Gravure. Pavel Shilingovsky

By Heghine Aleksanyan

© All rights reserved. “Enlight” Public Research Center NGO(Armenia)

Today gravure is often perceived as an old, already forgotten type of art. Such associations, to some extent, maybe conditioned by the fact that for a long time-till the invention of the photo, gravure has mostly accomplished the role of photo, TV, and movie. Thanks to that, we have a lot of historical information, and it is because of this “documentary nature” that we associate this type of art with antiquity. However, without intending to refer to gravure as documentary material, we would consider it as a type of graphic art. As such, it includes almost all printing techniques from classic gravure done on paper, wood, and metal to printing and other types developed as a result of information technology such as laser technology application in gravure printing.

There is no other way to present richness and achievements of such genre without focusing on an artist that deserves a special mention and gives a general idea of the roots of the gravure traditions. One of such artists worth mention is prominent Soviet painter Pavel Alexandrovich Shilingovsky (1881-1942), whose creative path never fails to attract viewers both due to their distinctive style and originality and consideration of the development of the historical events. The great master of graphics represents the modern and neoclassical direction and has worked with several gravure techniques. He has made a significant contribution to establishing the Faculty of Graphics of the All-Russian Academy of Arts. Referring to Shilingovsky’s creative path, it should be noted that he mainly worked with etching techniques. 1 Among his earliest works are two masterpieces on biblical themes(1914) made with this technique: “Flight into Egypt,” “Lot with His Daughters.” The complexity of this technique and, at the same time, its attractiveness lies in unpredictability for the master of the end result.

Later, Shilingovsky began to work with the techniques of xylography, lithography, and linogravure. The artist created his first work on wood (xylography) called “Mountain Landscape with Trees” in 1917. There was still a lack of experience and skill in it, but already in the following graphic, he would surprise everyone with his new technical skills.

In the 1920s, bookplates, also known as ex-librīs, became widely used in graphic art. Their complexity and the interest for the masters of engraving were connected with creating an expressive and precise composition on a small surface of the book. Shilingovsky hasn’t left this challenge behind as well. Many of his bookplates are part of the gold legacy of 20th-century ex-librīs books. Some of them are connected with Armenia.

In particular, Shilingovsky has two bookplates designed for Artashes Karinyan. 2 Each of them plainly expresses the subject of the master’s creative search. With its arches and ruins, the first bookplate is evidence of Shilingovsky’s interest in the country’s architecture. And in the second one, the artist’s love for the nature and life of Armenia is noticeable. The wide range of his creative abilities of Shilingovsky is also testified in his unique works with books by ancient

authors. In particular, we can see it in the bookplate of the legendary “Odyssey,” where the author has preserved the ancient Greek tradition of black-figure style or black-figure ceramic. Shilingovsky has created more than 50 figurations dedicated to the poem, which can be seen as one of the most remarkable genre paintings that remained true to the traditions of the past.

There are many landscape series in Shilingovsky’s “treasury” made by one of the most popular methods of printing graphics - lithography. 3 The “Pushkinesque Places” and “New Armenia” series stand out here. Yerevan (from the album “New Armenia”) (1928)

In the end, we can not fail to refer to Shilingovsky’s favorite city, St. Petersburg, to which the artist’s latest series, “The Siege of City” (1941-1942), is dedicated and where ironically, he died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad. (Andrei Bartashevich wrote about the artist’s funeral in his Blockade diary).

1 Etching, a method of making prints from metal.

2 A Soviet party and state figure, literary critic, historian.

3 The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface.