Yuri Vasnetsov: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolours, Book Illustrations, Lithographs, Theatrical Designs, Porcelain

by Yuri Vasnetsov, Galina Vasnetsova (Compiler), Yelizaveta Vasnetsova (Compiler)

Yuri Vasnetsov (1900-1973), was a well-known Soviet painter and graphic artist. His work was closely linked with the traditions of Russian folk art, yet he always remained contemporary in his approach. Vasnetsov made his debut in the late 1920s and became one of those artists who initiated the production of Soviet illustrated books for children. During the fifty years of his artistic career he illustrated over one hundred books. Vasnetsov also produced coloured lithographs and worked in easel painting, demonstrating a manner entirely his own. This volume is the most complete book on Vasnetsov ever published. It contains 171 plates, 144 of them in colour. The relationship between traditional and contemporary vision was one of the artist's most important problems both in painting and graphic art. Vasnetsov's fantastic landscapes are profoundly reworked under the influence of Russian scenery; his birds and beasts and fairy-tale personages are very expressive because he invests them with movement and behaviour observed from life. Vasnetsov's creative career, which covered almost half a century, is marked by a rare integrity. It was a path of steady growth, perfection and accumulation of skill.

194 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1984

About the author

Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov. Soviet Russian artist Yuri Vasnetsov (1900-1973) is widely known in Russia as the illustrator of children books. Russian painter, stage designer and illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov was born March 22, 1900, in the family of a priest in Vyatka (now Kirov) region. In 1919 he graduated from the former Vyatka men’s gymnasium. In 1921 he moved to Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), where he studied at the Art Institute. Vasnetsov wanted to be a painter, and sought to acquire all the skills needed to work in painting. Discovery and study of the principles of Cubism was fun for him, and he went, on the advice of Lebedev, for new knowledge to Malevich, where he studied about two years.