Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov(July 30, Sverdlovsk, RSFSR - November 19, Moscow, Russia) - Soviet and Russian illustrator. People's Artist of the Russian Federation ().
Biography
Born in Sverdlovsk in an Armenian family. Father - Alexey Tokmakov, mother - Gayane Karpovna Kuyumchibashyan (1873 - 1959). In 1951 he graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (Stroganov School). His teachers were Pavel Kuznetsov and Alexander Kuprin. During his creative life he created autolithographs and drawings in easel graphics, illustrated more than 200 children's books.
In particular, he created colorful, funny and witty illustrations for the works of almost all famous representatives of Russian children's literature: Ya. Akim, A. Aleksin, T. Alexandrova, A. Barto, I. Tokmakova, T. Belozerov, V. Berestov, V. Bianki, E. Veltistov, A. Gaidar, V. Dragunsky, B. Zakhoder, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, A. Mityaev, E. Moshkovskaya, S. Sakharnov, R. Sefa, G. Tsyferov, and is also the author illustrations for the works of J. Rodari, A. Lindgren and fairy tales of Italian writers, Chinese folk tales.
The most famous illustrations for books: J. Rodari "Tales on the Phone", J. Rodari "Jelsomino in the Land of Liars", A. Lindgren "Pippi Longstocking", I. Tokmakova "Rostik and Kesha", V. Bianchi "Like an ant home hurried”, to the works of V. Berestov, B. Zakhoder, S. Mikhalkov, D. Krupskaya and many others. He also created memorable artistic images for editions of Russian folk tales: a collection of Russian fairy tales "Forest apple", "Russian fairy tales about animals", "Kolobok", "Ryaba hen", "Wolf and seven kids", "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka", "Sister Chanterelle and the Gray Wolf".
Lev Tokmakov - the creator of the text and illustrations for the books for children "Mishin Gem", "Miracles of the Lord" (2010), author of two collections of poems: "Dog's Dream" (1998), "Eyes of insomniacs" (2008) .
Since 1958, he collaborated with the Murzilka magazine.
The artist's works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Bratislava National Gallery, many museums and private collections in Russia and abroad.
The book-album "Funny walks near Moscow", the author of which he is, in 2009 was awarded a special prize in the "Book of the Year" competition.
The urn with ashes was buried at 1 site. Armenian cemetery.
Awards and titles
- 1980 - the name of L. Tokmakov was included in the Honorary List of H. K. Andersen
- 1984 - gold medal from the government of the Yemeni Arab Republic for a series of works on the YAR
- 1985 - gold medal at the BIB in Bratislava for illustrations for the book "Krabat" by Otfried Preusler
- 1988 - honorary diploma of H. K. Andersen for illustrations to the book by I. Tokmakova "Carousel".
Tokmakov in the social and cultural environment
Tokmakov was a bright, charismatic personality. He was close friends with the writer Yuri Kazakov, with Ariadna Efron, the daughter of Marina Tsvetaeva, with Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya, with the Belarusian folk artist Georgy Poplavsky.
Family
Wife - famous poet and translator Irina Petrovna Tokmakova.
Son - Vasily Lvovich Tokmakov, poet, author of several books for preschool children.
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Notes
Links
- . Illustrator: site about the art of book graphics. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
- . metronews.ru Retrieved December 12, 2010. .
An excerpt characterizing Tokmakov, Lev Alekseevich
- Well? - said Pierre, looking with surprise at the strange animation of his friend and noticing the look that he threw at Natasha getting up.“I need, I need to talk to you,” said Prince Andrei. - You know our women's gloves (he talked about those Masonic gloves that were given to the newly elected brother to present to his beloved woman). - I ... But no, I'll talk to you later ... - And with a strange gleam in his eyes and restlessness in his movements, Prince Andrei went up to Natasha and sat down beside her. Pierre saw how Prince Andrei asked her something, and she, flushing, answered him.
