RUSSIAN FOLK ART
In the early 20th century, before the outbreak of the Russian
Revolution, the Art Nouveau movement crept into the failing empire by way of Alphons Mucha and
the Slavic Folk Art movement in Czechoslovakia. Russian artists picked up on the ideas of these
movements and began producing new styles of art for a growing commercial marketplace, combining
elements of traditional Russian decorative arts, subjects from Russian folklore, and ideas from
the west.
The leading star of the Russian Folk Art movement was
Ivan Bilibin, whose illustrations of Russian folk stories and fiction by contemporary authors
like Pushkin were remarkable for their integration of traditional and modern styles. Other
artists were also attracted to the movement, including many who went on to achieve fame in more
respectable artistic circles, such as Leon Bakst. Many of these artists did advertising art as
well as illustration, and a lot of their work was featured in the magazine World of Art,
which was the showplace of the movement. Like other folk artists of the period, the work of Bilibin and
his contemporaries extended beyond the limits of simple illustration, including graphic design and
fascinating hand lettering styles.
The Scriptorium's Russian Folk Art Collection includes a
selection of illustrations and decorations by Ivan Bilibin and other artists, including
decorative borders, emblems, headers and large-size illustrations of Russian folklore. It also
features three special fonts based on the lettering of Russian artists, including Ivan Bilibin and
Mikhail Vrubel. The whole collection is only $49. To order your own Russian Folk Art collection remember the stock number (AT107)
and give us a call at 1-800-797-8973, or visit our online ordering page -- ONLINE ORDERING
If you want to try out one of our Russian Folk Art fonts, just download the demo
version of Bilibin using the link below. The full version is in the Russian Folk Art collection.
Download
Bilibin for Windows (PKZip). Download
Bilibin for MacOS (StuffIt).
