The first personal exhibition of Evgenia Lotsmanova, a talented illustrator who has not yet published a single book, is taking place in Kolomna.
Quietly and modestly, in the cultural center "House of Ozerov" the first personal exhibition of the 27-year-old illustrator, a graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Moscow University of Printing Arts.
Adults and children, people who have a keen understanding of art, and those who don’t at all - everyone walked around Evgenia Lotsmanova’s exhibition with some kind of enlightenment. Looking at her illustrations for fairy tales by H.K. Andersen, A.N. Tolstoy, S. Pisakhov and C. Lewis, you forget the sad forecasts of experts about the dying of the Russian art of book illustration. After the opening of the exhibition, the artist answered questions from a RG correspondent.
How did it happen that you devoted yourself to such a heavy masculine technique as lithography?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: Lithography allows you to experiment with the same sketch, varying colors and refining it in search of the best solution. And there is its own charm in the miraculous nature of a printed picture, which usually turns out a little differently than you expect.
You called your exhibition a journey. Where will we go?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: We will go on a journey through fairy tales created by writers from different countries. They carry both a bright national flavor and the spirit of the time when they were created. Russian, European or oriental fairy tales require a different approach, different artistic references, be it Russian lubok and painted spinning wheels, Iranian miniatures or European painting of the 16th -19th centuries.
Your heroes are fabulous - you won’t meet such people in life. Where do they come to you from? From dreams, from childhood?..
Evgenia Lotsmanova: Yes, mostly from childhood impressions and some vague, but very dear associations... I draw some heroes from the people closest to me. For example, from my mother.
Evgenia Lotsmanova: As a child, I loved fairy tales and stories about animals. Later I read a lot of classics and adventure literature like The Three Musketeers. One of my favorite books now is “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov. I always enjoy reading memoirs, books written in exile, and memories of people who lived through the most difficult moments of our history. One of the last ones I read was the memoirs of the artist Ostroumova-Lebedeva.
When did you feel like an illustrator?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: It all started with a wonderful picture drawn by my mother for the “City of Masters”. She did it so well that I wanted to draw just as well.
Your exhibition is a whole fairyland. What would you name this country?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: I remember the words of Nika Georgievna Golts, one of my favorite illustrators, said at a meeting with us students. She said: you don’t need any imaginary countries, because all the most interesting and magical things happen nearby, you just need to see it.
They say that your ancestors were icon painters? What do you know about them and do you feel any kind of family continuity in yourself, in your art?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: Unfortunately, I don't know much. My maternal great-grandfather came from a village in Yegoryevsky district, where icon painting flourished. In his youth, his great-grandfather continued the family traditions, but after the revolution he had to change his occupation. Probably, both icon painting and book illustration are forms of art that do not allow too much fuss, involving quite painstaking work that requires “deep immersion” and intense mental work.
Who are your favorite artists?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: I love Flemish and Dutch painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer. I am happy to turn to many masters of European painting until the end of the 19th century. In Russian art I really love Korovin, Kustodiev, Vrubel, all the “World of Art” artists. I treat Benoit’s “ABC” and Bilibin’s books with spiritual trepidation. And of course, my great and endless joy are the masters of Soviet book graphics, whose pictures have been dearly loved since childhood: Konashevich, Yuri Vasnetsov, Mavrina, Ustinov, Eliseev, Golts and many, many others. And I especially want to say about the illustrations of my dear teacher Boris Arkadyevich Diodorov, which for me already at the institute became a real insight.
You write poetry, practice singing, make dolls...
Evgenia Lotsmanova: I only manage to do a small part of what I want to do. But different hobbies, I feel, feed each other. Singing Russian folk songs inspires pictures for Russian fairy tales; if you don’t have time to draw an image that suddenly appears, you can write a poem about it somewhere on the road, and creating dolls, working with volume, with different textures and materials makes it easier to sculpt the shape in a drawing.
They often say that children are indifferent to books and reading, and that soon the book will die. What would you answer to such skeptics?
Evgenia Lotsmanova: With the help of computer technology, information can be obtained, but most likely it will be kaleidoscopic. A book is capable of carrying a holistic artistic image that will educate a child’s taste, being a clear, cozy and tangible house for words and characters living and acting in it, like actors in a play played for one small spectator and for his closest people.
Please read some of your summer poems for children.
Evgenia Lotsmanova: Summer? Then this: “Happy mooing, / The chattering of grasshoppers, / The fragrant meeting / of the pre-dark dawn, / The honey-fragrant / earthy fragrance, / You sleep today, honey, / and burn again tomorrow!”