But at this time, Berg approached Pierre, urging him to take part in a dispute between the general and the colonel about Spanish affairs.
Berg was pleased and happy. The smile of joy never left his face. The evening was very good and exactly like the other evenings he had seen. Everything was similar. And ladylike, subtle conversations, and cards, and behind the cards a general raising his voice, and a samovar, and cookies; but one thing was still missing, that which he always saw at parties, which he wished to imitate.
There was a lack of loud conversation between men and an argument about something important and clever. The general started this conversation and Berg brought Pierre to it.
The next day, Prince Andrei went to the Rostovs for dinner, as Count Ilya Andreich called him, and spent the whole day with them.
Everyone in the house felt for whom Prince Andrei went, and he, without hiding, tried all day to be with Natasha. Not only in the soul of Natasha, frightened, but happy and enthusiastic, but in the whole house, fear was felt before something important that had to happen. The countess looked at Prince Andrei with sad and seriously stern eyes when he spoke with Natasha, and timidly and feigningly began some kind of insignificant conversation, as soon as he looked back at her. Sonya was afraid to leave Natasha and was afraid to be a hindrance when she was with them. Natasha turned pale with fear of anticipation when she remained face to face with him for minutes. Prince Andrei struck her with his timidity. She felt that he needed to tell her something, but that he could not bring himself to do so.
When Prince Andrei left in the evening, the countess went up to Natasha and said in a whisper:
- Well?
- Mom, for God's sake don't ask me anything now. You can’t say that,” Natasha said.
But despite the fact that that evening Natasha, now agitated, now frightened, with stopping eyes, lay for a long time in her mother's bed. Now she told her how he praised her, then how he said that he would go abroad, then how he asked where they would live this summer, then how he asked her about Boris.
“But this, this… has never happened to me!” she said. “Only I’m scared around him, I’m always scared around him, what does that mean?” So it's real, right? Mom, are you sleeping?
“No, my soul, I myself am afraid,” answered the mother. - Go.
“I won’t sleep anyway. What's wrong with sleeping? Mommy, mommy, this has never happened to me! she said with astonishment and fear before the feeling that she was aware of in herself. - And could we think! ...
It seemed to Natasha that even when she first saw Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, she fell in love with him. She seemed to be frightened by this strange, unexpected happiness that the one whom she had chosen back then (she was firmly convinced of this), that he had now met her again, and, as it seemed, was not indifferent to her. “And it was necessary for him, now that we are here, to come to Petersburg on purpose. And we should have met at this ball. All this is fate. It is clear that this is fate, that all this was led to this. Even then, as soon as I saw him, I felt something special.
What else did he tell you? What verses are these? Read it ... - thoughtfully said the mother, asking about the poems that Prince Andrei wrote in Natasha's album.
- Mom, is it not a shame that he is a widower?
- That's it, Natasha. Pray to God. Les Marieiages se font dans les cieux. [Marriages are made in heaven.]
“Darling, mother, how I love you, how good it is for me!” Natasha shouted, crying tears of happiness and excitement and hugging her mother.
At the same time, Prince Andrei was sitting with Pierre and telling him about his love for Natasha and about his firm intention to marry her.
On that day, Countess Elena Vasilievna had a reception, there was a French envoy, there was a prince, who had recently become a frequent visitor to the countess's house, and many brilliant ladies and men. Pierre was downstairs, walked through the halls, and struck all the guests with his concentrated, absent-minded and gloomy look.
