Mstislav Dobuzhinsky’s “The Swineherd” and book publishing in Russian Berlin

Abstract

This essay reconstructs history of the publication of Hans-Christian Andersen’s story “The Swineherd,” designed and illustrated by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. The artist prepared his illustrations at the request of Zinovii Grzhebin for the Petrograd publishing house “Parus” in 1917. However, Grzhebin managed to publish “The Swineherd” only 5 years later. This edition issued in Berlin in the Fall of 1922, became a perfect model for the émigré book production. “The Swineherd” became the first book in the Grzhebin’s series of illustrated editions for children, that stimulated the discussion about book publishing in exile. Dobuzhinsky’s exquisite design carried out as a “livre d’artiste” opened up new opportunities for Russian illustrated editions in Berlin. Grzhebin’s edition of “The Swineherd” was also of personal importance; it was a publisher’s homage to the artist who designed the book. This project was no less personal for Dobuzhinsky: his illustrations, which he defined as the embodiment of a “fluent and free line,” paid tribute to Andersen, one of his favorite writers. Dobuzhinsky turned to Andersen’s stories on paper (“The Princess and the Pea”) and on stage. “Rarely can there be such a congruence between two artists. One can hardly imagine another painter, when Andersen is mentioned,” wrote Mikhail Kuzmin in his review of Dobuzhinsky’s production of “Andersen’s Fairy Tales.”

Keywords: books for children, Russian publishers in exile, Russian illustrated publications, Russian Berlin, Hans-Christian Andersen, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Zinovii Grzhebin, Alexander Benois, Vladislav Khodasevich, Mikhail Kuzmin.