Artistic and stylistic peculiarities of the graphic work of Petro Lapyn, illustrator of the children's books in the first third of the 20th century

Abstract

The beginning of the 20th century is a period of creative and printing experiments in the Ukrainian art. New generation of Ukrainian books was born in this period. The illustration of the children's books was a significant part of this process. Famous Ukrainian graphic artists, such as H. Narbut, M. Zhuk, O. Sudomora, V. Kononchuk, took part in the creation of a new Ukrainian children's book. Some little-known artists also worked with them, and their creativity was an important part of the artistic process. Petro Lapyn was one of those artists. From 1917 to 1929, he worked with the famous publishing houses, such as Vernyhora, Derzhavne Vydavnytstvo, Proliski, Knyhospilka and Rukh. Children's books, illustrated by P. Lapyn, are kept in the funds of the Pedagogical Museum of Ukraine, the National Library of Ukraine for Children, Ivan Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine and private collections. We have found about 30 of his projects. But the information about the artist himself and his life is quite limited. One of the first books he illustrated was the poem of S. Rudanskyi «Vovk, Sobaka ta Kit» («The Wolf, the Dog, and the Cat»), published in black and white in 1918. This early Petro Lapyn's work revealed his artistic outstanding peculiarities: vibrant linear drawing, harmonious combination of text and illustrations, variety of graphic techniques and skills in the representation of characteristic features. The high point of the artist's career is the illustration of «Crows and Owls», I. Franko’s fairy tale, printed in 1926 (Kharkiv, Rukh). It demonstrates the animalistic works of the artist. There are typical structural elements in fairy tale books: vignettes, drop caps. P. Lapyn uses decorative handwritten fonts and silhouette drawings for them. His graphic creations are full of emotions. Specific features of his work are: humour, emotionality, anthropomorphism, careful attitude towards literary material, and consistently high level of drawing.