The illustrations for Mikhail Lermontov’s poems “I Look at the Future with Fear” and “Airship” were made by the Soviet graphic artist Nikolay Vasilyevich Ilyin. This artist studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From 1922 to 1930, he collaborated with publishing houses in Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.
The black silhouette portrait of Mikhail Lermontov is printed from the left to the right of the spread. The poet’s whole demeanor — his pose, the lowered head, and the facial expression — expresses the state of deep sadness and reflection upon his fate.
In this illustration, Lermontov is dressed in an officer’s frock coat with an upturned collar. He has epaulets on his shoulders. The poet leans back a little, with his legs crossed. His right arm is bent at the elbow and rests on the back of a chair, and with his left one, stretched forward, he holds a book in his lap.
The engraving occupies the whole space of the sheet. The original drawing has not been located, however, judging by the dates that the artist placed on the passe-partout of the engraving, it was made in 1939 and engraved in 1941.
The plot of the drawing is the result of Ilyin’s thoughts concerning the poet’s fate. The artist managed to capture the main sentiment of the poem which is associated with a difficult turning point in Lermontov’s life. With it, he sums up what he has experienced, and laments the elusive sense of purpose and the lost meaning of life. He hopes, expresses regret, and reproaches God, and, finally, appeals to the powers of fate.
The engraving immerses the readers in this interweaving of thoughts and feelings inside the poet’s soul. It serves as a kind of introduction to the poem. The drawing was accurately printed in its original size and with no change in its original high quality, which was achieved primarily thanks to the artist’s knowledge of the specifics of printing.
The engraving was purchased from the artist’s son in 1984. It was reproduced on the dust cover of the book “Mikhail Lermontov. Poetry”, which was published in Moscow in 1958 with a print run of 30,000 copies.
The black silhouette portrait of Mikhail Lermontov is printed from the left to the right of the spread. The poet’s whole demeanor — his pose, the lowered head, and the facial expression — expresses the state of deep sadness and reflection upon his fate.
In this illustration, Lermontov is dressed in an officer’s frock coat with an upturned collar. He has epaulets on his shoulders. The poet leans back a little, with his legs crossed. His right arm is bent at the elbow and rests on the back of a chair, and with his left one, stretched forward, he holds a book in his lap.
The engraving occupies the whole space of the sheet. The original drawing has not been located, however, judging by the dates that the artist placed on the passe-partout of the engraving, it was made in 1939 and engraved in 1941.
The plot of the drawing is the result of Ilyin’s thoughts concerning the poet’s fate. The artist managed to capture the main sentiment of the poem which is associated with a difficult turning point in Lermontov’s life. With it, he sums up what he has experienced, and laments the elusive sense of purpose and the lost meaning of life. He hopes, expresses regret, and reproaches God, and, finally, appeals to the powers of fate.
The engraving immerses the readers in this interweaving of thoughts and feelings inside the poet’s soul. It serves as a kind of introduction to the poem. The drawing was accurately printed in its original size and with no change in its original high quality, which was achieved primarily thanks to the artist’s knowledge of the specifics of printing.
The engraving was purchased from the artist’s son in 1984. It was reproduced on the dust cover of the book “Mikhail Lermontov. Poetry”, which was published in Moscow in 1958 with a print run of 30,000 copies.