From the time of the ball, Pierre felt the approach of fits of hypochondria in himself and with a desperate effort tried to fight against them. From the time of the prince’s rapprochement with his wife, Pierre was unexpectedly granted a chamberlain, and from that time on he began to feel heaviness and shame in a large society, and more often the same gloomy thoughts about the futility of everything human began to come to him. At the same time, the feeling he noticed between Natasha, who was patronized by him, and Prince Andrei, his opposition between his position and the position of his friend, further strengthened this gloomy mood. He equally tried to avoid thoughts about his wife and about Natasha and Prince Andrei. Again everything seemed to him insignificant in comparison with eternity, again the question presented itself: “what for?”. And he forced himself day and night to work on the Masonic works, hoping to drive away the approach of the evil spirit. Pierre at 12 o'clock, having left the Countess's chambers, was sitting upstairs in a smoky, low room, in a worn dressing gown in front of the table and copying genuine Scottish acts, when someone entered his room. It was Prince Andrew.
Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov- Soviet and Russian illustrator. People's Artist of Russia (1998).
Born in Sverdlovsk, RSFSR. In 1951 he graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (Stroganov School). His teachers were Pavel Kuznetsov and Alexander Kuprin. Having reached creative maturity, Lev Tokmakov is happy to share his experience with children, conducting classes at the Bibigon book illustration studio in the Russian State Children's Library.
In 1950 Tokmakov got married. The creative union of Irina Tokmakova and Lev Tokmakova developed successfully. Irina's books published in the 1960s were illustrated by her husband: "Trees" (1962), "Kukareku" (1965), "Carousel" (1967), "Evening Tale" (1968).
During his creative life he created autolithographs and drawings in easel graphics, illustrated more than 200 children's books. In particular, he created colorful, funny and witty illustrations for the works of almost all famous representatives of Russian children's literature: Y. Akim, A. Aleksin, T. Alexandrova, A. Barto, T. Belozerov, V. Berestov, V. Bianchi, E. Veltistov, A. Gaidar, V. Dragunsky, B. Zakhoder, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, A. Mityaev, E. Moshkovskaya, S. Sakharnov, R. Sefa, G. Tsyferov, as well as the author of illustrations for the works of J. Rodari, A. Lindgren and fairy tales of Italian writers, Chinese folk tales. The most famous illustrations for the books: J. Rodari "Tales on the Phone" and "Jelsomino in the Land of Liars", A. Lindgren "Pippi Longstocking", I. Tokmakova "Rostik and Kesha", V. Bianchi "Like an ant hurried home", to the works of V. Berestov, B. Zakhoder, S. Mikhalkov and many others. He also created memorable artistic images for editions of Russian folk tales: a collection of Russian fairy tales "Forest Apple", "Gingerbread Man", "Ryaba Hen", "The Wolf and the Seven Kids", "Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka", "Sister Chanterelle and the Gray Wolf and others.
Since 1958, he collaborated with the Murzilka magazine.
A huge role in the development of Lev Tokmakov's style was played by the artistic principles of an illustrated children's book, which were developed by the famous master of children's book graphics V. M. Konashevich.
The artist's works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Bratislava National Gallery, many museums and private collections in Russia and abroad.
The book-album "Funny walks near Moscow", the author of which he was, in 2009 was awarded a special prize in the "Book of the Year" competition.
Awards:
1980 - the name of L. Tokmakov was included in the Honorary List of H. K. Andersen
1984 - gold medal from the government of the Yemeni Arab Republic for a series of works on the YAR
1985 - gold medal at the BIB in Bratislava for illustrations for O. Preusler's book "Krabat"
1988 - honorary diploma of H. K. Andersen for illustrations to the book by I. Tokmakova "Carousel".
Awards and prizes:
Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov
(July 30, 1928, Sverdlovsk, RSFSR - November 19, 2010, Moscow, Russian Federation)
Soviet and Russian illustrator. People's Artist of Russia (1998).
In 1951 he graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (Stroganov School). His teachers were Pavel Kuznetsov and Alexander Kuprin. During his creative life he created autolithographs and drawings in easel graphics, illustrated more than 200 children's books.
