From Pushkin to Dostoevsky: graphics of Soviet illustrators of Russian classic literature in the collections of Belgorod museums

Abstract

In recent years, the collections of museums in Belgorod, specifically the Belgorod State Art Museum and the Belgorod State Literary Museum, have been enriched with a significant number of illustrations of works of Russian classic literature created by prominent Soviet artists. These works were donated to the museums by the decision of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, from the collection of the International Confederation of Artists' Unions. This collection was formed over several decades, until the period of perestroika, through purchases made by the Union of Artists and the Ministry of Culture of the USSR from republican and all-union exhibitions, as well as artists’ studios. Among these illustrations are depictions of some of the most well-known works of Russian literature by A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, N.S. Leskov, I.S. Turgenev, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. Tolstoy, and F.M. Dostoevsky. The creators of these illustrations were Soviet graphic artists, including Vladimir Favorsky, Alexey Kravchenko, Nikolay and Anna Piskarev, Lev Mulhaupt, Nikolay Kuzmin, Andrey Goncharov, Fedor Konstantinov, Ilya Bogdesco, Yuri Charyshnikov, Sergey Alimov, Andrey Kostin, Yuri Ivanov, Vladimir Beskaravainy, Stanislav Kosenkov, and Ludmila Loboda. This article discusses the various approaches of artists in illustrating literary works, ranging from classical illustrations by members of the Moscow school of xylography to original graphics. The collection of graphic works from Belgorod museums has been systematized and generalized. The findings of this research formed the basis for several exhibitions of Soviet book illustrations from the Belgorod collection, which were showcased in museums in Bryansk, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, and the Abramtsevo Museum Reserve.