Climbers of the Northern capital. Bashmakov Mark Ivanovich
Biography
Born February 10, 1937 in Leningrad. Father - a native of the peasants of the Tver province, mother - originally from Vinnitsa.
In 1954 he graduated from high school with a gold medal and entered the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Leningrad State University (LSU). In 1959 he graduated with honors from the Leningrad State University and was admitted to graduate school, after which he consistently worked as an assistant, associate professor and - until now - professor. In parallel with his work at Leningrad State University, since 1977, for 15 years, he headed the Department of Higher Mathematics at LETI. V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin).
From 2002 to 2010 - Head of the Laboratory of Productive Learning at the Institute of Content and Teaching Methods of the Russian Academy of Education, since 2011 - Head of the Laboratory of Productive Pedagogy at the Institute of Pedagogical Education and Adult Education of the Russian Academy of Education.
In 1993 he was elected a full member Russian Academy education (RAO).
Scientific work
The scientific work and main results of M. I. Bashmakov relate to algebra and number theory. The main direction of research is the application of the modern apparatus of algebra and topology to the solution of classical problems in the theory of Diophantine equations, algebraic number theory, and algebraic geometry. He obtained a number of substantive results, which were widely known and reflected in review monographs. The world mathematical literature includes such concepts bearing his name as "Bashmakov's theorem", "Bashmakov's problem" and "Bashmakov's method".
In 1965, M.I. Bashmakov defended his Ph.D. thesis prepared under the guidance of D.K. Faddev, and in 1976, his doctoral dissertation. He created a scientific school, from which a number of famous mathematicians came out (A. A. Suslin (English) Russian and others), more than two dozen candidates and doctors of physical and mathematical sciences.
Pedagogical activity
M. I. Bashmakov began active work with schoolchildren while still a student of mathematics and mechanics at Leningrad State University, and continued it in the early 60s. He participated in the creation and operation of a network of circles, first at the faculty, then in various districts of Leningrad, and later in some cities of the North-West. He was among the organizers of the first regional Olympiads in mathematics in Murmansk, Syktyvkar and other cities, participated in the preparation of the first All-Union Olympiad for schoolchildren in mathematics.
Boarding School No. 45
In 1963, on the initiative and with the active support of Academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR A. D. Aleksandrov, I. K. Kikoin, A. N. Kolmogorov and M. A. Lavrentiev, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (No. 905 of August 23, 1963) at the largest universities in the country in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and Novosibirsk, secondary educational institutions of a new type were created. These were specialized boarding schools with a natural science profile, designed to train students at a higher level than in ordinary schools.
M. I. Bashmakov was one of those who made the greatest contribution to the organization and development of the specialized boarding school No. 45 at the Leningrad State University. As chairman of the committee for the organization of the school, he supervised all the preparatory work and participated himself in determining the location of the school, selecting teachers and educators, selecting students from the republics and regions of the North-West of the country, preparing the necessary documents and in solving numerous other issues. In less than two months that have passed since the Government's decision was issued, all problems were resolved and on October 16, 1963, the boarding school began its work in full.
M. I. Bashmakov was the first chairman of the selection committee, he was offered the first program in mathematics and compiled academic plan. He subsequently taught at a boarding school for seven years.
Later, the long-term head teacher of boarding school No. 45 G. M. Efremov wrote about this period:
About whom I want to say especially - it's about Mark Ivanovich Bashmakov. Amazing person! The school was, in fact, his brainchild - all the main preparatory work before its discovery, he made, and then, until the beginning of the 70s, he determined the entire strategy for teaching mathematics at school.
Vocational education system
In the 80s of the last century, M. I. Bashmakov taught for three years at secondary vocational schools in Leningrad. He created an innovative for his time program in mathematics for secondary vocational schools, the textbook on mathematics he wrote was repeatedly reprinted and is still in demand in the system of primary and secondary vocational education. Evidence of the recognition of the merits of M. I. Bashmakov was the awarding of his badge "Excellent worker in vocational education of the USSR."
