The animal books of Yevgeny Charushin

Yevgeny Ivanovich Charushin (1901–1965) was one of the greatest masters of Russian children's book

 illustration in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Vjatka, he studied in Leningrad under Arkady Rylov,

 and was greatly influenced by Vladimir Lebedev and Ernest Seton-Thompson. He had a great love

 for animals, and an extraordinary ability in observing and expressing their inner and outer life.

 His style is marked by a particularly delicate reproduction of texture and of the animal's habits,

 as well as their natural environment. He worked on the children's journals Murzilka (from 1924), Yozh (1928-35)

 and Chizh (1930-41), and illustrated works by Maxim Gorky, Samuil Marshak and other children's writers.

 He was an excellent writer too, and produced his own decorative and refined animal books

 (e.g. Volchishko i drugiye, 'The little wolf and others', 1931; Medvezhata, 'The bear cubs', 1944; Pro Tomku,

 'About Tomka', 1957). He also reproduced his animal world in lithography and small-scale china work.

illustration from Vas'ka, Bobka i krol'cicha (Vas'ka, Bobka and the rabbit), 1934

two pages from Scur (The hawfinch), 1930

illustrations from Raznye zveri (Ferocious animals),1931 and Vol'nye pticy (The free birds), 1929

two pages from Detki v kletke (Babies in cages), written by Samuil Marshak, 1935