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 fairytales illustration and stage design. He left Russia in 1920 and pursued an artistic career in Egypt and France, returning to the Soviet Union in 1936 where he continued to illustrate Old Russian fairytales.
From 1921 to 1925, Bilibin settled in Cairo and started to paint watercolours showing landscapes from the Middle East in a style similar to the ones made earlier on in Crimea, but in a new spirit showing the fantastic combination of different cultures reflected in the various kinds of Middle Eastern.
Travelling inside Egypt, Syria and Palestine, Bilibin was able to develop a personal style depicting peculiar landscapes with his watercolours, showing architectural monuments of Antique Egypt, and biblical and muslim history.
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.
The East has always attracted Russian artists. In his own style and through the Middle East landscapes, Bilibin has followed the tradition started by V.V. Verechagin at the beginning of the century and seconded by Alexander Iakovlev with his Tibetian series.
From 1921 to 1925, Bilibin settled in Cairo and started to paint watercolours showing landscapes from the Middle East in a style similar to the ones made earlier on in Crimea, but in a new spirit showing the fantastic combination of different cultures reflected in the various kinds of Middle Eastern.
Travelling inside Egypt, Syria and Palestine, Bilibin was able to develop a personal style depicting peculiar landscapes with his watercolours, showing architectural monuments of Antique Egypt, and biblical and muslim history.
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.
The East has always attracted Russian artists. In his own style and through the Middle East landscapes, Bilibin has followed the tradition started by V.V. Verechagin at the beginning of the century and seconded by Alexander Iakovlev with his Tibetian series.