Methodological developments
Based on the experience of working at a boarding school at Leningrad State University and vocational schools, M. I. Bashmakov developed and continues to develop the pedagogical concept of productive learning. The concept is a pedagogical system that implements the educational process with the help of individual routes, with actions that ensure personal growth, social self-determination of participants, the growth of their role in the formation, implementation and evaluation of their educational route. The approaches of M. I. Bashmakov turned out to be close to those that are implemented in the form of an international network of schools International Network of Productive Schools (INEPS) . The inclusion of the Russian line in this network took place in 1991 at the INEPS congress in Peniche (Portugal) on the initiative of M. I. Bashmakov.
Educational and methodical complexes
MI Bashmakov is the author of a large series of textbooks on mathematics of the new generation. These textbooks meet the basic needs of learning mathematics from grades 1 to 11 secondary school various profiles, institutions of primary and secondary vocational education. The series includes more than 20 textbooks included in the Federal List of Textbooks, as well as more than 30 different educational support materials.
Organizational and pedagogical activity
M. I. Bashmakov was an active participant and organizer of the system of All-Union Olympiads for schoolchildren, he is a member of the editorial boards of the mass popular science magazine Kvant and the magazine Mathematics at School.
As part of the implementation of the concept of productive learning under the leadership of M. I. Bashmakov, a system of mass didactic games and competitions. A model for such competitions was the mathematical competition "Kangaroo", in which schools from more than 20 countries participate. In particular, all-Russian competitions " The Golden Fleece» on the history of world art culture, «British Bulldog» on English language, "KIT" (computers, informatics, technologies) in informatics, "Chip" (man and nature) in natural science. In 1994, M. I. Bashmakov, as a representative of Russia, became a member of the international association "Kangaroo without borders".
In 1992, the Institute for Productive Learning (IPO) was opened in St. Petersburg under the leadership of M. I. Bashmakov. In subsequent years, the IPO was a participant and organizer of a number of international and national projects, the purpose of which was the development of productive learning methods and their use in educational practice.
Social and political activity
M. I. Bashmakov in his student years was elected head of the Komsomol organizations of the course, the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics and the entire Leningrad State University. In 1990, he was elected to the 21st convocation of the Leningrad City Council, in which he became chairman of the commission on public education.
Selected writings
Hobbies
Mountaineering has become M. I. Bashmakov's long-term hobby. He climbed all the seven-thousanders of the USSR, was awarded the sign "Snow Leopard". For 15 years he was the captain of the mountaineering team of the Leningrad branch of the Burevestnik sports society, led the first ascent of V. Balyberdin to Communism Peak, participated in the preparation of Leningrad athletes for the first Soviet ascent of Everest. He did not leave his hobby until recently.
M. I. Bashmakov is a well-known bibliophile. Based on the materials of his collection, he published four books. Member of the World Club of Petersburgers.
Notes
- Profile of M. I. Bashmakov on the website of the Russian Academy of Education.
- Autobiography on the website "Learning according to Bashmakov".
- Personal page of M. I. Bashmakov on the website of the Institute of Postgraduate Education and Education of the Russian Academy of Education.
- List of publications of M. I. Bashmakov in the database Math-Net.Ru
- Serge Lang. Elliptic Curves: Diophantine Analysis. - Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag, 1978. - 261 p. - ISBN 978-0387084893
- Ciperiani M., Stix J. Weil–Châtelet divisible elements in Tate–Shafarevich groups I: The Bashmakov problem for elliptic curves over Q : Preprint, submitted. - 2012. - P. 22.
