Olga Ivanova
The publishing house “Prosvescheni”, Russia
The unique creative method of Evgeny Kibrik (1906–1978) as one of the most prominent classics of the Soviet graphic art of the 20th century allows us to find out how the vivid and moving images of characters by R. Rolland, Ch. De Coster, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol and M. Zoshchenko appeared in the artist’s work.
The illustrator’s keen perception of the place, time, and actual events helped him to create realistic and original images of other peoples and epochs. When creating the images, Kibrik searched for the characters’ prototypes in real life. In their appearance the artist sought to find the necessary component that would tie the past and the present. The key role in his work was to be played by the Stanislavsky system that helped him attain historical credibility and vitality of the composition.
The distinctive character of Evgeny Kibrik’s creative method is considered to be national pride and cultural heritage, which today may play a leading role in forming the ideology of the contemporary artists.
The author of the research attempts to inquire into the evolution of the outstanding master’s style scrutinizing a wide thematic range he worked with.
The analysis of the method of creating a graphical image of a literary character is seen as a fundamental theoretical problem (from collecting historical data and working with the prototypes to creating images themselves) in which theoretical, methodological and philosophical facets of the artist’s work predominate.