Igor ERCHOV (ERSHOV) (1916-1985, Russia) - Lot 162

Lot n° 162
Go to lot
Estimation :
1500 - 2000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 764EUR
Igor ERCHOV (ERSHOV) (1916-1985, Russia) - Lot 162
Igor ERCHOV (ERSHOV) (1916-1985, Russia) 7 drawings for the illustrations to the edition of the Russian folk tale "The Tsar of the Wave and Vassilissa the Very Wise". Gouache on paper glued to protective cardboard boards. 18x13.5 cm Three drawings are monogrammed by the author. They bear the stamp of admission for export from the Soviet Union on the back. PROVENANCE: the artist's family. Игорь Иванович ЕРШОВ (1916-1985, Россия) 7 рисунков к изданию русской народной сказки "Морской царь и Василиса премудрая" Бумага, гуашь, наклеены на картонн. 18x13,5 см На трёх рисунках монограмма автора. На оборотной стороне штамп о допуске к вывозу из Советского Союза. ПРОВЕНАНС: семья художника. Igor Ershov always remembered his teacher Ivan Balibin with emotion and gratitude, saying that it was he who had passed on to him love and admiration for the Russian fairy tale. The artist was born into a well-known family of musicians. His father Ivan Vasilyevich Ershov, the famous opera singer of the "Mariinsky Theatre". Igor grew up in a musical environment, and throughout his life enjoyed creating paintings while listening to gramophone records. In 1947, Igor Ershov graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Arts. His teachers were outstanding artists: Constantin Roudakov, Pavel Chillingovski, Ivan Bilibine. This galaxy of Silver Age "maestros" shaped Ershov. He mastered the techniques of lithography and engraving. Ershov's diploma work consisted of illustrations for Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman". In the years 1948-1954, the artist experienced the most difficult moments in his professional search. He finally broke away from Socialist Realism. From 1956-1960, Ershov became interested in Matisse and Picasso; these artists inspired his first watercolors and drawings. A series of these works (still lifes, landscapes, abstract compositions) are now part of Russian museum collections, as well as private collections in the West. The artist said: "I've started to study my subject again. A world of new plasticity, unknown shapes, colors and designs opened up to me...". During these years in the USSR, a "thaw" began for the starving artistic intelligentsia. At the same time, Igor Ershov continued to illustrate children's books. These illustrations were created with great charm and imagination, and a broad knowledge of Russian folklore. The artist was offered the chance to publish a series of books of Russian fairy tales for foreign editions. Igor was a meticulous student of icons, Russian folklore and loubok (a genre similar to the Epinal image), his illustrations framed by a kind of lace and decor. Bilibin's influence in this field was undoubtedly considerable, but Ershov strove to develop the stylistics of the Russian fairy tale in his own way. He succeeded in creating illustrations that combined all these elements, and he added his love of the little reader, so that each tale would remain in his memory and in his soul as much through the story as through the image. Since 1969, Igor has worked with his daughter and pupil Ksenia Erchova (Xenia Krivocheine). Together, they have illustrated dozens of children's books published in the USSR and Europe. In France, books by Igor Erchov and Ksenia Erchova have been published by Père Castor, Edition Flammarion and L'École des loisirs. Igor Ershov's works can be found in museums in Russia and France, as well as in private collections. Igor Ershov died in 1985 in Leningrad in complete solitude. Following his death, his apartment was looted and his paintings disappeared. Thanks to the efforts of his daughter, an exhibition of his work was held in 1991 in Saint Petersburg. It was a great success. Museums and collectors loaned the artist's paintings for the occasion. It's worth pointing out that now, thanks to the Internet, you can familiarize yourself with Igor Ershov's works from different periods of his creative work and with his unusual biography. He was a talented realist painter and, in his later works after 1955 (provocative still lifes and abstract compositions), he always introduced details of decorative painting, icons and folklore. Игорь Иванович ЕРШОВ (1916-1985) Игорь Е
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue