Kolomna, Moscow region
Since January 30, within the framework of the Youth Creative Workshop project, the Fairytale Forest exhibition dedicated to the Year of Literature in Russia has been open at the Cultural Center Dom Ozerov. The exhibition presents book illustrations for the fairy tales of H. K. Andersen, a 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 an illustrator. Drawing from early childhood was a favorite pastime - 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 author's toys: dolls and fabulous compositions from various materials (papier-mâché, paperclay, keramoplast, mohair).
The main part of the works at the exhibition are illustrations for the fairy tale The Magic Hill by H. K. Andersen. For a young artist, Evgenia Lotsmanova, 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 diploma work, but significantly revised for this edition. Drawings in a technique that is rare today, which is considered to be a heavy male technique - lithography. The rich artistic language and vivid expressive possibilities of the lithography technique helped to create a complex, cheerful and slightly mysterious world.
Evgenia herself writes about the chosen technique as follows: “Lithography allows you to experiment with the same sketch, varying colors and refining it in search of the best solution. And there is a charm in the miraculousness of the printed picture, which usually turns out a little differently than you expect ... I draw some heroes from the closest people, for example, from my mother."
Illustrations... They, like a light cloud, envelop and immerse in a fairy tale, create an unusually magical atmosphere. Evgenia Lotsmanova created a small world inhabited 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 resonate in the hearts of the audience. The Fairy Forest exhibition is a journey through the fairy tales of H.K. Andersen, which makes you want to read or re-read the marvelous tales of the Danish writer.
Cultural center "House of Ozerov"
Moscow region, Kolomna, st. Krasnogvardeiskaya, 2
Directions:
From Moscow: from st. m. "Vykhino" by bus number 460 to the stop. "Bank", from Kazansky railway station by train to the station "Golutvin", then by tram No. 3, buses No. 5,10 or fixed-route taxis No. 68, 20 to the stop. "Square of 2 revolutions"
Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote "Magpie's Tales" a century ago. It was his first prose book. The lucky author just turned 24. And his book breathed happiness, which was considered bad form in the then decadent literature.
One Maximilian Voloshin welcomed her appearance in the Apollo magazine: “I don’t want to talk about Alexei Tolstoy’s Forty Tales - it’s hard to talk. And this is the greatest praise that can be given to the book. It is so direct, so genuine that one does not want to retell it - one wants to quote it all from beginning to end. This is one of those books that will be read a lot, but they will not be talked about ... "
And so it happened: there are no separate studies or detailed criticism about the Magpie's Tales. For readers and literary critics, they remained in the shadow of the huge "Peter the Great", the epic "Walking Through the Torments" and the brilliant "Golden Key", although it is the "Magpie's Tales" that are originally authorial, Tolstoy's, and not translated or retold. They revived those mysterious heroes that inhabited the village childhood of the impressionable boy Alyosha Tolstoy.
The closest thing is "Magpie's Tales", of course, to "Nikita's Childhood". They would have been worth publishing together one day, but no one has yet guessed. There, after all, the characters run from one book to another. The same Mishka Koryashonok, the Konchan boys and Averyanov's hut - all this was transferred to "Nikita's Childhood" from the fairy tale "Snow House".
In "Magpie's 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 Nikolayevich Tolstoy. You read his fairy tales and marvel: how delicious it is to speak and read aloud in Russian! There, at the threshold, “a cat purred”, in the distance “the trees sullen”, the boys grabbed the sled and ran “to tumble from the omets”. They run, run, and then: “Who called me? - Ugomon shivered under the stove, "and the kids will fall into a deep sleep. And the next day they will rub their eyes and see: “in the window, the matinee glimmered like skimmed milk ...”.
The very rhythm of Tolstoy's narrative is mesmerizing. This rhythm is boyish, daring and absolutely joyless.
It seems that I am too slowly approaching the occasion that gave me the opportunity to re-read the "Magpie's Tales" and remind you of them. And this reason 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 the fairy tales of A.N. 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 want to repeat the words written by Maximilian Voloshin a hundred years ago about the "Forty Tales": "Genuine poetry, like genuine painting, like genuine feminine charm, are not accessible to words and definitions, because they themselves are already the final definitions complex systems of feelings and states...”.
"Magpie's Tales" had been illustrated before, of course, but there were no masterpieces. Something did not go well in the relationship of artists with these seemingly simple tales, something important in the image was slipping away. And Evgenia Lotsmanova happily coincided with the writer's worldview, probably because she started her illustrations at the same age at which Alexei Tolstoy began writing his fairy tales. She did not have to invent a childhood, to climb after him into an abandoned attic of memory. It's right next to her, just reach out your hand. (I’ll tell you a secret: Zhenya still plays with dolls - in the sense that she makes toys, and you can see them at exhibitions.)