In particular, he created colorful, funny and witty illustrations for the works of almost all famous representatives of Russian children's literature: Ya. Akim, A. Aleksin, T. Alexandrova, A. Barto, I. Tokmakova, T. Belozerov, V. Berestov, V. Bianki, E. Veltistov, A. Gaidar, V. Dragunsky, B. Zakhoder, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, A. Mityaev, E. Moshkovskoy, S. Sakharnov, R. Sefa, G. Tsyferov, as well as the author of illustrations to the works of J. Rodari, A. Lindgren and fairy tales of Italian writers, Chinese folk tales. The most famous illustrations for books: J. Rodari "Tales on the Phone", A. Lindgren "Pippi Longstocking", I. Tokmakova "Rostik and Kesha", V. Bianchi "Like an ant hurried home", to the works of V. Berestov, B Zakhoder, S. Mikhalkov and many others. He also created memorable artistic images for editions of Russian folk tales: a collection of Russian fairy tales "Forest Apple", "Gingerbread Man", "Ryaba Hen", "The Wolf and the Seven Kids", "Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka", "Sister Chanterelle and the Gray Wolf and others.
Since 1958, he collaborated with the Murzilka magazine.
1969 - first trip to Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia)
1976 - trip to Senegal, Guinea, Algeria.
1977 - trip to Bulgaria
1978 - trip to Italy
1980 - the name of L. Tokmakov was included in the Honorary List of H.K. Andersen.
1981 - personal exhibition in Iraq.
1984 - received a gold medal from the government of the Arab Republic of Yemen for a series of works on the YAR.
1985 - gold medal at the BIB in Bratislava for illustrations for O. Preusler's book "Krabat".
1988 - honorary diploma of H.K. Andersen for illustrations to the book by I. Tokmakova "Carousel".
Having reached creative maturity, Lev Tokmakov is happy to share his experience with children, conducting classes at the Bibigon book illustration studio in the Russian State Children's Library.
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1981)
People's Artist of Russia (1998).
The artist's works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Bratislava National Gallery, many museums and private collections in Russia and abroad.
The book-album "Funny walks near Moscow", the author of which he was, in 2009 was awarded a special prize in the "Book of the Year" competition.
Artist of the 12th issue of the magazine "HiP" (the magazine can be bought at our stand at the International Open Book Festival in the Central House of Artists, stand 66, Moscow Studies)
You went out into the field for the first time today.
You're not mastitis, and you're out of sight.
You can give your hooves free rein.
Forget the guiding star!
Young horse, spoil the furrow!
Over time, your random flaw
Suddenly turns into a fearless feat
And it will become mandatory for everyone
Other horses walking on arable land.
You will make your dream come true.
Young horse, spoil the furrow!
My horse, hurry!
Day of youth will pass
Lawful day of holy iniquity.
Tomorrow will be translated
You into well-meaning horses.
You will grow old, walking on occasion.
Young horse, spoil the furrow!
How he messed up the furrow
I love these verses. Their impudent appeal to those who have embarked on the path of creativity. Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov had every right to do so.
I remember that warm sunny day well. At a street bookstore, I saw a book unlike any other. The cover consisted of blue and blue, yellow, pink, red triangles, cut at the bottom with a black sign, which artisans attached to their homes in old Europe. It was she who suggested that the triangles are the gabled roofs of those same houses. The witty invention on the cover with Gianni Rodari's inscription "Gelsomino in the land of liars" aroused an immediate desire to open it: on the title page, in a modest reduction in type, I found: "Drawings by L. Tokmakov." I had one children's fairy tale at home with such a caption, but I would not single it out from among the others - the illustrations in it were ordinary, traditional. And here!
What amazing sharp images, what bold independent finds. That there is at least a frontispiece with a dancing pale city silhouette placed upside down and a warily looking black-eyed boy, consisting of sharp corners, and with a “house” nose. In an inverted space, there are clouds, the moon, stars, and above them an independently curved ginger cat... In general, all the drawings in the book were made in that pamphlet style that had long been forgotten by our book art.
The text of the tale-pamphlet certainly provoked the artist to such courage. But she had to have it! He stepped into a fresh furrow to leave his own unique mark on it. (Looking at the illustrations now, I saw a familiar silhouette - a gray-haired, round-headed old man, heavily carrying a wheelbarrow along the edge of the black earth, it was he who predicted his future.)
Since then, Tokmakov has always been recognized. He did not repeat himself literally - but the character of the image remained the same. It was as if he gave himself a creative mindset: to find his images firmly, to feel the book, the surface of its white sheet, to be concise, to be able to play with objects, with color, with form - to the delight of children and art. Now he wrote: "Draw by Lev Tokmakov." It was already a program of co-authorship - with a poet, writer, the assertion of one's self-sufficiency. Do not forget the Scottish folk songs "Little Willy Winky" translated by Irina Tokmakova, her early poems "Trees", "Conversations", "Merry and Sad", "Russian Tales about Animals", "Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren, "Krabat" Preussler , poems by English poets "Merry Mammoth" translated by Dina Krupskaya, new books by Irina Tokmakova, from the latest editions of "Miracles of the Lord", you can not list everything. An artist, poet, author of clever critical articles, a wise patron of young illustrators, a shy person who is extremely picky about his work. Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov.
Lydia Kudryavtseva
IRINA TOKMAKOVA. WORKSHOP - THERE, BEHIND THE CABINET
The year 1950, which has long sunk into oblivion. My entire student group gathered for a party on November 8th. Strange as it may seem now, the 33rd anniversary of the Great October Revolution is being celebrated. I'm a little late. The whole company is already at the table. And yet - two unfamiliar guys, Lucy's friends. Everything happens in her apartment, because everyone else lives in communal apartments. They introduce me. One of the strangers holds out his hand, calls himself: "Seryozha." The other - tall, broad-shouldered - rises slightly: "Levka". And it immediately grabs my attention.
And then he walks me home. And then we go together to the Tretyakov Gallery and to various art exhibitions, and to the cinema, and to his friends, students of the Stroganovka. And everywhere, everywhere - in the subway, in the foyer of the cinema, in the park on a bench - Leo invariably has an album and a pencil in his hands. He draws incessantly, makes sketches: faces, interior elements, sometimes just someone’s hand, fingers, head turn ... And it has always been like this, all our subsequent family life: at a party, at the station, at the airport, in Moscow, in Warsaw, in Africa - all fifty-seven years that fate let us live together. Wherever he is.
Lev graduated from Stroganov in 1951. Faculty of artistic processing of metal. His diploma was - lighting fixtures of the station in the city of Smolensk - chandeliers and sconces. But it was so - and passed. Little by little. Gradually, a graphic artist was born and gained strength, skills and mastery. I tried my hand at the book. Black and white line drawings. And although this was the very beginning, it still could not be said that his drawings were timid or inept. Of course, not only was Moscow not built right away, the artist also gradually matures and gains mastery.
Leo was born in the Urals and after the Stroganov School he was assigned to the Urals. But in 1953 we got married, and he moved to Moscow. Oh, how hard it was for him to "win" the capital's publishing houses! Among the metropolitan "whales" who would want to order illustrations from a young, decidedly unknown artist! But, despite the fact that it was difficult to get a job, from the very beginning and throughout his entire creative life, Lev never agreed to illustrate a text for the sake of earning money if it seemed to him of little talent, little artistic, and poor quality. I remember that at the beginning of our life together - there was no work, no money, he was offered by the Young Guard publishing house to make illustrations for some lousy opportunistic story about a certain pioneer leader. But he refuses! What to do? We need to feed the baby! You have to live on something! And still - no, and that's it! I am afraid that nothing else will be ordered to him. But it turned out not to be so. In the same publishing house, somehow accidentally spotting some of his handwriting, the art editor, his name was Viktor Pleshko, suddenly saw in him the talent of an artist of a children's book and ordered him illustrations for the poems of the then little-known poet - Boris Zakhoder.
So the start was given.
