blowing bubbles1.0

Through a fortunate coincidence I was recently introduced to the work of Russian born illustrator Ivan Bilibin (1876-1942), the beauty of which blew me away.

A large number of his haunting and expressive drawings revolve around Slavic mythology and are usually set against the mountains and forests of Old Russia.

From “Vasilissa the Beautiful” (1900), a story about Baba Yaga:

• Vasilissa outside Baba Yaga’s house
• Baba Yaga flying through the forest in her mortar
• Vasilissa and the white rider
• The black rider

Some other works:

• The Tsar’s son catches the Firebird’s feather from “The Firebird and the Grey Wolf” (1899)
• The merchants visit Tsar Saltan from “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1905)
• A Tsar outside a snowy house (not sure what this is from…)

More about Ivan Bilibin:

• wikipedia.org
• Biography
• Biography at Bud Plant Illustrated Books
• A collection of illustrations
• surlalunefairytales.com
• Buy books
• Buy prints
• Buy more prints