Bashmakov Mark Ivanovich (10.02.1937) – Leningrad. Here he was born and was a resident of besieged Leningrad. Graduated from Leningrad State University (1959). Further - post-graduate student of Leningrad State University, Ph.D. D., worked as a professor at Leningrad State University, head of the Department of Mathematics at LETI, academician of the Russian Academy of Education, director of the Institute for Productive Learning. Member of the Leningrad City Council of the 21st convocation in 1990 (As a deputy, he took an active part in the search and rescue operation at Lenina after the avalanche came down on July 13, 1990, when 23 Leningraders died). First ascent- 1971 (at the age of 34, in the a / l "Baksan", instructor). Last ascent- more to come. KMS- 1978. Made more than 50 ascents. Twice presented to the FA of Leningrad for the title of MS USSR, but the submissions were rejected due to violations of the rules of mountain climbing in the USSR. "Snow Leopard": Lenin village - 4 times, Khan-Tengri 2 times, all other seven-thousanders of the USSR. Actively introduced into practice difficult (5-6 k / tr.) winter ascents: 5b - 9 pieces, 6 - 2; the last six ascent in 1983 in Kichik-Alai. (For fifteen years he was the captain of the Leningrad Burevestnik team, the initiator of difficult winter mountain climbing, many mountain expeditions). Led the first ascent to the peak of Communism. In 1980, he coached the LETI team - candidates for the first Soviet expedition to Everest (Balyberdina,). He has a hobby - a bibliophile (book collector). In his collection there are books illustrated by Picasso, Salvator Dali, Joan Miro. Together with his brother Anatoly Ivanovich, he published the book “The Voice of Handwriting”, St. Petersburg 2009 (Reflections of the Silver Age) with a description of the collection of books containing autographs from the library of M.I. Bashmakova. Series "Library of the World Club of Petersburgers".
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I, Bashmakov Mark Ivanovich, was born on February 10, 1937 in Leningrad. My father, a native of the peasants of the Tver province, did not have a specific profession. At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered for the front, in 1943 he ended up in a hospital, left there as a war invalid and worked until the end of his life in Leningrad. Mother, originally from Vinnitsa, worked as an accountant and led a large family of three sons (I was the middle one).
We spent the main period of the blockade in Leningrad, shortly before it was lifted, we went to my father, who was then in the hospital. I graduated from high school in Leningrad in 1954 with gold medal, entered the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Leningrad University. By the end of the University in 1959, I had formed the main directions of my life path.
The path of the scientist - mathematician outwardly was very successful. I completed my postgraduate studies and obtained a number of meaningful results in one of the new, actively developing areas of mathematics, some of which were included in well-known monographs; I created a scientific school that produced a number of brilliant mathematicians with world famous, defended candidate and doctoral dissertations. In 1977, for various reasons, I decided to stop the activity of an active mathematician and subsequently did not return to it, confining myself to helping students.
Teaching work, always accompanying the activity of a theoretical scientist, was long and varied. It included working as a teacher in secondary educational institutions (in particular, seven years in a boarding school at Leningrad State University, three years in vocational schools), teaching at the State University, of which I am still a professor; professorship (for twenty years) at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, lecturing on numerous invitations in our country and abroad.
The scientific and teaching path was accompanied by a path that can be called the path of a leader, an organizer of various teams. This path began in my student years and was naturally associated with the Komsomol (I was elected leader of the Komsomol collectives from the course to the ten thousandth staff of the entire University) and the Communist Party. I was offered to choose the path of a party functionary, but I prudently refused it, although not only am I not ashamed of my Komsomol-party past, but I have reason to be proud of what I managed to do in those years for different people.
In parallel with my research and teaching activities, all these years I have followed the path of a leader and organizer of various teams. This path began in my student years and was naturally associated with the Komsomol (I was elected head of the Komsomol organizations from the course to the ten thousand staff of the entire Leningrad University) and the Communist Party. I was offered to choose the path of a party functionary, but I prudently refused it, although not only am I not ashamed of my Komsomol-party past, but I have reason to be proud of what I managed to do in those years for people.
The activities of the leader-organizer implied the generation and organizational design of a wide variety of ideas, most of which are still alive. You can get an idea of their diversity from such a deliberately incomplete sample:
Development of new forms of work with schoolchildren (creation of the Youth mathematical school, the organization of All-Union Olympiads, the publication of the Kvant magazine, the organization of a boarding school at Leningrad State University, the holding of Olympiads invented by us for vocational school students, and finally, the Kangaroo competitive game, the number of participants in which in 2008 exceeded one and a half million);
Introduction of new technological approaches in education (creation of a network of Professional Renewal Centers, implementation of more than two dozen international projects in this area, creation of a large network of schools and productive learning institutions, etc.);
Organizational and coaching work in mountaineering (for fifteen years I was the captain of the Leningrad Burevestnik team, the initiator of difficult winter climbing, many mountain expeditions).
