Paris, Schiffrin, 1925
For his illustrations for Boris Godunov, Shukhaev drew inspiration from icon painting traditions of the 16th-17th centuries, combining it with the dramatic shapes and bold colours typical for Russian art from Paris in the 1920s. The striking planar compositions are beautifully achieved in pochoir and the present example is exceptionally bright.
This was the second work from Jacques Schiffrin and Shukhaev after their first collaboration La Dame de Pique (1923) was such a great success. Schiffrin was born in Baku and fled the Russian Empire after the Revolution. He began publishing works in Paris as he was passionate about literature and went on to translate Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky and Turgenev himself.
First edition, limited edition, number 365 of 390 copies on vergé, from a total edition of 430, signed 'J. Sch' (the publisher) on the justification page; 4to (31 x 24 cm); 18 full page hand-coloured pochoir plates by V. Shukhaev, with tissue guards, decorative bands and tailpieces throughout, some minor spotting; twentieth century tree calf over marbled boards, spine in parts and elaborately gilt, labels in red and green, covers slightly rubbed and corners bumped, original printed brown wrappers bound in, a fine example [with] a large original gouache of one of the plates on paper covered thick card (35 x 27.5 cm), signed and dated 1924 in the bottom right hand corner.
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