The publishing house "Mir Detstva" published a book with amazing for our days reverence for a young artist who does not yet have titles and awards. This reverence is expressed both in the impeccable printing performance, and in the fact that the preface "From the Publisher" is dedicated to her. There, not only kind, but also very high words were said about her: “The artist of this book accomplished a feat ... Her name is Evgenia Nikolaevna Lotsmanova. Remember this name." In the illustrations of Lotsmanova (and they are executed in the most difficult technique of color lithography), art historians will find something in common with the great masters - with the village pastorals of Efim Chestnyakov and the legendary Ladushki by Yuri Vasnetsov. And, of course, with the work 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 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 with her nose. There, fearless children play “representatives” on long winter evenings.
And they are fearless, because they are not afraid of anyone and save everyone. So in the fairy tale "The Giant" the giant turns out to be the millers' granddaughter Petka, who saved the whole town of little men and their king. Just so saved. In the town, all the bells rang out for joy, and Petka scratched the back of his cropped head and went to finish the fish.
So Zhenya Lotsmanova gave us such a book, which we always seemed to be looking for under the pillow and did not find. Gave it, and went home - to finish drawing pictures for Andersen.
We'll wait until it finishes.
Dmitry Shevarov
"Fairy Forest"
January 30 at the Cultural Center "House of Ozerov" opening of the exhibition of book graphics "Fairytale Forest" by an illustrator Evgenia Lotsmanova. The basis of this exhibition was illustrations for the fairy tale "Magic Hill" by H. K. Andersen. For the young artist Evgenia Lotsmanova, "Magic Hill" is the second published book with her illustrations, which simply "revived" this fairy tale, and cannot but arouse admiration.
The illustrations of this fabulous book are based on the artist's thesis work, but significantly revised for this edition. “Flipping through” the pages of this book on the screen and listening to a brief summary of the tale, everyone who came to the opening probably wanted to read this early work of the Danish storyteller and realized how much the illustrator means to the book. The drawings of the book are made in a technique that is rare today, which is considered to be "heavy male technique" - lithography. From the short film commented by Evgenia Lotsmanova herself, everyone was able to learn about the laborious process of creating a lithograph.
Eugene was asked a lot of questions. Answering them in detail, the young artist charmed everyone with her answers. According to Evgenia, each painting is a reflection of the author's soul, a little childish and naive; this is an internal dialogue with the viewer, an invitation to return to the wonderful world of childhood.
That evening, Evgenia received congratulations from the director of the Children's Art School named after the People's Artist of Russia M.G. Abakumov Vasily Alekseevich Bek, because Evgenia is a graduate of this school. There were many kind words and memories from the teacher of this school, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Semenova. Kolomna artist Gennady Mitrofanovich Savinov expressed the hope that Evgenia would return to Kolomna more than once and surprise its residents with her work, because illustration of a children's book is akin to breathing for her - it is impossible to live without it. , illustrating the famous work of I. I. Lazhechnikov “White, black and gray”. Evgenia herself especially thanked her mother, Natalya Nikolaevna, who is her creative and spiritual inspiration.
Elegant illustrations by Evgenia Lotsmanova allowed everyone who came to the opening day to plunge into the wondrous world of book illustration. Together with the author, the audience visited the "Fairytale Forest", created by a wonderful artist, illustrator Evgenia Lotsmanova.
The Fairytale Forest exhibition by Evgenia Lotsmanova will be a real gift for Kolomna residents and guests of our city. From it, each of us will be able to draw those emotions and feelings that remained on the pages of beautiful fairy tales that once generously adorned our childhood.
On March 25, the Day of the Cultural Worker, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin presented Evgeniya Nikolaevna Lotsmanova, a graduate of the Moscow State Unitary Enterprise named after Ivan Fedorov, with an award for her contribution to the development of the domestic art of illustration.
It is very difficult to describe the feeling of joy, comfort, returned childhood that arises when looking at Evgenia's works. "They smell of field wind and damp earth, the beasts speak their own languages, everything in them is cheerful, absurd and strong; as in a real animal game, everything is imbued with healthy animal humor." She did not have to invent a childhood, to climb after him into an abandoned attic of memory. It's right next to her, just reach out your hand. (I’ll tell you a secret: Zhenya still plays with dolls - in the sense that she makes toys, and you can see them at exhibitions.)
(works are clickable)
A fragile girl works with heavy lithographic plates, improving dozens of times what has become completely weightless as a result - the true art of classical book illustration. The result is masterpieces - flickering, magical pictures that you can look at for hours and read and reread, like real fairy tales.
This sorceress is "a bird from Diodorov's nest". Her name is Evgenia Nikolaevna Lotsmanova. I think you will 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. "Magic Hill" G.H. Andersen
Little Water. "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. Drawing was a favorite pastime from early childhood, it is no coincidence that Eugenia'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. Holder of a diploma from the Union of Artists of Russia (2010), winner of the competition in the nomination "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), “Magic Hill” by G.Kh. . She also created a series of illustrations for "Gulliver's Travels", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Tartuffe", a series of lithographs dedicated to the historical places of Russia. Participant of numerous exhibitions of illustrations, including three personal ones.
Ball. "Magic Hill" (clickable, but better viewed in parts)
(clickable)
Firebird. "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 the Forty Tales: “Genuine poetry, like genuine painting, like genuine feminine charm, are not accessible to words and definitions, because they themselves are already the final definitions of complex systems of feelings and states..."