Of course, I do not personally attribute all of the above to myself: I was always surrounded by friends, colleagues and assistants, but my role as a generator of ideas and a motor for their implementation was widely recognized.
The main professional path after 1977 for me was the path of a specialist in the field of pedagogy, in the widest range. Outwardly, successes along this path were recorded in my election in 1993 as an academician of the Russian Academy of Education (bypassing the stage of a corresponding member), in the creation of a large scientific team, and in the preparation of a number of major pedagogical programs. I am currently busy with the following projects:
1. The program "Mathematics for All", which provides for the release of about 50 textbooks and teaching aids for all grades and levels of secondary education - from the first to the eleventh grade, including vocational schools and technical schools (colleges). The work is close to completion.
2. The system of gaming competitions that develop the creative activity of students ("Kangaroo" - in mathematics, "Golden Fleece" - in the history of world culture, "British Bulldog" - in English, "KIT" - computers, informatics, technology, etc.) .
3. Productive learning - the functioning and pedagogical support of a network of productive schools aimed at the development and application of individual learning paths based on a significant expansion of the range of students' creative activity.
The Parisian school is usually divided into two periods - before the First World War and after. Which period do you rate as brighter?
Before the First World War, blocky artists shone, after the war, many more heterogeneous artists from completely unthinkable countries appeared: Cuba, South America, Denmark, not to mention the Spaniards, Russians, Germans.
The case of Chaim Soutine is interesting here. An American gallerist came to Paris and bought a hundred works by Soutine for a thousand dollars. These works he took to America and put on display. Many American artists believe that this exhibition helped shape the American art we know so well. The same Pollock recognized that Soutine was the founder of American art of the 20th century. And in this case, the money of the Americans helped a lot.
Parisian school overgrown huge amount myths, and very often we can no longer distinguish truth from fiction. This is also similar to a marketing strategy. For example, there is a story about Pablo Picasso and Max Jacob. When they lived on Voltaire Boulevard, they were so poor that they had one bed for two and a hat, without which they did not appear in public at that time. Max slept on the bed at night while his friend worked, but during the day, when Max went to the department store, where he then earned a living, it was Pablo's turn. Do you have a similar favorite story?
My favorite story is about the collaboration between Modigliani and Soutine. These two artists were incredibly different: Modigliani is a handsome Italian, a man known in narrow circles, with a heavenly beauty, a girl of sixteen. And Soutine is an outwardly unpleasant and untidy person. But Modigliani saw in him a storm of talent, and they gathered in the same studio. The Italian took him under his patronage and was delighted with his ability to paint in oils without preliminary sketches. Modigliani always strived for perfection, admired primitive art and African masks, hence the peculiarities of his style. But Soutine knew how to create beauty out of ugliness.
I also really like the story of the creation of one work of Salvador Dali. He was somewhat depressed, and his publisher insisted that he turn in his work based on Don Quixote. Dali flared up, said that he would do the work without touching them, and invented a new method, which was later called bulism ("boule" in French means a bullet). He arranged stones on the banks of the Seine and hired a small boat. A friend lent him a medieval arquebus, for which special bullets were cast. Passing along the river, Dali shot stones, leaving blots on them, which he then draped and turned into images.
Most people can vaguely remember what an integral is a few years after graduation. What do you want to teach them?
The integral is an idea that is two thousand years old. And this idea, which is needed and important to everyone. I always try to talk about mathematics in a general cultural context. So, in the textbook for the eleventh grade, in the chapter on measurements, there is a quote from Tolstoy's "War and Peace", where he talks about the integral. Or, from Dostoevsky, Karamazov knew something about Euclidean geometry. And, for example, my textbook for the fifth and sixth grades begins with an epigraph from the British poet Stephen Spender: "Triangles, parallels, parallelograms experiment with hypotheses on a graphite board of the sky." In one place I refer to Plato's dialogues, in another to Raphael, in a third I cite the Leaning Tower of Pisa as an example, and in a fourth I analyze metres. Of course, this is not the only one, but only one of the possible answers to the question you asked.