From the very beginning and "forever and ever" my husband made the most stringent demands on himself while working. Achieve the best possible. At the same time - never any sketches. Immediately original. And then - reject and start over. Once again. And further. Sometimes quietly achieving what you want. Sometimes nervous. Once - and tore the drawing. And threw it in the trash. Got up.
He walked across the room. Another drawing. Almost with a cry of annoyance.
And now - finally. Finally what I wanted.
For many years this has been going on. Because there was only one room for the whole family in a communal apartment in Pugovichny Lane, not far from the estate of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy. There was a secretary in the room, fenced off from everything else by a bookcase. There, behind the closet, there was a “workshop” of two and a half square meters.
Often, going sideways from behind the closet, he would show me what he had drawn. And not so much asked my opinion as he taught me to understand. But still I was satisfied if I liked the drawings. Often, showing me what was drawn on the spread, he liked to ask: “Do you think they are getting to know each other?” I meant spreadsheets.
At the end of the fifties, they began to print it in the magazines "Funny Pictures" and in "Murzilka". These were not such terrible years, especially after the 20th Congress. People somehow “thawed out” and became warmer and more trusting to each other. And what a wonderful friendship arose then young artists. What a high note of creativity and reverent attitude to the art of a children's book sounded! How Leva knew how to rejoice in other people's successes! How highly he appreciated the work of artists - Monin, Losin, Pertsov, Chizhikov, May Miturich. I'm not talking about the older generation of artists.
In those years, in the publishing house "Kid" (it was still called "Children's World"), the editor-in-chief was a great enthusiast Yuri Pavlovich Timofeev, and the main artist was the excellent artist himself - Ivan Lvovich Bruni. How they both knew how to inspire creativity and writers and artists! Then this publishing house published my first book of original, untranslated poems "Trees" with drawings by the Lion. Such light, beautiful, somewhat conditional, but very convincing "images" of trees. And no one would ever have guessed how long the artist was looking for this language, how he told the little reader-viewer about trees. And, besides this, he read these uncomplicated verses so deeply that he was able to create his own parallel reading, transferring the meaning of the verses to the child - the smallest reader.
Little by little recognition came. Books came out. For each text, for each literary language, Lev Alekseevich searched for a long time for a pictorial "language", only for this text, only for this author.
All his illustrations, and especially for children's books, seemed so natural, as if they had always been there. And it was hard to guess how hard the artist worked in a long and sometimes painful search for the only possible plastic embodiment.
Now it is already known how incredibly lucky I - the author - was: many of my books were illustrated by him. My books have been reprinted many times. And, I must say, he never gave his illustrations just for reprint. He repeated the drawing, but anew, introducing something new, achieving even greater perfection.
Time passed. It took place in constant work, illustration, drawing from nature, constant reflection on art, sometimes taking the form of magazine articles.
But how not to return to the beginning of the sixties, when a kind of “leap” into the future took place in the life of the artist Tokmakov!
In the same publishing house Molodaya Gvardia, where the illustration of children's books came from, the same wonderful editor Viktor Pleshko suggested that Lev illustrate the just translated fairy tale of the famous Italian writer Gianni Rodari "Gelsomino in the land of liars."
For about two months, Lev, probably, fought over the search for the image of the hero-boy Gelsomino. How much paper was torn! There were so many transitions from despair to delight ... and back, until finally, an image was found that satisfied the artist.
Happened in his work and real prototypes of the heroes of the book. I think it is not difficult for many to see the image of May Miturich in the artist Bananito, with whom exactly during these years Lev had a warm friendship. And King Giacomon slightly resembles not just anyone, but the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev!
Work completed. The book is out of print in huge numbers and sells out instantly. She is admired. They talk about her.
But it was not there! The chief artist of the publishing house Vsevolod Brodsky and Viktor Pleshko are summoned to the Central Committee of the party. They threaten to fire both of them for publishing such a book that has completely departed from socialist realism. Complete scandal! And, however... However, letters from the author arrive. Both the publisher and the artist.
