POUCHKINE Alexandre - GONTCHAROVA Natalia. Conte de Tsar Saltan et de son fils le glorieux et puissant prince Guidon Saltanovitch et de sa belle princesse Cygne

Paris, La Sirène, 1921

In-4 (290x220mm) in unbound notebook, in a folder decorated with stencil, the inside of the folder is composed of a decoration of leafy branches on a yellow background.
24 compositions illustrated and decorated by the artist, including 10 out of text, by Natalia Gontcharova, colored with stencil.

Edition of 599 copies, one of five hundred and twenty-nine on Vélin de Rives paper No. 552



Nathalia Gontcharova is the great-grandniece of Natalia Nikolaïevna Gontcharova, Pushkin's wife.
She is a major figure of the Russian avant-garde, who immigrated to Switzerland in 1915 then to Paris in 1918. She expressed herself as much through writing as through painting, illustration or scenography. In 1914, she notably created the sets for Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel.

Nathalia Gontchrova is associated with the cubist and futurist movements of her time, which can be seen in the drawings of Tsar Saltan. Very expressive scenes emerge from it thanks to the style of the drawing but also thanks to the bright colors applied with stencils. The initials, ornaments, patterns and lamp bases, plant ornaments or mini scenes from the story, bring a very special atmosphere to the reading of the tale and transport us into the graphic universe of the artist.

This universe, sometimes abstract, sometimes figurative, deconstructed, cubic, turns out to be very eclectic.

Despite this visual diversity, all of Nathalia Gontcharova's works have the same strength, an expression of life that makes the identity of the artist.

Books illustrated by Nathalia Gontcharova are difficult to find and see. They are always magnificent.
If you have an illustrated book, do not hesitate to contact the bookstore.
Here are some examples:
La Cité. Paris, 1920: google images
Die Mär von der Heerfahrt Igors. Munich, 1923 : google images

Condition :
Very good condition inside and out. The pouch attachment is missing, which is very often the case.