I was taught according to the manual, where there was neither Leo Tolstoy, nor the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
My textbooks are recommended by the Ministry of Education, but they are published in very small numbers. There are other good ones, but the choice of a particular benefit from the list of recommended ones depends little on how successful it is. Now there is a big crisis in the state management of education, many people of extremely low culture have come to this area. There is no national development strategy, there is only colossal corruption. Parents, teachers, schools do not participate in decision-making, their opinion is of no interest to anyone. But the basics of modern management say just that the best ideas are born from the bottom and only then transferred to the top.
A little over fifty years ago, you created a boarding school at the university. Can you tell me about it?
It opened on October 16, 1963. Remembering what happened fifty years ago - is there any point? Today everyone scolds the Soviet era, but then there were still opportunities to do something. I was an assistant professor, but, in general, still a boy and could freely come to Moscow to the famous scientists who supported us - Academicians Zeldovich, Kolmogorov, Lavrentiev. At that time, four similar boarding schools for gifted children were opened in different cities, and ours, Leningrad, was focused exclusively on schoolchildren from the provinces, from the countryside. In my class, guys from the Komi ASSR, Pskov and Arkhangelsk regions were engaged. I remember a funny story: I wrote the first curriculum, I did not have enough hours for mathematics and I crossed out geography in high school, this was discovered only during the test five years later.
Do you work not only in Russia?
Yes, I am the author of a number of projects abroad, which are more in demand there. For example, we launched a mass international competition-game "Kangaroo" for the most ordinary schoolchildren who do not win in mathematical Olympiads, we launched twenty-two years ago together with colleagues from France and Germany. Now such competitions are already held in six different subjects. The entire system operates independently of state structures with more than two million members. I also publish my textbooks on different languages. Of course, everywhere there are difficulties. So, Germany is a country with a strong bureaucracy, everything there is coordinated very slowly. And recently I was working on a project in Pakistan to create a serious system of mathematics education in this country.
How do you feel about the exam?
Badly. This is a continuation of the same line of distrust towards the teacher. No one, except the teacher, can assess the knowledge of the student. No war with the guys can end successfully, they will still find a way to cheat. A good education can only be built on trust. And then I don’t think at all that the school should be aimed at entering a university, it has its own tasks.
Why did you get interested in collecting books?
I feel myself not so much a collector as a researcher. The history of this collection is connected with mine scientific activity: dealing with issues of education and pedagogy, I realized that training with us for the most part happens verbally. The illustration in it is present only as an addition, plays a secondary role. Psychologists, meanwhile, found out long ago that creative activity can be visual without translation into the language of concepts and words. For mathematics, this is extremely important, because in it not everyone is able to express everything in words. There is such a thing as livre d'artiste - it means not just a book with illustrations, but a book as an integral art object, literally "artist's book". That's exactly what I collect.
With what rarities did it all start?
First of all, I was awakened by curiosity towards Russian artists, the World of Art. Then I became interested in the painters who had left Russia and formed themselves abroad. Gradually my aspirations became wider and wider. Today I have more than five hundred of these livre d'artiste from the very first such publication in history, "Parallel" by Pierre Bonnard, to the works of Chagall, Miro, Leger, Picasso, Dali - they all dealt with books.
Are these expensive editions?
Yes, but I earn quite a lot: I have fifty textbooks published, including abroad, I receive fees for them, I don’t have any serious expenses. So I go to auctions and buy rare items. But my goals are always related to education. During last year's exhibition of the collection in the Twelve-Column Hall of the State Hermitage, I conducted thirty excursions for children. By the way, another exhibition will take place in the same museum in March-June next year, and recently the name was approved: “Paroles peintes - Words and colors. Books from the collection of Mark Bashmakov.
You have been awarded the Snow Leopard badge for conquering all seven-thousanders of the USSR. Are you still mountain climbing now?
