Vladimir Bobri

Today's post showcases works by the painter, illustrator, and poster artist Vladimir Bobritsky
(or Bobri, as he came to be known). Born in a wealthy family in Kharkov, Ukraine, in 1898,
 he studied at the Imperial Art School until the Russian Revolution began. During the ensuing
 civil war, Bobritsky fought on various sides before managing to escape to Turkey in 1917
 using a handmade Polish passport skillfully forged by himself. For a few years he wandered
in different areas of Greece and Turkey, while supporting himself with a variety of jobs
such as painting icons and signs, designing theater sets and movie posters,and playing the piano.

Bobritsky kept records of all his travels by constantly sketching his surroundings, and in 1921

 earned his passage to the US by designing sets and costumes for a Russian ballet in Istanbul.

Ads for Koret handbags, 1940

After arriving in New York Bobritsky held various jobs including art director at Saks Fifth Avenue, 

and soon found himself with enough clients to embark on a freelance illustrator career.
By the 1930s Bobri, as he had begun to sign his name, was a leading illustrator working in
 fashion, magazines and advertising. His accounts included Hanes, Koret and Avon; he frequently
 contributed to Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, McCall's and designed seven covers for The New Yorker.

 A Kiss Is Round by Blossom Budney, 1954

 In the 40's and 50's Bobry began to also produce llustrations for children's books, 
some of which have since become classics. His style was simple, elegant and bold. 

Let's Talk About Right and Wrong by Dorothy K. Kripke, 1955

 Sleepy Book by Charlotte Zolotow, 1958

The Whiskers of Ho Ho by William Littlefield, 1958

Icebergs by Roma Gans, 1964

Early 1960s ads for Hanes seamless stockings

Illustrations for The Guitar Review

As a young man Bobri had learned from gypsies to play the guitar, and this passion continued
all his life. In 1936 he was among the founders of The New York Society of the Classic Guitar,
and served as editor or art director of its publication The Guitar Review until 1985.
Other notable visual artists in the group were Gregory d'Alessio, George Giusti
and Antonio Petruccelli. Vladimir Bobri lost his life in a house fire in 1986
that also sadly destroyed most of his works.

A Woman's Work

Beatrix Potter

Dear followers, I apologize once again for the recent lack of posts,

but this semester I taught one more course that usual, and soon realized

that I had to give up some of my leisurely activities, including blogging, 

to be able to stay on track keep focused. My lessons ended yesterday, 

and I am really looking forward to almost a full month of vacation.

Of course, now there's plenty to do around the house...

Fritz Baumgarten, Das Hochzeitsfest im Wiesengrund

Hilda Boswell

B. Twardowski (?), 1925

Boris Kalaushin, 1958

Evgenii Rachev

Anatoli Michailovich Eliseev, Story of the stupid mouse

Feodor Rojankovsky, Frog Went a-Courtin', 1955

Barbara Cooney, The Crows of Pearblossom, 1967

Bernard Waber, An Anteater Named Arthur, 1967

Yusuke Yonezu

Svjetlan Junakovic

Marjolein Bastin

Peter Gut

Agata Dudek, The Crows of Pearblossom

Alberto Montt

Call of the Mountain

The Swiss graphic designer, painter, and illustrator Alois Carigiet was born in 1902, 
the seventh of eleven children, and grew up in his family's farm in the small village of Trun. 
In 1911, economic hardship forced the family to move to the canton's capital Chur, 
where his father found employment. This relocation into a more urban environment 
had a strong impact on Carigiet, who later described the move as an "emigration to the low-lands",
 from a "mountain boy's paradise" to a "gloomy apartment on the ground floor in a narrow town alley".
 In 1918 he quit the gymnasium to start an apprenticeship as a decorative designer and draftsman. 
While learning the techniques of decorative art,Carigiet filled volumes of sketchbooks 
with drawings of rural and urban scenes, farm animals and pets, anatomical studies of the birds
 exhibited at Chur's natural history museum, and caricatures.

1936

In the same year he found work in Zurich with Max Dalang's advertisement agency, where he learned

 the techniques of graphic design. After having won several competitions and gained a reputation, 
Carigiet opened his own graphic studio in Zurich in 1927. He hired some assistants and
 built a very successful practice, creating many posters, murals, illustrations, and magazine covers.
Funny and elegant animal characters were a frequent theme in the ads produced by the studio. 

1938

1940 ca.

While on holiday in his native mountains in 1939, Carigiet was seduced by the vast and unspoiled landscape,

 and the feeling of having found his way back to a long lost paradise. Realizing that this was his home,
he gave up his business in Zurich, and rented a small farm house without electricity or running water, 
the "Hüs am Bach" (house at the stream) in Platenga, where he devoted much of his time
 to observing and drawing the alpine fauna. In 1943 he married the art student Berta Carolina Müller, 
and in the following years the couple gave birth to two daughters and built a house.

1943

1947 

1948

In 1940, Carigiet was asked by the author Selina Chönz to illustrate a children's story 

about a boy's adventurous climb through snow to an abandoned summer hut in order to retrieve

 a large cow bell for the annual Chalandamarz celebration. After years of hesitating, Carigiet finally agreed, 

and spent several weeks sketching the scenery and architecture in Chönz's home village Guarda, 

which he used as a model for the book's village. In 1945 Schellen-Ursli was published in German,

and later it was translated into ten languages, including English.

A Bell for Ursli

Carigiet and Chönz created two sequels featuring Ursli's younger sister Flurina: 

Flurina und das Wildvögelein (Florina and the Wild Bird) in 1952 

and Der grosse Schnee (The Snowstorm) in 1957. 

Flurina und das Wildvöglein

During the 1960s Carigiet illustrated three children's books written by himself: 
Zottel, Zick und Zwerg, Birnbaum, Birke, Berberitze, and Maurus und Madleina. 

In 1966, he was awarded the Swiss youth book prize for Zottel, Zick und Zwerg, 

as well as the inaugural Hans Christian Andersen Medal for children's illustrators.

After moving back to Zurich with his family between 1950 and 1960, 
 in 1960 Carigiet finally returned to live in the mountains above his home village, 
where he dedicated himself fully to art until his death in 1985.