. Zamirailo did not understand the form, and so on, and so on. They were all epigones, stylists, literary men. Literature was the most serious accusation for the artist. He was obliged to express himself through the means of his art. Lebedev was especially strict with violators of this law. Even outside of the visual arts. He could not forgive Charushin that he also writes stories. This means that he is not gifted enough in his field, if he is drawn to the next one. I understood that this requirement is healthy. Literature is destructive. for the artist. But sometimes it seemed to me that for people illustrating books, a certain amount of literature is required. Artists sometimes treated the author's text haughtily. For example, Lebedev, illustrating Marshak's lines saying that where fish lived, a person explodes blocks, he avoided the literary plot side of these lines, depicted not an explosion, but two or three calmly and regardless of the text of floating fish. The second strict requirement that Lebedev made of his students was knowledge of the material. It was precisely known who knows and can draw horses, who is the sea, who is children. Tom Sawyer was released with old American illustrations. Lebedev said that they are not good enough, but they have a real knowledge of the material, environment, time. And the third requirement was an understanding of the technical side of the matter. What kind of cliché will they do from your drawing - tone or line? How many colors is your picture book designed for? And transfer your drawing to the lithographic stone yourself. The author's hand should be felt. So, I walk through lithography, greet the artists and look with envy at their tangible, visible, distinct work. Here are Kurds, a descendant of a Kurd who was captured during the Turkish war and exiled to the North, either to Vyatka or to Perm. He willingly breaks away from work and laughs, black, broad-breasted, with a forelock on his forehead, with robber's paws. Here is Vasnetsov, naive, red-faced, with bulging light eyes. It seems that he flared up, and so he stayed. Here is Charushin, okay and foldable, and already so open, as if showing you his throat, saying "ah-ah" ... Well, all, all wide open - and at the same time the darkest soul of all. Here is Pakhomov Alexey Fyodorovich, the most adult, determined and talented of Lebedev's students. He looks at work calmly, like a peasant, like a crop that will undoubtedly be harvested and sold if you behave carefully. And he succeeds. Here is Tambi, a connoisseur of the sea, quiet, silent, stuttering, ruddy, thin in those years. Here are many others whom I do not know by last name, but I greet them like brothers. We all know each other, as we once did in a real school. And I look with envy at their tangible, visible work, but something bothers me. Hinders envy to the end. I don’t want to think about what. Then, because And then, many years later, I realized what I felt in almost all young artists, despite their different characters, and talents, and destinies. I would not like to be in their place. Yes, they did their job, did it clearly, understanding what skill is. But the guards units marched just as distinctly and non-literary, and the cavalrymen marched along the street just as dashingly, despising civilians with all their difficult life. Guardsmen. Though not graphs, but graphs. Aristocracy, involvement in higher spheres was replaced here by involvement in a higher art, completely devoid of literary art. And security - carelessness. The older generation - Tyrsa, Lapshin, and Lebedev, no matter how much he hid it - were truly educated people. I remember how Tyrsa argued with Tynyanov, interceding for Botkin, admiring "Letters from Spain" with a real understanding of literature. They did not flaunt their knowledge, like the "World of Art", but fed on it as needed. And the young ones sailed without any baggage, even without Lebedev's faith today. Faith, disbelief, knowledge - did not justify themselves. And they weren't alone in their freedom of baggage. New experience required new knowledge. Someone wrote that until now, before the revolution, Russian intellectuals built forests around the missing buildings. Indeed. People, as it were, for the first time saw death and life, and exploits, and betrayal, and their childhood and youth went down in history. Gone with history is the time when they learned to speak. Lebedev, Lapshin, Tyrsa understood that it was impossible to live with old knowledge, but they ate them as needed. And young writers, artists, musicians all laughed. No, I could not fully envy the artists at the lithographic stones. Recently, with the help of Marshak, I somehow got out onto the road, felt what I believed in, where and why I was going. But why am I working so little? Why do my friends languish and wander, as if not finding a place for themselves? Then, later, I will understand this later, but now I will return to the typesetter who makes up the "Hedgehog". He's doing well. And we start talking about layout in general. In those days in Moscow, the Lefovites and their numerous students were freed from all typographic traditions in this area, which deeply irritated my elderly interlocutor who knows his worth.
Since when did Moscow typesetters indicate to Petersburg typesetters? A Moscow compositor picks up in winter, and in summer he goes to his farm, carpentry, gardening. Earlier it was said that a Moscow typesetter had a layout on his belt, and a hatchet behind his belt. And the St. Petersburg one has support on its legs, and a bowler hat on its head. He doesn't care about his household!
