In 1934 Ivanovsky passed her exam on book illustration and graphic arts. This booklet was her exam publication. For it she turned to her roots and she interpreted the Russian tale of The farmer and the bear. Contrary to the colourful illustrations of Circus (see nr. 126) she kept these woodcuts in earthen tones, reflecting the Russian lubok (broadsheet) and the simple copeck books from her childhood. With this work and her other achievements at La Cambre (see nrs. 125 and 126) she greatly impressed the board of examiners, among whom were the publisher Sikkel and the author Franz Hellens. They both immediately gave her commissions to illustrate books for them. For Sikkel she illustrated Lode Baekelmans’ book Tille and for Hellens’ The death in the soul both books for adults, published in 1935. Hellens also put her in touch with the publisher Desclée de Brouwer, for whom she reworked her illustrations for The farmer and the bear into illustrations for the children’s book Two Russian Fairytales, published in 1934. Receiving her diploma from Minne’s class did not mean the end of Ivanovsky’s years at La Cambre. She continued studying scenic design with Teirlinck from whom she learned a lot about book-page composition as well. She got her diploma in scenic design one year later.

References:

Nijmegen 2004, p. 142

Brussels 2005, no. 127

LS 2007, no. 1934.3