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Lot Essay
Ivan Iakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942) studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Art under Repin. As a member of the "Mir Iskusstva" (World of Art) group, his main interests lay in Old Russian folk tales, illustration and stage design. He moved to the Crimea after the Revolution and left Russia in 1920.
From 1921 to 1925, Bilibin settled in Cairo and started to paint watercolors showing landscapes from the Middle East in a style similar to the ones made earlier in the Crimea, but in a new spirit showing the fantastic combination of different cultures of the Middle East.
With his work he showed, in a unique style, the contrasts produced by sunlight, enabling him to use a large palette of shades within slight though well-elaborated pencil borders.
Bilibin's Crimean landscapes are extremely rare on the market.
From 1921 to 1925, Bilibin settled in Cairo and started to paint watercolors showing landscapes from the Middle East in a style similar to the ones made earlier in the Crimea, but in a new spirit showing the fantastic combination of different cultures of the Middle East.
With his work he showed, in a unique style, the contrasts produced by sunlight, enabling him to use a large palette of shades within slight though well-elaborated pencil borders.
Bilibin's Crimean landscapes are extremely rare on the market.