And my interlocutor talks about the legendary exploits of a typesetter named Afinogen Maksimovich, and nicknamed Fatagen Kerosinovich. He had not been home for weeks, assured that his wife was starving him. He bought sausages not by weight, but by sazhens, and drank accordingly. But how he worked. In Novoye Vremya, it seems, there was plenty to choose from. They paid so well that the best typesetters found their way into the printing house. But still Suvorin especially appreciated Afinogen Maksimovich. Everything was forgiven him. On the day of Suvorin's jubilee, they dressed him in a frock coat and invited him to a banquet. And Fatagen Kerosinich, ha-ha, here's a man, got drunk and told Suvorin the whole truth:
"Do you remember, - he says, - how I asked you for an advance, and you refused?"
Ha ha! Here is a man! But this, too, was forgiven him, because he was a master! They just laughed. And is Fatagen Maksimovich alone! Everyone knew how to drink and work. The typesetters called Saturday a "concert". They drank and paid. Sunday: "vaudeville dress-up". Everyone drank from themselves. And Monday: "poor in spirit." We came to the printing house - on the legs of the support, and on the head a bowler hat. And now, you see, the Moscow layout has gone! Column in the field. A game of fonts! Who needs it? I go and see, a book is displayed in the window: "One hundred years old." What? What little one is a hundred years old? It turns out to be the Maly Theater. To what extent has the game of fonts reached that you cannot see the word "theater". A game of fonts! They do not know how to work and try to come up with weirder ideas. Got it! Would have shown them before! And he tells how strict Afinogen Maksimovich was when he taught him typography. How I forced myself to treat myself to the entire first pay. As in the morning after drinking, on the way to the printing house, the student saw his teacher at the door of the tavern, completely poor in spirit.
"Afinogen Maksimovich! Bring the drunk!"
And he replies:
"I don't talk to ragamuffins."
Ha-xa | And I was dressed pretty well, in a troika. Haha. There was a man. What if this is the secret, I think, going to the zinc press, where clichés are delayed. Work, and complete freedom. He hadn't been home for weeks. I do gymnastics, quit smoking, douse myself with cold water, and in order to work, perhaps I need this artistic freedom from duties, when only one laws are recognized - the laws of mastery. From Maikop I brought out an intellectual-ascetic spirit, respect for naturalness, restraint. And what if in depravity is the truth? A vicious person is truthful in one area, and this determines a lot in his whole life. Isn't my restraint - just shyness, coldness, lack of temperament? But these thoughts violate today's toy freedom. Then, then! And I go into zinc. Silence reigns here. Clichés mature in the acid bath. A pungent chemical odor makes it difficult to breathe. The work here is going on invisibly to the eye, the time will come - the process will end. Maybe it's the same with us, I dream, going down the stairs and looking at the ready-made clichés that I carry to the layout. Maybe the day will come and the aversion to the writing desk will disappear? And will the stream return, which so pleased me in my early youth, when I wrote my ugly poems like fossil monsters? Of course he will return. And I see, I am experiencing myself with a lot of details in a new quality. I am a tireless worker! I live without eternal horror at my ugliness! I'm not deaf and dumb anymore! I hear and speak! I have a point of view, not imposed, but found, organic. We go to the manual press to make prints of the first pages of the magazine. There are masters near the machines, strict, focused. Like doctors in a council, they are spicing up the clichés. And I no longer envy their tangible, visible work - I so clearly see myself working. It is so clear that, passing through the stitching shop, with extraordinary ease I imagine that these are my books piling up at the tables. And it fills me with the most cardboard toy happiness that I cannot forget to this day. I return home on foot to live longer in my cardboard world. I'm drunk and kind and happy. I remember Lebedev - and I accuse myself of being too demanding. A racehorse is beautiful when it runs - well, look at it from the stands. And if you invite her to dinner, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. Lebedev the teacher and Lebedev the artist are great. Why do you drag him to the table and deny his right not to take vinaigrette and not eat herring. And why am I so hard on myself? What kind of work do I dream of? Why was I so jealous of the charts and typesetters? This is the kind of work I do. Just think, a feat - to illustrate someone else's text, sometimes unpleasant to you, and then transfer your own, so to speak, embroidery on a stone. And the typesetters are better? Yes, they are smartly typing and typesetting other people's words. This is not the kind of work we dream about. We want to tell something that, according to our favorite definition of the time, "corresponds to reality." Some acquaintances had a parrot who knew two words: "My joy!" He repeated these only words of his, both with grief and hunger. The cat crawls up to him, the feathers stand on end in horror, and he yells one thing: "My joy!" - his words do not correspond to reality in any way. Do not become like this unfortunate man. This is all true. But it’s shameful not to work hard. And scary. Better bad work than complete sterility. Why not start working today? Just write down today? But as soon as I begin to sort out what I have experienced in the morning, as all the impressions, as if frightened, run away, blur, mix. Attempts to convey them - timid and careful - seem obscene and rude in the cardboard world. "Then, then!" I order myself. After a day at the print shop, I start to get tired. Thoughts lose their harmony and consolation. More and more often the thought breaks off, and I do not think about anything, I repeat scraps of poetry, as discordant and meaningless as the state of mind into which I gradually sink. My path lies past a small, cramped market with a sign:
"Deryabkinsky market is open all day long".
