Fame came to Ivan Bilibin as an illustrator of folk tales. He created a unique artistic style called Bilibino. This has become a kind of calling card of domestic illustration. Many contemporary artists strive to imitate the graphic style of the author.
The Bilibino style is based on the then popular Art Nouveau with folk art. The invention has not lost its popularity to this day.
Art calling
The artist was born on August 4 (16), 1876 near St. Petersburg in the village of Tarhanovka. The surname was known in the seventeenth century as a merchant. In the Hermitage, portraits of the ancestors of Bilibin take pride of place. The father of the future painter was a naval doctor, his mother was a composer.
The boy was distinguished by his ability to draw. He studied at a school at the Imperial Society for the Promotion of the Arts. True, the head of the family was more willing to see his son not as an artist, but as a lawyer. Not daring to contradict the will of the parent, Ivan Yakovlevich entered the legal.
However, he did not give up painting. After completing his education, the artist went to Germany to study at the world-famous workshop of Ashbe. After training, Ivan returned home and began to study in the workshop of Repin.
A few years later, the volunteer became a student at an art school at the Academy of Arts. Under the influence of Vasnetsov’s painting “The Heroes”, the young artist began to take an interest in folk style. He was so captivated by the old Russian atmosphere that Ivan went to travel around the domestic outbacks.
He walked through forests, visited wooden huts, studied ornaments and absorbed national folklore. After the trip, the author began creating drawings in his own manner. The first illustrations were images of the tales of Afanasyev.
Books have gained popularity not only by the unusual stylization of drawings, but also by the peculiarity of the vision of folk fairy-tale images. The artist did not just draw, but also made a frame for each illustration with an ornament corresponding to the characters of the characters.
Improvement Work
The artist also designed the covers of the publication, and stylized the letters as old Slavic. A significant page in the biography of Bilibin was a trip to the northern provinces. There, the artist discovered the Russian north with his life, art. In those parts, time seemed to freeze.
The painter admired people in folk costumes with embroideries, got acquainted with the popular style, lived in a hut with carvings, painted wooden temples. The impressions and results of a very productive trip were reflected in the paintings of Bilibin.
He brought with him many sketches, pictures. Later, the painter wrote several articles on notes. The material helped him in his work on sketches for the theater, an illustration cycle based on Pushkin's fairy tales. The landmark work "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" began.
With meticulous accuracy, the painter worked out the environment of the author's characters, their costumes, and the architecture mentioned. In his work, Bilibin experimented with style. So, in the "Tale of the Golden Cockerel" noticeable popular style. The Tretyakov Gallery acquired all the drawings.
Accompanied by illustrations of Bilibin, the publications really liked the readers. The drawings were distinguished by the pleasantness of color schemes, batters of characters and detailing of outfits. The font was a real find.
Giant labor is hidden beneath all this. The artist always began with sketches. Further, the drawing was transferred to tracing paper, drawn on paper and its outline was inked.
The final part of the work consisted of color fills with watercolors. Tones were used only local, without gradients. The highest accuracy of reproduction of countless ornaments with the smallest details is amazing.
Family life
The interim government commissioned the popular artist to create a sketch of the coat of arms. The painter painted a double-headed eagle. Since 1992, he was depicted on all domestic banknotes. Goznak has the copyright to the painter’s work. The master also worked in a commercial illustration.
He created posters for New Bavaria. He drew covers for popular publications, theater posters, sketches for stamps. All products instantly diverged. Successfully combined the painter's teaching activities with art. He taught graphics at the Drawing School of the Promotion of Arts. Among his students, George Narbut, Konstantin Eliseev.
During this period, the master and personal life arranged. His first choice was the artist-designer Maria Chambers. Two sons were born in the family. The relationship went wrong. A few years later, the husband and wife broke up. Together with the children, Maria moved to England. Once again, the artist married René O'Connell, a working artist at a porcelain factory. They broke up after five years.
The third wife of Alexander Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya was also a student of the master and an artist in porcelain. She remained with the painter until the last days.
