In January 1991, Vladimir Panov joined the editorial board of the magazine “Young Artist”. In its fifth issue of 1983, he published an article dedicated to his teacher titled “The Artist and the Book. Boris Dekhteryov (to his 75th anniversary)”. Vladimir Panov also worked as a head artist for the magazine “Novaya Igrushechka” in the mid-1990s, as well as collaborated with the magazines “Roman-Gazeta” and “Detskaya Roman-Gazeta”.

The main characters of Panov’s illustrations for the 1983 edition dedicated to Mikhail Lermontov’s play “Masquerade” included Baroness Strahl, Prince Zvezdich, Nina, and Arbenin. The work on display portrays Kazarin.

For this illustration, Panov chose a vertical composition. Kazarin’s figure is depicted in close-up, nearing the right side of the pictorial space. He sits cross-legged in a chair facing the viewer, engaged in a conversation with someone beyond the image frame. His right arm is raised and drawn to the side, while the left one lies on the back of the chair. The artist depicted Kazarin in dark trousers and a light terracotta vest, with a dark scarf tied around his neck.

There is a portrait hanging against a dark blue wallpaper, and a bust resting on a pedestal. Many of the artist’s works in the masquerade series feature sculptures. They reflect the interiors from Mikhail Lermontov’s era.

The events in the illustration depict the fifth subscene of the second scene in the second act of the play. Kazarin is engaged in a conversation with Arbenin and tells him:

Each act of the 1983 edition of the play has a spread showing multi-figure scenes, which are then followed by smaller ones. Static and calm scenes in the illustrations alternate with dynamic ones. The artist also orchestrates the growing tension by moving from light and tranquil salon scenes to turbulent ones and then depicting the explosive dramatic finale.