The exhibition of Evgenia Lotsmanova is open until July 22, 2012 at the cultural center "Ozerov's House" (Moscow region, Kolomna, Krasnogvardeyskaya str., 2).
Kolomna, Moscow region
Since January 30, as part of the Youth Creative Workshop project, the Fairytale Forest exhibition dedicated to the Year of Literature in Russia has been running at the Ozerov House Cultural Center. The exhibition presents book illustrations for fairy tales by H. C. Andersen, member of the Moscow Union of Artists, Evgenia Lotsmanova.
About the author: Evgenia Lotsmanova was born in 1985 in Kolomna, graduated from the Children's Art School and chose the profession of illustrator. Drawing was a favorite pastime from early childhood - after all, Evgenia’s maternal relatives were icon painters in the Yegoryevsky district of the Moscow province. In 2007, Evgenia graduated from the Moscow State University of Printing Arts.
Now Evgenia Lotsmanova is not only an illustrator. She also writes children's poems and dreams of publishing a book, illustrating it with her drawings. The illustrator's profession accompanies and, to some extent, complements the artist's hobby - making designer toys: dolls and fairy-tale compositions from various materials (papier-mâché, paperclay, ceramic plastic, mohair).
The main part of the works at the exhibition are illustrations for the fairy tale The Magic Hill by H. C. Andersen. For the young artist Evgenia Lotsmanova, The Magic Hill is the second published book with her illustrations, which brought this fairy tale to life, and cannot but arouse admiration. Still, how much an artist means to a book!
The illustrations of this truly fabulous book are based on the artist’s thesis work, but significantly revised for this edition. Drawings in a rare technique today, which is considered to be a heavy masculine technique - lithography. The rich artistic language and bright expressive possibilities of lithography technology helped create a complex, fun and slightly mysterious world.
Evgeniya herself writes about the chosen technique: “Lithography allows you to experiment with the same sketch, varying the colors and refining it in search of the best solution. And there is its own charm in the miraculous nature of the printed picture, which usually turns out a little differently than you expect... I draw some characters from the people closest to me, for example, my mother."
Illustrations... They, like a light cloud, envelop and immerse you in a fairy tale, creating an unusually magical atmosphere. Evgenia Lotsmanova created a small world populated by creatures so cute that the fairy tale The Magic Hill will become one of your favorites! It seems that the illustrations created with such warmth and love cannot fail to find a response in the hearts of viewers. The Fairytale Forest exhibition is a journey through the fairy tales of H.K. Andersen, which makes you want to read or re-read the wonderful fairy tales of the Danish writer.
Cultural center "Ozerov's House"
Moscow region, Kolomna, st. Krasnogvardeyskaya, 2
Directions:
From Moscow: from st. m. "Vykhino" by bus No. 460 to the stop. "Bank", from the Kazansky railway station by train to the Golutvin station, then by tram No. 3, buses No. 5, 10 or minibuses No. 68, 20 to the stop. "Square of 2 Revolutions"
On March 25, on Cultural Worker's Day, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin presented Evgenia Nikolaevna Lotsmanova, a graduate of the Moscow State University named after Ivan Fedorov, with a prize for her contribution to the development of the Russian art of illustration.
It is very difficult to describe the feeling of joy, comfort, restored childhood that arises when looking at Evgenia’s work. “They smell of the field wind and damp earth, the beasts speak their own languages, everything in them is fun, absurd and strong; like in a real animal game, everything is imbued with healthy animal humor.” She didn’t have to invent her childhood, climb into the abandoned attic of memory for it. It’s right next to her, just stretch out your hand. (I’ll tell you a secret: Zhenya also plays with dolls - in the sense that she makes toys, and you can see them at exhibitions.)
(works are clickable)
The fragile girl works with weighted lithographic plates, dozens of times improving what as a result has become completely weightless - the true art of classical book illustration. The result is masterpieces - shimmering, magical pictures that you can look at for hours and read and re-read, like real fairy tales.
This sorceress is “the bird from Diodorov’s nest.” Her name is Evgenia Nikolaevna Lotsmanova. I think you'll remember this name."
Evgenia speaks very warmly about her beloved teacher Boris Arkadyevich Diodorov: “He helped me believe in myself, helped me make a life choice in favor of sincere art, sincere creativity - the kind of creativity that my soul asks for.”
