Society and Book Culture: Works by outstanding Spanish artists of 20th c. “Artist’s Book/Livre d’Artiste. Spanish collection” displayed in Moscow

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), the Private Collections Division has unveiled an exhibition entitled “Artist’s Book/Livre d’Artiste. Spanish collection. Picasso, Dali, Miró, Gris, Tàpies, Clavé. From the collections of Georgy Gens and Boris Friedman” which turns the public’s attention to the woks of six eminent Spanish artists of 20th c.: Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Juan Gris, Antoni Clavé and Antoni Tàpies in livre d'artiste, the artist’s book.

This trend in art appeared at the beginning of the past century in France due to the efforts of two famous art dealers – publishers Ambroise Vollard and Daniel Henry Kahnweiler and was actively developed in Europe. Not once has Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts addressed the subject of the artist’s book and showed works of Russian and foreign masters of book design. This time the Russian public has a unique chance to learn about original book illustrations created by Spanish artists of 20th century.

The exhibition showcases over 300 drawings, including illustrations made by Pablo Picasso to “The Hidden Masterpiece” by Honoré de Balzac and to the sonnet book “Japheth” of Ilia Zdanevich; illustrations of Salvador Dalí to all chapters of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” novel; lithographs of Joan Miró to the book of his own poems “The Lizard with Golden Feathers” and those of Juan Gris to the collected poems of Pierre Reverdy, as well as illustrations of Antoni Clavé to Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” and drawings made by Antoni Tàpies to Joseph Brodsky’s “Roman Elegies”.