Geko Yuri. 50 days. The death of the airship "Italy". Cover the works of L. Giganskogo.

Geko Yuri. 50 days. The death of the airship "Italy". Cover the works of L. Giganskogo.
Moscow. Surf, 1929, 278 p. Front cover pasted on novodel soft cover, spine reproduced reprinted manner, the rear part of the cover was not preserved, moderately soiled front cover; the first sheet half separated from binding; instance cut. r

[The Arctic expedition on the airship "Italy" took place in 1928 under the leadership of the Italian Explorer Umberto Nobile. The airship with a crew of 16 people took off from Nu-olesund in Svalbard on may 23, flew over the North pole, but on the way back crashed. Part of the crew was killed, the rest spent about a month on the ice in the camp, which became known as the "red tent". Several expeditions were organized to rescue survivors in different countries. The last members of the Nobile expedition were taken by the Soviet icebreaker Krasin on July 12. The publication published a diary of an eyewitness to the events.

Leonid Semyonovich Khizhinsky-graphic artist, began his career in an environment of increased interest in book illustration and easel engraving: engraving is associated with the heyday of Soviet illustration in the 20s-30s.

Khizhinsky was born in Kiev. His artistic tastes were brought up by the culture of the ancient city: ancient monumental painting, architecture, mosaics, paintings of Vrubel. And especially the book culture of Kievan Rus', in which the engraving has occupied a prominent place. He sought to incorporate all the previous experience of culture in his work, to make "mastery the footstool of art".

in 1924, Leningrad publishing houses attracted L. S. Khizhinsky to design books. This was the time when the artist finally chose woodcut, not doing any engraving on linoleum, nor etching, nor lithography.

The design of the first books reveals the artist's attachment to romantic literature ("Old stories", "Travel pictures" by Heine, "Romantic stories" by Odoevsky). They were given the opportunity to portray a fascinating plot, intense scenes, to convey the charm and poetry of antiquity. And woodcut allowed to clothe the imagination in a perfect form: a verified stroke, chiseled chisel concealed the ability to convey emotional colors, mental States, the mood of a particular episode. Khizhinsky's art is clear and harmonious. There is so much measure and dignity in the artist's inspiration — his art bears the stamp of classicism.

Russian Russian prints of the XVII-XVIII centuries, Russian and Ukrainian popular prints, and fairy tales were used by the artist in the 30s. He was literally mesmerized by the savory colorfulness, inexhaustible fiction, and lush fantasy of folk art. He created engravings to the O. Ozarowski fairy tales, Russian folk tales, the riddles of the M. Rybnikova. The nature of the engravings has much in common with the old Russian splint: they are funny and moralizing, they contain unrestrained fun and morality, entertaining and serious, and finally, the utmost conventionality of form and the most detailed detail of the image. Khizhinsky as a book designer is characterized by purity of style, unity of artistic means. In the design of O. Ozarovskaya's fairy tales, in addition to the splint, the artist also used elements of gingerbread boards and Russian stuffing. A few colored engravings added to the book's finery, giving it a cheerful and mischievous mood.

A lot of space in the work of Khizhinsky is occupied by landscape. He loved to draw from nature — in detail, intently, with love. In the series of engravings "Pushkin's places", the artist achieved monumental accuracy and poetry inspired by the poet's lyrics. In the engravings dedicated to Mikhailovsky and Trigorsky-these places were spiritualized by Pushkin-the viewer is conveyed the spiritual exultation and awe of feelings that the artist himself experienced: the stroke of the engravings is fast, rapid, smooth, affectionate.

Khizhinsky's skill was especially fully manifested in the work on the story of A.Vinogradov's "the Lost glove". Here, creative maturity was combined with the theme of the past, which the artist defined as "his". Graphic tools, their rich palette in the hands of a master, brought historical events closer to us, highlighted them from the depths of time. Harsh rhythms, contrasts of strokes, dark play of light and darkness recreate the mournful atmosphere of the days spent in Moscow by the military Commissar of the Napoleonic army, Henri Bayle, later the famous French writer Stendhal.

The series of engravings for the comedies of Carlo Goldoni and the Chronicle of Charles IX by prosper merimet represent a brilliant result of the artist's art (1950-1960-ies) . The captivating world of Goldoni's theatrical works and the noble simplicity of Merime's prose found an adequate pictorial solution. They have a special restraint, the dignity of a master, that "unheard-of simplicity", in the words of B.Pasternak, which comes at the end of the path demanding artist.]