Butterflies. "The Magic Hill" by H.H. Andersen
Little Waterman. "Magic Hill"
Evgenia Lotsmanova was born on January 14, 1985 in Kolomna, Moscow region. She graduated from a children's art school and chose the profession of an illustrator. It is no coincidence that drawing was a favorite pastime from early childhood; Evgenia’s maternal relatives were icon painters in the Yegoryevsky district of the Moscow province. In 2007, Evgenia graduated from the Moscow State University of Printing Arts. Winner of a diploma from the Union of Artists of Russia (2010), winner of the competition in the category “Best Children's Edition” at the Great Book Fair (Perm, 2013). Member of the Moscow Union of Artists.
Author of illustrations for the books “Tales of 1001 Nights” (2007), “Magpie Tales” by A.N. Tolstoy (2013), “The Magic Hill” by H.H. Andersen (2014), “Little Forest Tale” by N. Maksimova (2015) . She also created a series of illustrations for Gulliver’s Travels, The Chronicles of Narnia, Tartuffe, and a series of lithographs dedicated to historical places in Russia. Participant in numerous illustration exhibitions, including three personal ones.
Ball. "Magic Hill" (clickable, but better viewed in parts)
(clickable)
Heat - Bird. "Magic Hill"
Forest maidens. "Magic Hill"
Feast. "Magic Hill"Snow house. Magic Hill"
Mouse. "Magic Hill"
Cloud. "Magic Hill"Elves. "Magic Hill"
Harp. "Magic Hill"
Maximilian Voloshin a hundred years ago said this about “Magpie Tales”: “Genuine poetry, like true painting, like true feminine charm, are not accessible to words and definitions, because they themselves are already the final definitions of complex systems of feelings and states..."
We are sometimes reproached: you only have reissues, but now no one wants to publish contemporary young artists. To be honest, it’s a shame to read this: our publishing house publishes quite a lot of such books (a lot, considering that we are a small private publishing house). The books are different, some are a tribute to experimentation, some are simpler. Over the past couple of years, we have published books with illustrations by: Victoria Kirdiy, Ksenia Lavrova, Galina Zinko, Olga Fadeeva, Lina Eitmantytė-Valuzhene, Elena Bazanova, Liza Bukhalova, Olga Ionaitis, Galina Lavrenko, Lyudmila Pipchenko, Ekaterina Plaksina, Polina Yakovleva. If anyone missed anything, you are welcome to study the site
Perhaps this feeling arises because I quite rarely talk about these books in this LiveJournal, but this is part of a series of one-sided information :) - our St. Petersburg editorial office works with these books, this is their specialization, and I’m just usually “not in the know.”
We are currently actively working with new series "Image of Speech". According to our plan, this series will include books by contemporary artists, both recognized masters and very young ones; both completely new projects and those reworked by the artist specifically for this series. So, “Nevsky Prospekt” with Mikhail Bychkov, “Journey to Tandadrika” and “About What Cannot Be” with Igor Oleinikov, “Yozhka Goes to School” with Evgeny Antonenkov have already been released.
We currently have two books in preparation: "Candle Girl" by Yulia Gukova And "Magic Hill" by Evgenia Lotsmanova.
For the young artist Evgenia Lotsmanova, this will be only the second published book.
the first one was this one (I think many people noticed it)
So, a rare fairy tale by G.H. Andersen "Magic Hill"
The illustrations are based on the artist’s thesis work, but significantly revised for this edition.
Drawings in a rare technique today - lithography.
These are just illustrations for now, not a layout.
I don’t know anything else, this is a book from our St. Petersburg editorial office, information will be on the website closer to its release.
Well, you can read a little about the artist here
Home for words and characters
Interview with Evgenia Lotsmanova
“Lithography allows you to experiment with the same sketch, varying colors and refining it in search of the best solution. And there is a beauty in the miraculous nature of the printed picture, which usually turns out a little differently than you expect...”
Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote “Magpie Tales” a century ago. This was his first prose book. The happy author just turned 24 years old. And his book breathed with happiness, which was considered bad form in the decadent literature of that time.
One Maximilian Voloshin welcomed her appearance in the Apollo magazine: “I don’t want to talk about “Magpie Tales” by Alexei Tolstoy - it’s hard to talk about. And this is the greatest praise that can be given to the book. It is so spontaneous, so genuine that you don’t want to retell it - you want to quote it all from beginning to end. This is one of those books that will be read a lot, but not talked about..."