From a hundred pellets I took refuge in the shadows,
Deryabkinsky market is open all day, -
I mutter half-consciously, half-asleep.
Laziness leads me through hundreds of pictures
It is already getting dark, the day is over, the market will soon be closed. The hostesses enter the lattice gate.
From the squeak of baskets of aunts' migraine,
Deryabkinsky market is open all day long.
And in the midst of this stream, motionless and arrogant, leaning on a fence or sitting on the ground, the invalids of the civil or German war settled down. Their conscience is clear. All duties are removed by fate. By evening, one way or another, but everyone managed to get drunk. Some philosophize passionately, others sing, no one listens to each other, and all of them in their sorrow are now enjoying life towards evening, have a point of view, understand everything.
Above the boots made of tin are shins,
Deryabkinsky market is open all day long.
People with disabilities are happy. And women with baskets do not dream of happiness, and do not notice the swollen lucky ones. What happiness there is! They are responsible for the children, for the old people who are left at home. For husbands. They seem to me to be the only adults here, despite their fussiness.And I'm getting scared. I'm getting sober. I don’t want to sound like poetically swollen monsters, tempting as it may be. But I am not on my way with adults either.And I get on the tram so that I will definitely start work today. Start writing. However, today I am tired. I'll start on Monday. No, Monday is a tough day. But from the first one, without fail, without fail, by all means, I will start a new life. And I'll tell you everything.
Two old men
Artist Klavdiy Vasilyevich Lebedev was born in 1852 into a peasant family.
Claudius Vasilievich's father was a church painter. It can be assumed that the profession of the father had a great influence on the future choice of the life path of the son. Alas, information about the artist's childhood and adolescence has sunk into the summer - it simply does not exist.
Somewhere in the early seventies of the nineteenth century, Claudius began to study at the Stroganov School of Drawing, in 1875 he continued his education at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where V. Makovsky, V. Perov and E. Sorokin became his teachers. Teachers noted Lebedev as an undoubtedly talented novice artist.
Since 1877, Klavdiy Vasilievich has taken part in exhibitions organized by the school and the Imperial Academy of Arts.
Since 1891 - an active member of the Association of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. In the same period, the artist began work on the design of temples. First there was the Ascension Cathedral in Yelets, then the iconostasis of the first martyr Stephen in Istanbul.
Martha Posadnitsa. Destruction of the Novgorod Veche
In the early nineties, Lebedev became a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, and in 1896 he was appointed professor of the natural class at the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1897, Lebedev was awarded the title of academician. Since 1906 - a full member of the Academy of Arts.
Today I want to bring to your attention paintings by the artist on historical themes. There were also very successful works for the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, illustrations for the works of famous writers, hunting scenes, etc.
The thing is that pictures from the life of haws and princes were consigned to oblivion - in the days of the USSR, such painting was simply not in demand, and then time took its toll and this huge beautiful layer in painting from Klavdiy Lebedev was simply forgotten.
Art critics write that the work of Klavdiy Vasilyevich Lebedev cannot be considered a significant phenomenon in Russian culture. At the same time, it deserves the attention of anyone who is interested in painting of the nineteenth century and the history of "itinerant movement".
