(The Tale of Igor’s Campaign)
Munich: Orchis Verlag, 1923.
Technical Description: Octavo (272 x 185 mm). 80 pp., [2] ff. (genealogical tree), [1] f. (colophon). Publisher’s Bradel binding in half-vellum with corners; the front board features a color pochoir-printed design reproducing one of the full-page illustrations. Gilt title on the spine. Red endpapers and flyleaves. Illustrated with 36 original woodcuts, colored by hand using the pochoir technique, on heavy ivory wove paper with a fibrous and granular texture.
Limited edition of 700 copies, this being No. 572.
Natalia Gontcharova was the great-grandniece of Natalia Nikolaïevna Gontcharova, Pushkin's wife. A leading figure of the Russian Avant-Garde, she emigrated to Switzerland in 1915 before settling in Paris in 1918. A multi-disciplinary artist, her genius found expression in painting, illustration, and scenography (notably the sets for Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel in 1914).
The Tale of Igor’s Campaign (Die Mär von der Heerfahrt Igors) is one of the most famous Slavic epics. It recounts the 1185 military campaign of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians (Cumans) and was rediscovered in a Russian monastery during the 18th century.
Gontcharova sublimates the "Slavic soul" of the Igor campaign through a Neo-Primitive style with powerful Cubo-Futurist outlines. The choice of fibrous paper is perfectly consistent with the aesthetic of her woodcut designs and pochoir coloring. She creates here a sensitive livre d'artiste which, despite its apparent sobriety, is charged with emotion. Through her art, Gontcharova plunges the reader into the heroism and savagery of this epic poem.
To learn more:
Guggenheim article on Gontcharova’s Prince Igor
Books illustrated by Natalia Gontcharova are rare and highly sought after.
Their beauty is consistently remarkable. If you possess an illustrated volume, please do not hesitate to contact the bookshop.
Other notable examples include:
La Cité. Paris, 1920.
Conte de Tsar Saltan. Paris, La Sirène, 1921
Condition : Cover pitted (lightly foxed/spotted), paper showing a patina of use without any degradation to the illustrations. Some foxing to the internal pages. The volume remains in very good condition, both in its structural integrity and the freshness of the interior illustrations.
