The Irbit Museum of Fine Arts presents “The Overcoat”, a 1974 color autolithograph by Viktor Semyonovich Vilner. At the center of the composition floats the figure of a man suspended above a wintry cityscape, his form enveloped by a billowing greatcoat. Dressed in a frock coat and trousers, with arms bent and outstretched and legs slightly drawn in, he wears a peaked cap that, together with his receding hairline, subtly conveys his age. The figure unmistakably evokes Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, the tragic protagonist of Nikolai Gogol’s novella “The Overcoat”.
The lower portion of the work depicts a snow-covered urban landscape — trees, roads, and buildings blanketed in white. The upper background is populated by dark silhouettes of houses. The fluttering overcoat dominates the composition, serving not only as the print’s title but also as a powerful visual echo of Gogol’s text, where it symbolizes aspiration, loss, and retribution.
Bashmachkin’s desperate attempts to recover his stolen overcoat are more than a plea for the return of a garment; they represent a yearning to reclaim the fragile dignity and meaning of life that the coat briefly bestowed upon him. Yet this restoration is impossible: his inner world has already been shattered, and a return to his former existence is unthinkable. In death, Bashmachkin becomes a ghost, haunting the streets of St. Petersburg to exact vengeance for his stolen coat.
Viktor Semyonovich Vilner returned repeatedly to Gogol’s literary universe, creating entire cycles of autolithographs inspired by the writer’s works — particularly his haunting portrayals of St. Petersburg and its inhabitants. Some of Vilner’s graphic works were also dedicated to the writings of Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Andrei Bely. Much of his artistic practice was devoted to Leningrad (St. Petersburg), its history, and its rich literary legacy, often rendered through the medium of autolithography.
Autolithography is a printmaking technique in which the artist personally executes every stage of production — from initial sketch to final impression. In color autolithography, multiple plates (one for each color) are typically used, or prints may be hand-colored. Though labor-intensive, this method yields images of remarkable depth, saturation, and expressiveness. Because the artist is intimately involved in every phase, each impression retains a sense of uniqueness and a direct, living connection to the creator’s hand.