Of course, because mountaineering is not a sport, but a way of life. Exit from it, of course, is possible for health reasons, but so far it allows me to go to the mountains every year. I have just returned from the Elbrus region, where the festival dedicated to the Victory Day was held, I will soon go to Chamonix, where I am going to climb Mont Blanc with a friend. Of course, in technical terms, it is incomparably easier to climb seven-thousanders, besides, the appearance of affordable good clothes and equipment has removed many problems.
On 29 December 2015, a new section of the permanent exhibition entitled A Cabinet of Artists' Books presenting books from the collection of Mark Ivanovich Bashmakov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Education, and the Hermitage own stocks opened in rooms on floor 4. Mikhail Vitalyevich Balan, a research fellow in the State Hermitage Department of Western European Fine Art, talks about the new exhibition space, the principals of rotation (i.e. periodic changes of the exhibitions), and the most interesting publications.
The opening of the exhibition entitled “Paroles Peintes. Books from the Collection of Mark Bashmakov”.
M. Bashmakov, M. Balan. 17 April 2015. Photo by A. Koksharov
The term the “artist’s book” is likely familiar to most viewers primarily as the definition of a radical, purely modern tendency in book art. Here it is understood in a broader sense, namely as a general term and the term with multiple meanings that can be applied both to books by actual art masters and to rare publications illustrated by last century's outstanding artists, primarily by Art Nouveau classics, otherwise referred to to as “livres d"artiste”. It is these publications that are displayed in the Cabinet; however, this does not mean that in future contemporary “artist's books” or any other examples of the illustrated book will not be showcased.
Tristan Tzara. Parler Seoul
Joan Miro
1948/50
Collection of M.I. Bashmakov
A Cabinet of Artists' Books is not only a new exhibition room, but also a completely new endeavor of our museum. On more than one occasion, fabulous illustrated books, both old and new, from our and other collections were exhibited in the Hermitage. Just over the past few years probably a dozen such exhibitions have been held. Yet those were nothing else but one-time temporary displays , not necessarily suggesting any continuation. in contrast, A Cabinet of Artists' Books represents permanent exhibition space.
For the first time in the Hermitage history illustrated books found their permanent place in the museum. Indeed, this is chiefly determined by the fact that the books on display are highly unusual. These are works by leading masters, many of which have gained international acclaim as painters and sculptors (hence the terms “livre d"artiste” or the “artist's book”). As a general rule, illustrations are created in the original graphic art techniques, including etchings, lithographs, wood engravings, rather than photo reproductions we are so well familiar with today.
In the true sense of the word, books of this kind represent museum exhibits, and their proximity to painterly masterpieces is quite natural. It is important that A Cabinet is located next to the Sergei Shchukin and Morozov Brothers Memorial Gallery. Close at hand is also the recently opened pastels room , which gives visitors to the museum a rare opportunity to compare paintings and graphic works by the same artists, and, conversely, see those works by 20th-century painters, whose paintings are not possessed by the Hermitage. In any case, the comparison of these two related displays, showcasing paintings and books, can be quite revealing.
Henri de Montherlant. Pasiphae – Chant de Minos
Henri Matisse
1944
A Cabinet of Artists' Books presents and will present publications from two collections: alongside books from the collection of Mark Bashmakov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Education, the exhibition will feature publications from the Hermitage Museum’s own stocks. For the most part these are supposed to be works by 20-th century French masters, although, as has been stated earlier, the display may include entirely different items, for example, old illustrated books or publications by Russian futurists. On the whole, the chronological and geographical framework is quite clearly defined; however, the books on view will be changed on a regular basis, once every three or four months. This is dictated by concern for the preservation of exhibits which can be harmed by extended exposure to light. In the meantime, this will enable to regularly show new books, present the history of the “artist's book” from different perspectives and, as it were, to bring different aspects into focus, including a theme, an author, an artist, a publisher ... up to a detailed display of a single book of particular value.
At present A Cabinet of Artists' Books houses an exhibition which opened in December 2015. It was intended to be an introduction to future displays and is therefore marked by the intentionally broad coverage of material, both varied and in some way even miscellaneous. Represented here are over fifty books by a variety of artists as well as a wide range of artistic trends, from the Nabis to postwar Abstractionism and late Surrealism. The earliest publications date from the turn of the 19th-20th centuries (an important prototype, Faustus by Delacroix, 1828, sets the stage for the others), while the latter go back to the 1970-1980s.
