Mihail Chemiakin

(1943 - )

4532

V. Vasilev

Испанская классическая эпиграмма

The classical Spanish epigram

Moscow: khud. Literatura, 1969

132 x 110 mm. 310 pages

Edition:25,000.

Copy with a dedication to LS by the artist. In the beginning of his career Chemiakin was detained in a mental hospital by the authorities because of the distorted subject matter of his paintings, made under influence of the art of Soutine. After he got out, he continued to create his own world in pictures. In 1964 Vasiliev, poet and translator, asked the artist to illustrate Classical Spanish Epigrams he had just finished translating. Chemiakin worked on the illustrations for several months that year. The 12 plates, frontispiece and cover illustration he created are similar to the coloured etchings he made in a different series in the second half of the 1960s. These reveal the typical Chemiakin idiom, based on the gallant scenes of  World of Art images. Again the authorities went against the artist. Not only was the director of the Hermitage who had dared to mount an exhibition of Chemiakin’s work sacked, at the same time the publication of the book was blocked. Only six years later, backed by an influential Soviet diplomat (and collector of Chemiakin’s paintings), the small book was published. It was immediately successful and it figured among the best Soviet publications of 1970 and was awarded the gold medal for best book illustrations in Venice the following year.

References:

Moscow 1970, p. 32.

Bass & Lamb 2000, p. 161