“Dear comrades! - Gianni Rodari writes to publishers. “I don’t know how to express my gratitude: the publication is simply magnificent ... The illustrations are made with brilliant taste, in exquisite and poetic colors, with the richest imagination, with genuine skill ...”
And Rodari wrote to the artist: “Dear Tokmakov, you are simply excellent ... I leafed through the book as if in a fever and on every page I published “oohs” and “aahs” with admiration ... This is your book much more than mine ... If if you want me to hug you twice instead of once, send me one or two original drawings if possible, it will give me great pleasure to hang them on the wall in my house ... "
I was later told that when the Pionerskaya Pravda delegation visited Rodari in Rome, they saw Tokmakov's framed illustrations on the wall in his office.
It should be noted that after the letters of Gianni Rodari, excerpts from which were then published in the Literary Gazette, the scandal somehow resolved itself.
A great long life... Life next to a person of such great creative intensity. You can't tell everything on a few pages of a magazine. Maybe it's time to write a book?
"Painted by Lev Tokmakov"
The illustrations he created in 1960 for Gianni Rodari's fairy tale "Gelsomino in the land of liars" were a true discovery in the field of children's book art...
Gelsomino in the Land of Liars was the first major work by Lev Tokmakov and the first real creative victory. The artist managed to find the unity of poetry and exciting entertainment. In the text of the Italian writer, satirical buffoonery and simple humanity live side by side. The artist managed to build a graphic series in this double vein. Starting with this book, the artist establishes the principle of constructive drawing as the basis for working on an illustration for children ...
The artist works with thin lines, colored planes that seem to randomly collide with each other at sharp broken angles. It seems that this world is emerging, happening before our eyes. The real and the imaginary, the possible and the impossible, reside in this extremely changeable dynamic world. But the "faces" of good and evil are so clear, so clear that they are immediately distinguishable, recognizable and evoke a sharp reaction from the young reader-viewer...
In the works of Lev Tokmakov, one can feel the philosophical seriousness and soft poetry, the trusting and admiring attitude towards nature and people, which is so necessary for a children's artist. Like children, he freshly sees the familiar and familiar.
(From an article by Nina Zavadskaya in the book
"Artist Lev Tokmakov". M., 1989)
LEV TOKMAKOV. "BOOK FOR LITTLE LITTLE SURROGATES"
Reflections
Respectfully look at the drawing child. Maybe it is at this moment that the heir to an unheard-of school of art that once existed on earth is most fully manifested in him.
Nothing brings out the qualities of an artist like work for children. Not everyone survives this test. In an adult book or in a graphic series, behind external effects, behind honed craftsmanship, you can still hide your mental failure. But in a thin, twelve-page book you can't hide anywhere. Here you need everything only genuine - and the spirit, and talent, and work. A book for little ones does not tolerate surrogates.
In my drawings, I try to interest my viewer in the fate of the characters, to make him worry, to regret. Whether the ant is in a hurry to go home, whether the gullible Sazanchik is looking for happiness on the banks of the river - all of them are waiting for sympathy, compassion.
It's good to laugh at the funny adventures of cheerful heroes. But if art suddenly brings sadness, there is no need to run away, be embarrassed, hide tears. Sympathy for someone else's misfortune does not make you less courageous. Vice versa!
joyful moment
... How nice it was to twilight in his cramped workshop, clinging like a swallow's nest under the very roof of an unremarkable high-rise building on the outskirts of Moscow.
- When they gave me this workshop, - said Lev Alekseevich, - and I entered here, it was an empty small hangar. And I realized that if I didn’t let the spirit in here, then nothing would work for me.
- And how did you let him in?
I called him and he came. Together with books and this old mirror - it is kind, still merchant ...
