Book Graphics by M.M. Tsekhanovsky. To the 130th Birth Anniversary of the Artist

The purpose of the article is to consider the book design works of the famous graphic artist and animation movie director M.M. Tsekhanovsky (1889—1965), using the complex of bibliological, art historical and historiographic methods, to identify the most characteristic features of his creative method, to reconstruct the important stage of biography of the master, analysing previously unpublished archival materials. Already in the very first illustrative cycles, the artist finds his theme: he gives a clear preference to inanimate heroes, spectacularly and clearly depicts the attributes of modern life, symbols of technological progress. Further, making illustrations to the works of S.Y. Marshak, B.S. Zhitkov, M. Ilyin, he refines his artistry and takes the prominent place among the creators of children’s “manufacturing”, technical, popular science books. He manages to adapt the extremely complex topics to the perception of a child, to fill dry language schemes, drawings or geographical maps with lively, exciting content and vivid imagery. The visual series of such graphic works is not a banal pictorial parallel of the text, its explanation, but it leads an independent party, significantly complements and enriches the content of the book. People appear quite rarely in these graphic series; they are treated very schematically and mechanistically, sometimes they seem to be the creations of the world of things and machines, so close to the artist. However, in the best works of M.M. Tsekhanovsky, and above all, in the illustrations to the famous “Post” by S.Y. Marshak, human images are shown generically, and at the same time individualized, endowed with characteristic, memorable features, clearly inscribed in the plot and rhythmic outline of the dynamic narrative. In the heritage of the master, there are also completely different works, indicating that he could become a remarkable animalist, illustrator of fairy tales or “adult” historical and revolutionary works. However, these sides of his talent were not demanded by the technocratic era of the 1920s. Transition of the artist from book graphics to cartoon animation was in some sense predetermined by the very nature of his talent: M.M. Tsekhanovsky was always interested in the problem of plastic transfer of movement and unification of disparate episodes into a coherent story.

M.M. Tsekhanovsky, S.Y. Marshak, B.S. Zhitkov, M. Ilyin, children’s book, children’s literature, illustration, production theme, technical aesthetics, animated movie, book design, graphics, book graphics

1. Kuznetsova V.A., Kuznetsov E.D. Tsekhanovsky, 112 p.

2. Seregin S. (dir.) Mikhail Tsekhanovskii. Dramaticheskaya grafika: dokument. fil’m [Mikhail Tsekhanovsky. Dramatic Graphics: documentary film], Master-Fil’m Comp., 1995, 56 min.

3. Kim S., Deryabin A. (eds). The Breath of the Will. Mikhail Tsekhanovsky’s Diaries, Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Bibliological Notes], 2001, no. 54, pp. 170—211 (in Russ.).

4. Kim S., Deryabin A. (eds). The Breath of the Will. Mikhail Tsekhanovsky’s Diaries, Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Bibliological Notes], 2001, no. 55, pp. 216—273 (in Russ.).

5. Kim S., Deryabin A. (eds). The Breath of the Will. Mikhail Tsekhanovsky’s Diaries, Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Bibliological Notes], 2002, no. 57, pp. 292—361 (in Russ.).

6. Savelyev L.S. Pionerskii ustav [Pioneer’s Charter], Gosudarstvennoe Publ., 1926, 14 p.

7. Tsekhanovsky M.M. Diary 1921—1925 (Transcript and Comments by V.V. Tsekhanovskaya), Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva (RGALI) [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 2627, aids 2, item 95, 215 p. (in Russ.).

8. Ionov I. Topotun i knizhka [Topotun and a Book], 12 p.

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10. Novorussky M.V. Tyuremnye Robinzony [Prison Robinsons]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe Publ., 1926, 195 p.

11. Novorussky M.V. Tyuremnye Robinzony [Prison Robinsons]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe Publ., 1928, 212 p.

12. Polonskaya E.G. Pro pchel i pro Mishku-medvedya [About the Bees and about Mishka the Bear], Gosudarstvennoe Publ., 1927, 10 p.

13. Tsekhanovsky M.M. Diary 1926—1929 (Transcript and Comments by V.V. Tsekhanovskaya), Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva (RGALI) [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 2627, aids 2, item 96, 240 p. (in Russ.).

14. Marshak S.Ya. Sem’ chudes [Seven Wonders]. Leningrad, Moscow, Raduga Publ., 12 p.

15. Gerchuk Yu.Ya. Sovetskaya knizhnaya grafika [Soviet Book Graphics]. Moscow, Znanie Publ., 1986, 126 p.

16. Fomin D.V. “Seven Wonders” Riddles Book by S.Ya. Marshak and Three Variants of its Graphic Interpretation, Bibliografiya [Bibliography], 2018, no. 2, pp. 106—117 (in Russ.).

17. Marshak S.Ya. Priklyucheniya stola i stula [Adventures of the Table and the Chair], Raduga Publ., 1928, 11 p.

18. Marshak S.Ya. Pochta [Post Office]. Leningrad, Moscow, Raduga Publ., 11 p.

19. Fomin D.V. (ed.) “Candied Glory with Nuts”. From Mikhail Tsekhanovsky’s Diaries, Connaisseur: historical and cultural almanac. Prague, 2019, pp. 165—187 (in Russ.).

20. Prigozhin Yu. On the Game Photo Illustration, Detskaya literatura [Children’s Literature], 1939, no. 8, pp. 49—52 (in Russ.).

21. Slonimsky M.L. Proshchanie [Farewell]. Moscow, Sovetskii Pisatel’ Publ., 1937, 219 p.

22. Arnold V.S. (ed.) Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo B.S. Zhitkova [B.S. Zhitkov’s Life and Work]. Moscow, Detgiz Publ., 1955, 592 p.

23. Lunacharsky A.V. (ed.) Detskaya literatura: krit. sb. [Children’s Literature: collected criticism]. Moscow, Leningrad, GIKhL Publ., 1931, 232 p.

24. Lyapunov B.V. (ed.) Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo M. Il’ina [M. Ilyin’s Life and Work]. Moscow, Detgiz Publ., 1962, 464 p.

25. Ilyin M. Karmannyi tovarishch [Pocket Companion]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosizdat Publ., 1927, 40 p.

26. Ilyin M. Zavod v kastryule [Factory in a Pot]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe Publ., 1928, 44 p.

27. Ilyin M. Chelovek i stikhiya [Man and the Force of Nature]. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat Publ., 1947, 256 p.

28. Tsekhanovsky M. Azbuka [ABC Book]. Leningrad, Raduga Publ., 1927, 11 p.

29. Asenin S.V. (ed.) Mudrost’ vymysla: mastera mul’tiplikatsii o sebe i svoem iskusstve [The Wisdom of Fiction: Animation Masters about Themselves and their Art]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1983, 207 p.

30. Piotrovsky A. Kinofikatsiya iskusstv [Spreading of the Cinema into Arts]. Leningrad, 1929, 48 p.