Sketches of scenery for Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov by Ivan Bilibin

Sketches of scenery for Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 1914

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mixed-media, tempera, painting, watercolor

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night

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fairy-painting

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sky

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mixed-media

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tempera

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painting

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landscape

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watercolor

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coloured pencil

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mythology

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russian-avant-garde

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cityscape

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watercolour illustration

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mixed media

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watercolor

Copyright: Public domain

Ivan Bilibin made these sketches of scenery for Sadko, a Russian opera, with what looks like watercolour and ink. What strikes me is the confidence of line and the flattening of space, an approach to artmaking as a kind of world building. I’m drawn to the little details, like the sun with a face and the rainbow arching over the ships. The colours are muted, almost as if seen through a mist. There’s a dream-like quality to the scene, a sense of folklore and fantasy, but also a rigorous attention to pattern and decoration. Look at the geometric patterns on the walls, the way Bilibin has balanced them with the free-flowing lines of the landscape. It reminds me of the Arts and Crafts movement, of William Morris’s designs, but with a Russian twist. Bilibin was part of a wider movement of artists who were interested in reviving traditional Russian art forms, and you can see that in the stylised figures and the decorative elements. It’s like he’s creating a stage set, a world of myth and legend that’s both familiar and strange. Art doesn't need to be true, it can be real.

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