Ivan Bilibin
E. S. Pits-Bilibina; portrait by Konstantin Somov
Portrait of Ivan Bilibin by Boris Kustodiev, 1901
Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (Russian: Ива́ н Я́ковлевич
Били́ бин; 16 August [O.S. 4 August] 1876 – 7 February
1942) was a 20th-century illustrator and stage designer
who took part in the Mir iskusstva, contributed to the
Ballets Russes, became co-founder of the 'Soyuz russkih
hudožnikov' '(Association of Russian Painters) and since
1937 a member of the Soyuz hudožnikov SSSR (Painters
Association of the USSR). Throughout his career, he was
inspired by Slavic folklore.[1]
1 Biography
Ivan Bilibin was born in Tarkhovka, a suburb of St. Pe-
tersburg. He studied in 1898 at Anton Ažbe Art School
in Munich, then under Ilya Repin in St. Petersburg. Af-
ter graduating in May 1900 he went to Munich, where he
completed his training with the painter Anton Ažbe. In
1902–1904 Bilibin travelled in the Russian North, where
he became fascinated with old wooden architecture and
Russian folklore. He published his findings in the mono-
graph Folk Arts of the Russian North in 1904. Another
influence on his art was traditional Japanese prints.
1
After the formation of the artists’ association Mir
Iskusstva, where he was an active member, his entry into
the newspaper and book graphics scene began with a
commission for the design of magazine Mir Iskusstva in
1899. Artistic design of other magazines such as Dog
Rose (Шиповник) and expenditure of the Moscow pub-
lishing house followed.
Bilibin gained renown in 1899, when he released his illus-
trations of Russian fairy tales. During the Russian Revo-
lution of 1905, he drew revolutionary cartoons, especially
for the magazine "Župel” (Жупелъ), which in 1906 be-
came prohibited.
After the October Revolution in 1917, he left Russia.He
was the designer for the 1909 première production of
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel. The
October Revolution, however, proved alien to him. In
the period 1902 to 1904 he went to the ethnographic sec-
tion of the museum of Alexander III to collect Ethno-
graphic material and to photograph monuments of old
village architecture in the Vologda, Archangelsk region,
Tver; Skaja; olonezkaja and Petrozavodsk. After brief
stints in Cairo and Alexandria, he settled in Paris in 1925.
There he took to decorating private mansions and Ortho-
dox churches. He still longed for his homeland and, af-
2 3 SELECTED WORKS

ter decorating the Soviet Embassy in 1936, he returned

to Soviet Russia. He delivered lectures in the Soviet
Academy of Arts until 1941. Bilibin died during the
Siege of Leningrad and was buried in a collective grave.

2 Marital life
• Ivan Tsarevich catching the
Firebird's feather 1899
In 1902 he Bilibin married his former student, the painter
Marija Jakovlevna Tschembers (Мария Яковлевна
Чемберс). They had two sons; Alexander (1903)
and Ivan (1908). In 1912 he again married a for-
mer student, the art school graduate Renée Rudol-
fowna O'Konnel (Рене Рудольфовна О'Коннель). In
1923 he married the painter Alexandra Vasilyevna
Schtschekatichina-Potozkaja (Александра Васильевна
Щекатихина-Потоцкая), with whom he had a joint ex-
hibition in Amsterdam in 1929.

• The Island of Buyan 1905

3 Selected works

• Dobrynya Nikitich rescues

Zabava from the Gorynych
• The Tale of Igor’s Campaign

• Baba Yaga from Vasilisa the • Ilya Muromets and Nightingale

Beautiful 1899 the Robber

• Vasilisa the Beautiful 1899 • Sadko

 3

• Justice of the Rus’

• Tsar Dadon meets

the Shemakha tsarevna (illustration to The Tale of
the Little Golden Cockerel, 1906)

• Koschei the
Deathless from Marya Morevna 1900

4 References
[1] Vadeboncoeur Jr, Jim. “Ivan Bilibin”. JVJ Publishing.
Retrieved 14 March 2012.

5 External links
• Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin at the Wayback Machine
(archived December 2, 2005) at www.scumdog.
demon.co.uk
4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text
• Ivan Bilibin Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Bilibin?oldid=753593509 Contributors: Topbanana, Altenmann, David Hoeffer,
Gzornenplatz, Bender235, Bobo192, Man vyi, Mononoke~enwiki, Ghirlandajo, Sparkit, Lockley, DesdinovaUK, YurikBot, Alex Bakharev,
Muu-karhu, Gadget850, Höyhens, Curpsbot-unicodify, Blablabla, Moeron, GuillaumeTell, Ohconfucius, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Bjanku-
loski06en~enwiki, The Man in Question, Esn, Cydebot, Danrok, Goldfritha, Meladina, Thijs!bot, Storkk, Subitosera, Jtir, MartinBot,
CommonsDelinker, Zipzipzip, STBotD, VolkovBot, NVO, Andreas Kaganov, AlleborgoBot, SieBot, VVVBot, Polbot, Tomdobb, Henry
Merrivale, ClueBot, Pataki Márta, Addbot, Zorrobot, Greyhood, Krenakarore, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Free11, Piano non troppo, GrouchoBot,
Omnipaedista, Gclefdavis, WQUlrich, RjwilmsiBot, Dewritech, Leningradartist, ZéroBot, Rides, Ymblanter, Sealle, Natkabrown, Sma-
songarrison, VIAFbot, Johnsoniensis, Mediavalia, Stefanos asterix, Espadrille Sarkes, KasparBot, GreenC bot and Anonymous: 21

6.2 Images
• File:Bilibin._Baba_Yaga.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Bilibin._Baba_Yaga.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: self-scanned Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Bilibin.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/1901._Portrait_of_Ivan_Bilibin_by_B._Kustodiev.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.picture.art-catalog.ru/picture.php?id_picture=1947 Original artist: Boris Kustodiev
• File:Bilibin_justice.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Bilibin_justice.jpg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: http://www.vnikitskom.ru/antique/auction/80/34853/ Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Bilitower.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Bilitower.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
not stated Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Biliwar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Biliwar.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Orig-
inally uploaded to the English wikipedia by User:Ghirlandajo Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:Dadon_shemakha.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Dadon_shemakha.jpg License: Public do-
main Contributors: http://bibliotekar.ru/kBilibin/17.htm Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Dobryna.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Dobryna.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
http://vcat-skaz.narod.ru/04skazky/skazky6.htm Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:E.S._Pits-Bilibina_by_K.Somov_(1926).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/E.S._Pits-Bilibina_
by_K.Somov_%281926%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/aliksandar/album/155279/? Original
artist: K. Somov
• File:Firebird.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Firebird.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1],
[2] Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Ivanbilibin.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Ivanbilibin.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Unknown Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
• File:Solovej.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Solovej.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
• File:Vasilisa.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Vasilisa.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
skazka.com.ru Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
• File:Марья_Моревна_5.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%
8C%D1%8F_%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0_5.jpg License: CC0 Contributors: http://slavput.ru/
archive/gallery/ Original artist: Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin

6.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0