And so it happened: there are neither separate studies nor detailed criticism about “Magpie Tales”. For readers and literary critics, they remained in the shadow of the huge “Peter the Great,” the epic “Walking through Torment” and the brilliant “Golden Key,” although “Magpie Tales” are originally the author’s, Tolstoy’s, and not translated or retold. Those mysterious heroes who inhabited the rural childhood of the impressionable boy Alyosha Tolstoy came to life in them.
The closest thing “Magpie Tales” is, of course, to “Nikita’s Childhood”. It would be worth publishing them together one day, but no one has figured it out yet. There, after all, the heroes run from one book to another. The same Mishka Koryashonok, the Konchansk boys and Averyan’s hut - all this was transferred to “Nikita’s Childhood” from the fairy tale “The Snow House”.
In "Magpie Tales" one can guess that cheerful, flowery, like a patchwork quilt, direction of Russian literature for children, which will lead to the appearance of Stepan Pisakhov and Boris Shergin, and many years later - Yuri Koval, Gennady Novozhilov, Boris Sergunenkov...
But the first to sit down to sew this wonderful blanket was the restless young Count Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy. You read his fairy tales and marvel: how delicious it turns out to be - speaking and reading aloud in Russian! There, at the threshold, “a cat purred,” in the distance, “the trees became gloomy,” the boys grabbed a sled and ran “to tumble off the sledges.” They run up, dash around, and then: “Who called me? - Ugomon muttered under the stove,” and the children fell into a deep sleep. And the next day they will rub their eyes and see: “a matinee was flashing in the window, like skimmed milk...”.
The very rhythm of Tolstoy's narrative is fascinating. This rhythm is boyish, daring and absolutely cheerless.
It seems that I am approaching too slowly the occasion that gave me the opportunity to re-read “Magpie Tales” and remind you of them. And this occasion is the release of Tolstoy’s fairy tales in the publishing house “World of Childhood” with illustrations by Evgenia Lotsmanova.
Not only the artist, but also everyone who saw her illustrations for A.N.’s fairy tales had been waiting patiently for this publication for a long time. Tolstoy at exhibitions. It is impossible to forget them. It is very difficult to describe the feeling of joy, comfort, returned childhood that arises when looking at the works of Evgenia Lotsmanova. And I would like to repeat the words written by Maximilian Voloshin a hundred years ago regarding “Magpie Tales”: “Genuine poetry, like true painting, like true feminine charm, is not accessible to words and definitions, because they in themselves are already final definitions complex systems of feelings and states..."
"Magpie's Tales" had, of course, been illustrated before, but there were no masterpieces. Something did not go well in the artists’ relationship with these seemingly simple fairy tales; something important in the image was slipping away. And Evgenia Lotsmanova happily coincided in her worldview with the writer, probably because she began to write her illustrations at the same age at which Alexey Tolstoy began writing his fairy tales. She didn’t have to invent her childhood, climb into the abandoned attic of memory for it. It’s right next to her, just stretch out your hand. (I’ll tell you a secret: Zhenya also plays with dolls - in the sense that she makes toys, and you can see them at exhibitions.)
The publishing house "World of Childhood" published a book with surprising respect for our days to a young artist who does not yet have titles or awards. This respect is expressed both in the impeccable printing execution and in the fact that the preface “From the Publisher” is dedicated to it. There, not just kind, but also very lofty words were said about her: “The artist of this book accomplished a feat... Her name is Evgenia Nikolaevna Lotsmanova. Remember this name." In Lotsmanova’s illustrations (and they were executed using the most difficult technique of color lithography), art historians will find echoes of great masters - with the village pastorals of Efim Chestnyakov and the legendary “Ladushki” by Yuri Vasnetsov. And, of course, with the works of Zhenya’s teacher, head of the book illustration workshop at the Moscow University of Printing Arts, People’s Artist of Russia Boris Diodorov.
Evgenia Lotsmanova created her own secluded world, densely populated with children and toys, insects and little animals. There, the Firebird shines every evening like a table lamp, and even tells fairy tales. The strongest animal there is a kind hedgehog. There a fat nanny sings sleepy songs through her nose. There, fearless children play “pretend” on long winter evenings.
And they are fearless because they are not afraid of anyone and save everyone. Thus, in the fairy tale “The Giant”, the giant turns out to be the miller’s grandson Petka, who saved a whole town of little people and their king. I just saved it like that. In the town, all the bells rang with joy, and Petka scratched the back of his shorn head and went to catch the fish.
So Zhenya Lotsmanova gave us a book that we always seemed to be looking for under our pillows and never found. She gave it to me and went home to finish drawing pictures for Andersen.
We'll wait until he finishes the drawing.
Dmitry Shevarov