Falcon. Illustration for the epic "Volga" 1927

Ivan Bilibin made this illustration for the epic "Volga" in 1927. It’s rendered in flat, graphic lines, kinda like a woodblock print but with watercolor hues. I can almost feel him hunched over the paper, carefully outlining each feather of that falcon, those swans. Imagine the patience and precision it took. The falcon is huge, looming, with its wings spread wide and its red eye glaring down. The swans are sketched in quick lines, a sense of frantic motion as they fly, trying to escape it. There is a decorative impulse to everything here. All these forms are rendered in pattern. It reminds me of the symbolist painters, but also Japanese prints. Artists are always having this conversation with each other across time! Bilibin took folklore and flattened it into something both ancient and modern, a style uniquely his own. It’s pretty rad.