Vladimir Lebedev

Vladimir Vasilievich Lebedev (1891-1967) is best known as the founder of the Soviet school of children's books and the "artist of the twenties." Indeed, thanks to his extraordinary abilities as a mentor and a sensitive understanding of book architecture, he was able to train a generation of illustrators and lay the foundation on which the culture of the Soviet picture book would develop for many decades. Lebedev himself created dozens of the finest examples of this genre, and in the mid-1930s, he experienced a significant professional break that changed his graphic language beyond recognition.
Art historian and writer Vsevolod Petrov (1912-1978) began working on a monograph about Lebedev while the artist was still alive, often visiting his legendary studio on Belinsky Street.
However, despite the unrelenting global interest in Lebedev, this book remains the only study of the entire diversity of his work. Petrov traces how the artist's creative path runs through painting, easel graphics, posters, does not stop with the change of eras - and grows through the war years and realism to the maturity of an unmatched master.
The new edition includes rare and previously unpublished works and photographs from the collection of the State Russian Museum and private collections, the artist's autobiography, and an essay on the history of Vsevolod Petrov's monograph.