Paintings of the artist Klavdiy Vasilievich Lebedev
Election of Mikhail Romanov in 1613
Falcon hunting
Princess Sophia receives a letter from the Trinity from Vasily Golitsyn
Tsar Ivan the Terrible asks Abbot Kirill to bless him as a monk
Boyar wedding
Clerk Zotov teaches Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich to read and write
Ivan the Terrible in the wards
Violent tonsure
To the boyar with libel
Prince Igor collects tribute from the Drevlyans
Buddies
Clerk
The development of new lands by the Russians
Portrait of Ivan the Terrible
Ivan the Terrible and his mother
Hawthorn
Princess Nesmeyana
Alms
Sostrunka bear in the forest
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Vladimir Lebedev is an outstanding painter, master of book illustration. For many years he was engaged in the decoration of the works of Samuil Marshak. In addition, the artist created a number of cartoons on political themes, several portraits and still lifes. The topic of today's article is the creative path of the artist Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev.
early years
The future painter was born in 1891, in St. Petersburg. His artistic ability manifested itself quite early. Lebedev began his education with studying at A. Titov's studio. Then he graduated from art school. The main feature of Lebedev was the desire to learn new things. He never stopped learning, even when he started teaching.
As a political cartoonist, Lebedev did not work for long (1917-1918), but his work was remembered. Perhaps it was the collection of drawings "Panel of the Revolution" that played a bad role in his fate.
"Revolution Panel"
In 1922, Vladimir Lebedev created a series of drawings dedicated to events relevant to his contemporaries. The artist called the collection of twenty-three graphic images at first "The Street of the Revolution". Then the first word in this name was replaced by a more precise one - "panel".
In the early twenties, many suspicious and unreliable personalities scurried about the streets of St. Petersburg. The crime rate has increased. This situation was created by the economic instability in the country. Typical representatives of his time were portrayed by the artist Vladimir Lebedev.
The drawings are satirical and grotesque. "Panel of the Revolution" is an example of how an artist, freeing himself from all unnecessary, transfers social and psychological types of people to paper.
Still lifes and portraits
After completing cooperation with the popular magazine Satyricon, the artist worked for several years on posters for the telegraph agency. However, today Vladimir Lebedev is remembered primarily as an illustrator of children's books. He began this activity at the "Raduga" publishing house. But Lebedev's portraits and still lifes are also worthy of attention.
The creativity of the twenties was determined by friendship with such artists as I. Puni, N. Lapshina, N. Tyrsa. Communication with colleagues created the environment that every master needs. Vladimir Lebedev was fascinated by the work of French artists Renoir and Manet. In the early thirties, he created a series of works, including: "Fruit in a Basket", "Red Guitar and Palette". Around this time, Lebedev also acts as a portrait painter ("Portrait of the Artist NS Nadezhdina", "Model with a Mandolin", "Girl with a Jug", "Red Navy", "Turkish Fighters").
Personal life and family
Vladimir Lebedev met his first wife while studying at Bernstein's school. Her name was Sarra Lebedeva (Darmolatova). She is an outstanding Russian and Soviet artist, also known as a master of sculptural portraits. After the divorce, Lebedev maintained friendly, warm relations with her for many years.
The famous ballerina and choreographer Nadezhda Nadezhdina became the artist's second wife. Lebedev painted several of her portraits. The painter married for the third time in 1940, to the writer Ada Lazo.
In tandem with Marshak
The name of this writer for children is known to everyone. However, not everyone knows that Samuil Marshak was engaged not only in literary creation, but also made a huge contribution to the development of publishing. And, perhaps, much of what Marshak conceived in the early twenties, he would not have been able to carry out, if not for cooperation with such a talented and hardworking schedule as Vladimir Lebedev. He became the artist of a new children's book. What are the features of Lebedev's style?
A distinctive feature of the works of this artist is the poster style. Lebedev's illustrations are laconic. The background is rarely colored, and the figures of people and animals are shown schematically. "Articulated puppets" - so called one of the critics of Lebedev's figure. But at the same time the "puppets" of the master of illustration turned out to be lively, bright, and memorable.
Lebedev created drawings for a large number of books, but more often he worked with Marshak. They found a common language, because both were extremely demanding of their activities, worked tirelessly. Marshak, as if picking up on Lebedev's style, wrote dynamically, creating clear verbal pictures.
Many young and talented artists took lessons in book graphics from him. Lebedev is the creator of his own school. He managed to gather around him masters of a completely different direction. Vladimir Lebedev devoted more than half a century to book illustration.
Last years
In the mid-thirties, an event occurred, after which, according to critics, there was a decline in the artist's creative development. A number of angry articles about the painter appeared in the newspapers. This was a heavy blow for Vladimir Lebedev.
He has lived in Moscow since 1941. And in the early fifties he returned to Leningrad. He still worked in book graphics, but he lived rather closed, communicating with only a few friends and colleagues. Vladimir Lebedev passed away in 1967 and was buried in St. Petersburg.
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