"The book of Angels" by Andrey Mashanov

Abstract

The article discusses "The Book of Angels" by Andrey Mashanov – the Honored Artist of Russia, famous Siberian graphic artist and the master of etching and calligraphy. It is emphasized that the book is executed in the genre of the Artist's Book (so-called Livre d’artiste). It is noted that the artist's work lies within Russian religious traditions but is executed in the modern way and uses the contemporary language of graphic art. The statement about the continuous development of "The Book of Angels" is accented, as the book under the analysis is was created over years, is still under the development and is constantly filled with new visual plots and handwritten text. Individual pages of the book are analyzed deeply, including all drawn characters and texts. The etching technique, author's calligraphy and stylistics of images are noted as well as the interpretation of planar figures, author's flexible and laconic contour lines, the decorative patterns and coloristic minimalism. A reciprocal process, when Mashanov's large-format graphic sheets, that previously laid the foundation for Livre d’artiste, and recently became infused with a lot of characters from the "Book of Angels", is stated.