If the viewers had a chance to visit two exhibitions from the collection of Mark Bashmakov held in the Hermitage in 2013 and 2015, they will find many of the exhibited works fairly familiar. In the first place, this is Parallelement by Bonnard, the book generally thought to be the “livre d"artiste“ history’s point of reference. Equally well-known may be the early masterpieces by Derain and Dufy ( L "enchanteur pourrissant, Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d" Orphée), the famous books by Matisse (Mallarmé. Poesies and Pasiphae) and Picasso ( Le Chef-d "œuvre inconnu and Metamorphoses).
Paul Verlain. Parallelement
Pierre Bonnard
1900
It might take a lot of time to list all the books on view. We were deliberately not afraid of replications, which in this case was quite inevitable. However, it does not follow that the visitor will the same artworks as before see. If only because the familiar “old” books are open on a different page. Above all, alongside these will be a lot of new books, which for a number of reasons have not been on public display before.
This concerns small books which we saw no need to exhibit previously. For example, a poem by Vlaminck with llithographs by his friend Derain ( A la sante du corps), a couple of books with Vlaminck's illustrations, Chronique du temps heroiques by Max Jacob with Picasso's engravings are now included in the sections devoted to these artists. There are truly remarkable books, which we had to intentionally “sacrifice” for the sake of the other, equally important ones. Among these is, for example, I Fioretti di San Francesco with illustrations by Denis, Les Conquerants by Masson, Paris by Utrillo, and also two interesting works by van Dongen.
Paul Leclere. Venise, Seuil des Eaux
Van Dongen
1925
Displayed for the first time are Art Deco publications, the most prominent among which being Alfred de Vigny's Daphne illustrated by F.-L. Schmied.
Alfred de Vigny. Daphne
F.-L. Schmied
1924
Finally there was just no possibility to show some of the books earlier. Being a passionate collector, Mark Bashmakov constantly enriches his collection with new books. Currently on view are at once several new acquisitions, which qualify as absolutely unique. They include two early books by Pierre Bonnard entitled Scenes de family and Almanach du pere Ubu, where we deal with an entirely different Bonnard in comparison to what we saw in the classic Parallelement.
Alfred Jerry. Almanach du pere Ubu
Pierre Bonnard
1901
first and foremost, Verses and Xylographies by Raoul Hausmann published by Iliazd (Ilia Zdanevich) is a masterpiece of avant-garde typography and design. Just as original is the makeup of Laisses, André du Bouchet’s collection of poems, with color aquatints by Pierre Tal Coat, a master of late abstract art, whose work has never been represented in the Hermitage. For the first time on view are two books by Roberto Matta, a new name for the Hermitage as well. Come baby...(titled by a multiple-meaning quotation from The Divine Comedy) is the artist’s collection of texts containing his “cosmic” compositions. Pere Ubu is a witty combination of the old and the new (late 19th-century typography, a comic book). In chronological terms, this is the last book in the display and at the same time a reference to its beginning, namely to the just mentioned Bonnard's Almanach du pere Ubu).
Following this first exposition, three more exhibitions, completely different by their character and the range of exhibits, will be held in A Cabinet of Artists' Books in 2016. The first exhibition entitled Encounters on the Page, the opening of which is scheduled for mid-April, will be devoted to the role played in the publication of “livre d"artiste“ by publishers, art galleries, collector's societies, as well as by artists and authors themselves. It can be regarded as a continuation of the present exhibition, equally diverse in terms of the artists' names (although there are recurring artists, nearly all the books are new ones, having never been displayed before), but it will allow to look at the same story in an entirely new light. The next exhibition scheduled for September–November will present the work of Aleksandr Alekseev, a most interesting illustrator and the world renowned animation filmmaker. Here we will try to use the concept which will depart from the well-established tradition: Lanskoy's work will be shown in full, but centered around it with be several thematic units including a wide variety of pub lications, from Renaissant to contemporary ones.