History and Culture: The exhibition of illustrations from the magazine "Murzilka" in Moscow

July 18, 2017 in the gallery "Vellum" (Moscow) was opened an exhibition "Murzilka and World Imperialism. Graphics of Aminadava Kanevsky", dedicated to the works of the legendary Soviet cartoonist Aminadava Moiseevich Kanevsky - creator of well-known Soviet children Murzilka and "Devochka-ryovushka" from a poem by Agnes Barto, ROSTA Posters author and popular cartoons in the "Crocodile", a remarkable book illustrator. Today, the graphics and posters of the artist are kept in collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum, in the collections of the Russian State Library, private Russian and foreign collections. The exhibition presents about 60 works by Kanevsky of 1930-1960s: cartoons, posters, illustrations from the collection of the gallery "Vellum" and Lyubov Agafonova collection.    

Witty drawings - political and personal - connecting the sense of humor and creative gift that made Kanevsky one of the most popular and recognizable authors of satirical magazines of the USSR, now turned into a vibrant artistic evidence of the era.

For his "children's" works Kanevsky did not just make illustrations - he created his own world and his own characters who began to live an independent life. Kanevsky has created a new look of Murzilka - this fabulous character (he was portrayed and forest dwellers and dandy in tails, and even a small dog) existed in children's books at the end of the XIX century, and in 1924 his name is called the children's magazine. In 1937 Murzilka in the picture by Kanevsky became as we know it - yellow, fluffy, in a beret, scarf and with a camera. Among the most famous illustrations for children's books of Kanevsky - "Cat's House", "That's what the scattered" by Samuil Marshak, "Devochka-ryovushka", "Boy-on the contrary", "Grandpa's granddaughter" by Agnes Barto, presented at the exhibition. 

The exhibition gives a rare opportunity to see Aminadava Kanevsky "outside" the caricature and book illustration and evaluate the artist's skill in delicate, restrained, psychologically accurate graphic and watercolor works (among them "Portrait of a Woman with a Hat in His Hands", 1930, and "Dvornik", 1920).