Ivan Bilibin (1876–1942) was a painter, a book illustrator, and a stage designer, an academician of painting.
Ivan Bilibin's artistic talent manifested itself vividly in his illustrations for Russian fairy tales and epics, as well as in his work with theatre productions. From 1899 to 1902, he created a series of six Fairy Tales published by the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers; in later time, the same publishing house issued Pushkin's fairy tales with the artist's illustrations. In particular, The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1905) and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (1910) were issued.
In 1905, the epic ballad Vol’ga illustrated by Bilibin was published, and in 1911, the Obshchestvennaya Polza publishing house issued Roslavlev's fairy tales. Headpieces, tailpieces, covers and other works by Ivan Bilibin are found in such magazines of the early 20th century as Mir Iskusstva and Zolotoe Runo, in publications of Shipovnik and the Moscow Book Publishing House. After the February Revolution in 1917, he created a sketch depicting a double-headed eagle, which was used as a temporary symbol of the Russian Republic.
From 1920, Ivan Bilibin lived in Cairo. In Egypt he worked on sketches of panel pictures and frescoes in the Byzantine style for mansions of wealthy Greek merchants. He was engaged in studying Egyptian art. In October of 1924, he settled in Alexandria.
In August of 1925, he moved to Paris. At that time, he prepared brilliant stage scenery for productions of Russian operas. In 1934–1935, he created settings for The Tale of Tsar Saltan and The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for opera productions of the Prague National Theatre and the City Theatre in Brno. He produced illustrations for Russian fairy tales, fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, and the tales of One Thousand and One Nights.
In 1935–1936, he participated in the decoration of the Soviet Embassy in Paris and painted the Mikula Selyaninovich monumental panel.
In 1936, he returned to the Soviet Union by the motor ship Ladoga and settled in Leningrad. He taught at the All-Russian Academy of Arts and continued to work as an illustrator and a scene designer. His last work was a preparatory illustration for the epic ballad Duke Stepanovich in 1941.
The souvenir sheet features a portrait of Ivan Bilibin by Boris Kustodiev, 1901 (Russian Museum), illustrations by Ivan Bilibin for fairy tales The White Duck, 1902, and Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka, 1901 (JSC Goznak), as well as a composition on the theme of the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, 1932 (Russian Museum).
| Paper |
Printing method |
Perforation |
Format of the block |
Format of the stamps |
Edition |
| Chalk surfaced |
Offset + bronzed paste + security system |
Frame 12¼:11¾ |
126 × 122 mm |
26 × 37 mm (№№3709, 3710, 3711)
78 × 37 mm (№3712) |
17 thousand blocks |