Buridan’s donkey, chess queens and a crocodile: Lermontov’s library starts the creative year with book illustrations and calligraphy

The Lermontov Library (Liteiny Prospekt, 17-19) resumes its active creative life. January in the exhibition hall is dedicated to book graphics and illustrations, the press service of the institution reports.

On January 15, everyone can attend a master class in calligraphy with artist Stanislava Malakhovskaya, a graduate of the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Art Academy, a participant in more than 50 collective and personal exhibitions, as well as performances and creative actions. Stanislava is a member of the graphics section of the Union of Artists, conducts classes in the children’s art studio of the Roerich family museum-institute and a calligraphy course for schoolchildren, constantly works in book and magazine illustration. In 2019, the first book illustrated by her, “Tsukatsik and His Friends” by Yegor Slepykh, was published, the drawings were exhibited in the Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House.

“My great-grandfathers, artists Natan Altman and Bronislav Malakhovskiy, worked a lot in children’s books. Their sketches and drawings inspired me to choose this path. I mainly work with contemporary authors,” the artist said.

Already now in the White Hall you can see an exhibition of Malakhovskaya’s illustrations for Alexei Saltykov’s fairy tale “Nefei” (the opening took place immediately after the end of the New Year holidays). These are 32 color graphic works, accompanied by poems. In the drawings you can see such archetypal characters as Buridan’s donkey, chess pieces (Black and White Queens, Kings, pawns), the Mayor of the city of Para and the Mayor of the city of Doxa, the scientist Sir Notune, the Crocodile, who loved the game of words.

“The fairy tale has a lot of humor and references to other works of art and literature, hidden quotes and well-known paradoxes and proverbs. I tried to reflect this in the illustrations, over each sheet I thought for a long time that it was illogical to depict, in a new way, so that the viewer would be interested and funny. The writer wanted the drawings to combine the techniques of European medieval miniatures, surrealism and children’s drawing. Thus, gold frames appeared around the illustrations, the drawings were supplemented by my sketches from travels in Italy and Poland,” explains Stanislava Malakhovskaya.

Also on January 28, a solemn finish of the exhibition will take place, accompanied by a children’s interactive performance “Author’s Crocodiles”.

The library asks viewers to observe sanitary safety measures. Admission to all events is free.