Next to Lev Alekseevich it was light, cozy and reliable. The world was round again - as in childhood, as in Tokmakov's books. Lev Alekseevich had a keen sense of the circle, which means harmony. Look: in his drawings, everything fits into a circle, everything reaches for it, and everything fits in it. The world appears as if it had just been created - without sharp corners. Not only dandelions and children, snowmen and clouds, chicks and balloons, horses and bears, mushrooms and puddles are cozily spherical - even trucks and school desks are rounded ...
So, on June 12, 2009, thanks to one kind soul, that happy moment came for me when we met with Lev Alekseevich and had a happy conversation. And then there was a second, and a third meeting ...
In the terribly hot and smoky summer of 2010, Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov could not leave Moscow. It was very difficult for him. But every day he went down to the yard to water his favorite birch. On the phone, he told his relatives: “I watered her today, and I gave her 11 buckets of water.”
And three months later we said goodbye to the great master...
In his latest book, which is called "The Miracles of the Lord", the most amazing work is the one where the Creator intently and reverently breathes life into a small blue ball, throws it up, but does not remove his palm - just in case.
In the preface to the book, Lev Alekseevich wrote: “A joyful moment: the ball has not fallen and will never fall again! ..”
“I worked for many years,” Lev Alekseevich told about the Miracles of the Lord, “and when I finished, I don’t know what to do next. Atheism seems to have collapsed, but the publishing houses have also collapsed. And those that remain are afraid. They are not afraid to publish all sorts of horror stories, but they are afraid of this book. At first I went to publishing houses, and then I calmed down. Something slowly changed in the book, completed. Well, they don't publish it - and that's fine. I knew that this book was on the lists of fate.
Long - twenty years! - there were no publishers. Once I managed to show my biblical drawings to Metropolitan Juvenaly. He liked it and wrote a blessing: Illustrations by the artist Lev Tokmakov on biblical themes are an attempt to penetrate the spiritual essence of great and holy events and bring their eternal content to children's hearts. May the Lord bless all who open the pages of this book.”
Soon I got a call from the publishing house, they themselves offered. And here are the Miracles of the Lord” in front of you.
DMITRY SHEVAROV
from a notebook
Lev Alekseevich Tokmakov (July 30, 1928, Sverdlovsk, RSFSR - November 19, 2010, Moscow, Russia) - Soviet and Russian illustrator. People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1998).
In 1951 he graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (Stroganov School). His teachers were Pavel Kuznetsov and Alexander Kuprin. During his creative life he created autolithographs and drawings in easel graphics, illustrated more than 200 children's books.
In particular, he created colorful, funny and witty illustrations for the works of almost all famous representatives of Russian children's literature: Ya. Akim, A. Aleksin, T. Alexandrova, A. Barto, I. Tokmakova, T. Belozerov, V. Berestov, V. Bianki, E. Veltistov, A. Gaidar, V. Dragunsky, B. Zakhoder, S. Marshak, S. Mikhalkov, A. Mityaev, E. Moshkovskoy, S. Sakharnov, R. Sefa, G. Tsyferov, as well as the author of illustrations to the works of J. Rodari, A. Lindgren and fairy tales of Italian writers, Chinese folk tales. The most famous illustrations for books: J. Rodari "Tales on the Phone", A. Lindgren "Pippi Longstocking", I. Tokmakova "Rostik and Kesha", V. Bianchi "Like an ant hurried home", to the works of V. Berestov, B Zakhoder, S. Mikhalkov and many others. He also created memorable artistic images for editions of Russian folk tales: a collection of Russian fairy tales "Forest Apple", "Gingerbread Man", "Ryaba Hen", "The Wolf and the Seven Kids", "Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka", "Sister Chanterelle and the Gray Wolf and others.
Since 1958, he collaborated with the Murzilka magazine.
The artist's works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Bratislava National Gallery, many museums and private collections in Russia and abroad.
The book-album "Funny walks near Moscow", the author of which he was, in 2009 was awarded a special prize in the "Book of the Year" competition.
