BILIBIN Ivan Yakovlevich

August 4(16), 1876 (Tarkhovka, near St. Petersburg) — February 7, 1942 (Leningrad)

Artist, book illustrator, graphic artist, scene-designer, painter, teacher, aquarellist, cartoonist, art theorist, icon-painter

He was born to a family of naval doctor.

Bilibin drew from early childhood. In 1895–1898 he went to St. Petersburg Drawing School under the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and studied under Y. F. Tsionglinsky. In 1896 after graduation from the First St. Petersburg High school, Bilibin entered the faculty of law at St. Petersburg University. He passed the state exam in 1900 in Novorossiysk University (Odessa). In the summer of 1898 he studied at A. Ažbe Art School in Munich, and in the autumn of the same year he continued his education under I. E. Repin at the studio of Princess M. Tenesheva. In 1900 Repin transferred Bilibin to his studio at the High School of Arts at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Bilibin attended classes until 1904, but he did not perform a work on the rank of the artist. In 1902–1904, on the instructions of the Russian Museum, he made several trips to the northern provinces of Russia, where he became fascinated with Russian folklore and old wooden architecture. He published his findings in the monograph Folk Arts of the Russian North in 1904.

Bilibin gained renown when he released his illustrations for the Russian folk fairy tales Tsarevna lyagushka (“The Frog Princess”, 1901), Vasilisa Prekrasnaya (“Vasilisa the Beautiful”, 1902), bylina Volga (1904) and fairy tales by A. S. Pushkin The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1904–1905), The tale of the Golden Cockerel (1907) and others.

Bilibin developed special style of book design: the technique of watercolor ink drawing, based on traditions of the Old Russian ornament. This style was named after its creator — Bilibinsky Style.

Since 1899 Bilibin worked with the magazine Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”), and a year later he became a member of this association (in 1916 he became the head of it). In 1900–1906 he participated in the exhibitions of Mir Iskusstva.

In 1903 Bilibin joined the Union of Russian Artists, and from 1903 to 1910 he took part in the exhibitions of this association. At the same time he actively participated in international exhibitions: Noir et Blanc (Prague, 1904), Exposition of Russian art (Paris, 1906), the International Exhibition in Venice (1907), Exhibition of Russian artists of the Secession (Vienna, 1908), International Art Exhibition (Brussels, 1910), the International Exhibition of Fine Arts (Rome, 1911), the International Exhibition of Printing and Graphics (Leipzig, 1914) and others. In London and in Paris he exposed a series of illustrations of Russian folk tales and bylinas.

Since 1904 Bilibin worked on the design of theatre productions in Russia and abroad. He collaborated with Prague National Theatre, Starinniy teatr (“Old Theatre”), the cabaret theatre Lukomorie (“Curved Seashore”), the Diaghilev’s entreprise and others.

Bilibin created costumes for drama and opera performances, including Boris Godunov by M. P. Mussorgsky, The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (1909) and Sadko (1914) by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Ruslan and Ludmila (1913) by M. I. Glinka.

In 1905–1906 he performed a series of political cartoons for magazines Zhupel (“Bugbear”) и Adskaya pochta (“Hellish mail”).

In 1910s Bilibin was engaged in book illustration, he cooperated with magazines Zolotoe Runo (“Golden Fleece”), Khudozhestvennye sokrovishcha Rossii (“Art Treasures of Russia”), with publishing houses Shipovnik (“Dog-Rose”), the Community of St. Eugenia, Moskovskoye knigoizdatelstvo (“Moscow publishing house”) and others. He designed book covers, postcards and posters.

In 1907–1917 he taught graphic art in the Drawing School under the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and from 1908 to 1917 he delivered lectures on the composition. On January 30, 1917 at the meeting of members of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Bilibin was presented to the rank of the academician.

After the February Revolution, Bilibin performed a number of political orders; he created the double-headed eagle without the crown for the seal of the Provisional Government. (Now this eagle is depicted on the emblem of Russia and Central Bank and embellishes rubles and Russian paper money).

In September 1917 Bilibin left Petrograd and moved to the Crimea, where he had been living for about two years. He collaborated with the magazine Orpheus, designed posters for the Denikin’s news agency Osvag. He collaborated with the commission for protection of artistic treasures of the Crimea. In October 1918 he helped S. Makovsky in organization of the exhibition Art in the Crimea in Yalta, where works of many artists were exposed, including Bilibin’s works and the works of old masters from private collections.

In 1920 Bilibin emigrated from Russia and moved to Egypt; he lived first in Cairo, then in Alexandria. He performed orders of the Egyptian Orthodox communities, created sketches of temple murals and decorations. He also created scene and costume designs for ballet performances of the Egyptian tour of Anna Pavlova’s troupe. In December 1924 personal exhibition of the artist was held in Alexandria, and was organized by local society Friends of the Art. In 1923 he married the artist A.V. Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya.

 In 1925 Bilibin moved to Paris. He painted a number of colorful panels for private houses and restaurants. He collaborated with the N. Karbasnikov publishing house in Paris and O. Dyakova publishing house in Berlin. Bilibin designed and illustrated a number of journals, books by Russian authors, including collection of stories by I. A. Bunin and etc. In 1927 he became the organizer and participant of the last exhibition of the group Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”) in the gallery of Bernheim-junior in Paris. In mid 1930s he performed a number of orders for French publishing houses: illustrated fairy tales and historical works.

In 1929 Bilibin exposed his works at the international exhibition, at the Salon de Tuileries in Paris, and held joined exhibition with Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya in Amsterdam. He worked on the design of theatrical productions for several entreprises in Paris, Prague theatre and others: the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan by Rimsky-Korsakov (1929), Prince Igor by A. Borodin (1930), Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky (1930), Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia by Rimsky-Korsakov (1934) and etc. He also drew sketches of frescoes and the iconostasis for the Russian Orthodox Church at Olshansk cemetery in Prague.

In late 1920s — early 1930s Bilibin repeatedly participated in the exhibitions of Russian art: in Brussels (1928), Copenhagen (1929), Belgrade (1930), Paris (1931, 1932, 1934), and Prague (1935).

In 1927 and in 1934–1935 he lived in Prague, where his personal exhibition was held in 1927.

In 1935–1936 Bilibin created a monumental panel Mikula Selyaninovich for the Soviet Embassy in Paris, and then he returned to Soviet Russia, where he became the professor at the graphic studio of the I. E. Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the Russia Academy of Fine Arts. He designed performances The Tale of Tsar Saltan by Rimsky-Korsakov (1937, staging for the 100th anniversary of the death of Alexander Pushkin), Polkovodets Suvorov (“Field Marshal Suvorov”) by I. V. Bakhterev and A. V. Razumovsky (1939), and created illustrations for the novel Peter the Great by A. Tolstoy (1937) and the poem Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsmen and a daring merchant Kalashnikov by M. Lermontov (1939). In 1939 he became the doctor of art history, and taught until 1942. He died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad. Bilibin was buried at Smolensk Cemetery in St. Petersburg in a grave of professors of the Academy of Arts, who died in the first winter of the Siege.

Works by Ivan Bilibin are in many museum and private collections in Russia and abroad, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Museum of Russia Academy of Arts, the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, the National Pushkin Museum in St. Petersburg, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Prague National Gallery, the Municipal Museum in Brno and others.