Society and Book Culture: Exhibition "Lermontov in the Fine Arts of the XIX-XX Centuries" presented in Tatarstan

The State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve "Sviyazhsk" (Republic of Tatarstan) launched the exhibition "Lermontov in the Fine Arts of the XIX-XX Centuries". It introduces the collections of the State Lermontov Museum-Reserve "Tarkhany" (Penza Region).

The museum in Tarkhany keeps an expensive collection of fine art, in general, illustrations by Russian and Soviet artists for the works by Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841).

Lermontov's lifetime editions had no illustrations. The earliest exhibits are works by artists of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries - P. I. Korovin, M. Mikhailov and an unknown author. The exposition features copies of illustrations by prominent masters - M. A. Vrubel, I. I. Shishkin, L. O. Pasternak.

Soviet artists actively turned to the images of classical literature. Book graphics of the middle and the second half of the XX century are presented mainly by the authors' series of illustrations. The exhibition showcases works by V. G. Bekhteyev, N. V. Kuzmin, T. A. Mavrina, D. A. Shmarinov, V. A. Milashevsky and other famous Soviet artists.

Most of the exhibited illustrations are in editions of Lermontov's poetry and prose collections. But some of them, both pre-revolutionary and Soviet, have never been published. These are works by authors of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries and illustrations by K. A. Klementyeva, O. E. Yevseyeva, created in the 1940s - 1960s.

The exhibition features 34 illustrations (drawings, watercolours, lithographs) related to a wide range of Lermontov's works.

The exhibition will run until January 16, 2022.